Millhouse Gunpowder Mill

The Dolphin Bell and
Powder Testing Mortar/Cannon
memorials at Millhouse

Further background material can be found on our page about the Argyll Gunpowder Industry.

The Argyll Mills

The Millhouse Gunpowder Mill, variously referred to as the Kames Gunpowder Works, Kames Powder Mill, and Kames Powder Works, was located at Millhouse, east of Ascog Loch and approximately one mile (2 km) southwest of Kames.

The site is crossed by the B8000 road from Millhouse to Kames, dividing it into the High Mills: which extended north for about 600 metres along the west bank of the Craignafeoch Burn in a strip about 100 metres wide, and the Low Mills: which extended south through woodlands for about 300 metres, and surrounded an open area, now home to a small cemetery. In 1869, some twenty buildings occupied the High Mills site, with the foundations of a water driven granulating mill discernible to the north, together with the remains of one of the three incorporating mills. The Low Mills site was similarly populated. The buildings were made of local rubble, with brick and concrete added later.

Craignafeoch Burn provided water for the High Mills, and was dammed some 3 kilometres to the north, creating two artificial lochs. Water for the Low Mills was provided by raising the level of Ascog Loch. The supplies ran underground, utilising fireclay pipes.

Plaque below bell

Steam power was also used in the mills, with references to its use being mentioned as early as 1855.

The mill had a horse drawn tramway to transport material, with evidence of its existence still visible on the site. The stables were located in a raised area at the centre of the Low Mills.

The mill road was lined with cottages, with a clock being mounted in the gable end of the manager's cottage which was adjacent to the timekeeping bell. This was known as the Dolphin Bell, mounted in a cast iron frame in the form of two dolphins. The bell was restored and re-erected at the nearby cemetery, as a memorial to the workers killed in explosions which took place at the works. No formal records were kept at the time, although such deaths would still have been recorded in the various parish registers and journals kept at the time, so the exact number of deaths is unknown, but is estimated to have been somewhere between thirty and forty.

A rectangular rubble building protected by earth baffle walls is described as an expense magazine, set into the north east slope of the raised area in the Low Mills (NR 95966 70709), the exposed north east end faces away from the works. The main magazine was built prior to 1869 in open ground to the north east (NR 96290 70930), south of the present Millhouse road, originally a private track for use by the powder company. the building has been extensively altered for agricultural use. An earlier magazine on the shore south of Kames (NR 97750 70 583) had been converted to domestic use by 1869 and is now a ruin.

Powder testing mortar

Resited mortar with projectile

In a field to the north of the crossroads at Millhouse, a powder testing mortar or cannon still remains. This comprises a small, single iron casting with the barrel set at 45°, used to fire a cylindrical projectile of 30 kilogrammes at a sand bank about 50 metres to the north, using a standard charge. This determined the power of the batch, and whether or not it was acceptable. A test projectile remains rusted in place within the barrel.

In 2006, the mortar, which was remounted on a stone plinth, and the Dolphin Bell were resited next to the entrance to the Cemetary.

Plaque below mortar

A BBC programme, Making History, provided a short description:

The mill at Millhouse was located where it was for safety reasons. Local landowner Callum Miller gave Making History a guided tour, revealing that the building was powered by a water wheel and was built in a glen surrounded by trees. Local historian Bill Black explained that the sides of the glen would have provided some protection from a blast and the thinking at the time was that the trees would also help absorb the power of any explosion. However, despite all the efforts made, it is thought that between 30 and 40 people lost their lives at the Millhouse gunpowder mill.

� BBC Radio 4: Making History.^[1] ^[2]

Kames saltpetre works

The former saltpetre (potassium nitrate) works at Kames (NR 97416 71413) comprise a group of rubble built building on the rocky foreshore to the north of a public pier built shortly before 1855, and extended that year by a wooden jetty. In 1869, the buildings included charring houses for the manufacture of charcoal, stores for sulphur and soda, the saltpetre refinery, and Kames Cottage (NR 97306 71469), a villa overlooking the works from the west - residence of one of the proprietors. At the north end of the site was a private pier, the Black Quay, built of vertically set rubble slabs extending almost 40 metres northeast.

The saltpetre refinery and pier were built by the proprietors, established by a Glasgow partnership in 1839, and acquired in 1876 by Curtis and Harvey, who transferred production from their works at Clachaig, and remained in use until 1921.

Site Visit February 2009

A site visit revealed that some of the buildings were still extant in February 2009 although all have been converted for residential purposes. Kames Cottage is now a splendid bungalow. Access to the area, including the company pier, is denied by "Private" signs and the pier is currently being built upon, although the purpose of the building is at this time unclear.