FEATURE by Willard Manus
Ayrshire,
Scotland – Next time you’re on the A 737 motorway, bound from
Glasgow to Largs or Greenock (and the ferries to the islands),make a slight
diversion near Kilwinning and visit the Dalgarven Mill Museum of Country
Life and Costume. It will enable you to take a giant step back into Scottish
history. The Museum is housed in an old (but freshly restored) building
which once housed one of the most important and productive water mills
in Scotland. Its lineage dates back to 1200 A.D. when Tironesian monks
dwelled in a monastery on the banks of the River Garnock, followed soon
after by the construction of a mill which produced vast amounts of flour
and oatmeal.
Over the centuries, the mill passed through a succession of owners, one
of whom built an adjoining garden in 1850. The garden is now open to the
public and features a flower-strewn riverside walk through one of the
loveliest corners of Ayrshire. Most visitors, however, will be drawn to
the mill. Rebuilt after a disastrous fire in 1851, it is one of the few
working water-wheels in Scotland, though it is not yet producing the meal
that is the essence of porridge and oatcakes. Three floors of the mill
have been turned into a nifty little museum of rural life. On display
are dresses, suits, shoes, furs, hats and textiles dating to 1775, plus
a remarkable collection of farm machinery, memorabilia, furniture and
tools. Some rooms have been turned into realistic replicas of family life
in the Victorian era, when there were hundreds of grain and flour mills
in Aryshire–-and when most of the local farmers and workers were
little better than indentured servants whose lives consisted of “hard
work, godliness and honest poverty.”
One of the
best things about the Dalgarven Mill is that it is still managed by the
Fergusons, the family that bought the property in 1883. Grandson Robert
(and his wife Moira and children Gavin and Caroline) also operate a small
but charming café specializing in local dishes. The Fergusons could
not have amassed eight hundred years of Ayrshire history without the financial
help of the European Regional Development Fund, Scottish Museums Council,
and various other charitable and civic organizations.
(For more information, visit dalgarvenmill.org.uk)