Finzean Sawmill and Bucket Mill

The Finzean Sawmill and Bucket Mill are both located on the north bank of the River Feugh within the Glen Ferrick and the Finlets area of the ancient Scottish pinewood. They were established as sawmills in the 1820s to exploit the Glen Ferrick pine woods.

Sawmill

The Sawmill dates from the 1820s and after many changes in ownership is now owned by the Birse Community Trust (BCT).

BCT still uses the mill to cut local timber for a wide range of uses. Most of the timber is pine and larch extracted from the Commonty Pinewoods by BCT. This is used to produce tree stakes, posts, rails, boards and other products for BCT’s own use in its land management and other projects. When the Sawmill was first restored, BCT supplied local oak timber cut at the Mill for the building of the Scottish Parliament. The timber was used for the flooring in the main Chamber around the Presiding Officer’s Chair (such a waste of good wood in retrospect…!)

Bucket Mill

Buckets have been made at the Bucket Mill since 1853; first by three generations of the Brown family until the 1960s and now by Stan Moyes, who re-established the skill of making the buckets in the 1980s.

The buckets are made from staves of local native Caledonian pine and metal bands using the unique machinery in the Mill.

A limited number of buckets are apparently still produced periodically by Stan Moyes to help maintain the Mill in working order and keep alive the skill of making the buckets, although I’ve unfortunately never seen the mill in action.