New Abbey corn mill celebrated with stamp
- Published
Recently-elected MP Alister Jack launched the stamp at the New Abbey corn mill
A corn mill in southern Scotland is one of six UK windmills and watermills to feature in a new set of stamps.
The New Abbey site stopped working in the middle of the 20th Century but, after repair and restoration, opened to visitors in 1983.
It is now maintained and cared for by Historic Scotland.
The Royal Mail said the new stamps were a tribute to "iconic and endearing structures" dotted around the United Kingdom.
The other mills featured are Nutley Windmill in East Sussex, Ballycopeland Windmill in County Down, Cheddleton Flint Mill in Staffordshire, Woodchurch Windmill in Kent and Felin Cochwillan Mill in Gwynedd.
New Dumfries and Galloway MP Alister Jack launched the south of Scotland stamp at the corn mill.
'Fascinating structures'
He said: "The watermill at New Abbey is well known by locals and tourists to Dumfries and Galloway.
"I am delighted that it now features on this brilliant set of stamps."
Royal Mail's stamp strategy manager Philip Parker added: "The windmills and watermills of the UK are much-loved landmarks and reminders of our rich agricultural and industrial heritage.
"We celebrate six of these fascinating structures with new stamps."
New Abbey Corn Mill is a late 18th-Century mill that is thought to occupy the site of a watermill for grinding grain which was established in the 13th Century by the Cistercian monks of the monastery of Sweetheart Abbey.
The mill, miller's house and kiln for drying oats are grouped together in one building - the mill having had an extra floor for grain storage which was added in the mid-19th Century.
The machinery and three pairs of millstones, for shelling and grinding oats and animal feed, are driven by a pitch-back waterwheel, with the water being fed from a mill pond lined with boulders onto the top of the wheel along a timber launder.