St Monance, East Braes, Windmill Tower

Heritage listing

Date Added 28/09/1993 Last Date Amended 22/07/2011 Type Industrial: chemical; kiln, furnace, oven; mill, factory Local Authority Fife Parish St Monance NGR NO 53369 01753 Coordinates 353369, 701753 — The monument comprises the remains of a saltworks of 18th-century date, surviving as a complex of upstanding walls, earthworks and rock-cut features at 0-10m above sea level. The monument lies on gently sloping land extending onto the foreshore, 350m from the village of St Monans. The monument was first scheduled in 1993, but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains; the present rescheduling rectifies this. The monument's most visible feature is a slightly tapered wind-engine tower, circular in section and 4.5 m in diameter, built of 1m thick rubble and sandstone walls. The tower sits on a raised shoreline and survives to a height of approximately 9m. Beneath it, the exposed walls of one panhouse and the remains of eight more are visible at the coast edge. Nearby, evidence for the shore end of a wagonway has been traced by excavation. The wagonway ramp is still visible and is also included in the scheduling. It was used to bring coal to the complex from a coal farm to the north of the saltworks site. On the foreshore below, intertidal remains include evidence of a rock-cut channel and associated reservoir features. The area to be scheduled is irregular in shape, to include all elements of the wind-engine tower and saltpan complex and an area around these in which evidence for the site's construction and use may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The area is bounded to the south-east by Mean Low Water Springs. On the west, it is bounded by the E end of the lido, which is specifically excluded from the scheduling. Above-groun

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.