The Wrack, Duff House Estate

Broad, rectangular, 2-storey and attic, wide 4-bay range with wheelhouse projecting from long E elevation. Harl pointed rubble, tooled ashlar margins. Enlarged ground floor openings in both long elevations; paired 1st and large dormerless attic windows in broad N and S return gables. Corniced end stacks; slate roof. Single storey, roofless rubble wheelhouse projects from long E elevation. Later single storey, lean-to extension against S gable. INTERIOR: ground floor gutted; fragments of simple moulded plaster ceiling cornice survive in 1st floor

Photographs, circa 1900, of (now roofless) wheelhouse and undershot wheel, retained in Banff Library. The building has been used as a saw-mill but was probably constructed for use in the substantial flax and linen industry that thrived in Banff in mid 18th century; the nearby meadow could have served as a bleaching green. It is notable for its breadth and large gable attic windows lighting the garret workplace. The building is sited close to the River Deveron, a source of water for the industrial processes carried on within and diverted to the mill lade visible to the south. It is also possible that the building served as a corf house or salmon station after the demise of the flax/linen industry in the early 19th century. The Town Clerk's list (Banff), c.1820, enumerates 10 salmon fishing stations on the Deveron including 'a principal fishing station with a Corf house, covered with slate' at The Wrack or Nether Rake Fishing. The Deveron commercial salmon fishings were very prosperous. (Historic Scotland)

April 1999: External inspection reveals the building to be run down and in need of repairs. Guttering is coming loose and the stonework is eroded. January 2000: Local Planners are unaware of any change.

February 2008: External inspection finds the property unused, unsecured and in poor condition. The roof and rainwater goods are in fair condition but all window glazings are broken.

23 October 2013: External inspection finds the building remains in much the same condition as seen previously. It appears to be in use as an agricultural store.