Kevin J. O'Reilly and Ashley Crockford write in "What to see around Durness"

"Balnakeil Farm. The driveway also acts as the entrance to Balnakeil Farm, largely hidden behind the stone wall to the right. The existing farm is only a small remnant of a much larger one which has a dramatic history.

From Medieval times onwards there was always a flourishing farm at Balnakeil. In 1789 it was leased to Roderick Macleod, originally from the Isle of Skye . Following standard Highland practice, parts of the farm land were sublet to the local people. Living in on-site cottages, they kept cattle and raised crops on their own ground; at the same time, most of them worked part-time for Macleod on the main farm. After Macleod's death his widow took on the lease and ran the farm until 1797, when ownership of the entire estate passed to the seventh Lord Reay. Within three years

Mrs Macleod and her tenants were evicted and Lord Reay leased Balnakeil to a commercial sheep farmer, John Dunlop, who paid him a much higher rent. At about the same time Keoldale Farm (on the land immediately to the west) was leased to a sheep farmer named Clarke.

During next twenty years Lord Reay turned over more and more of his estate to incoming sheep farmers, removing the existing tenants and making a large financial gain in each case. His behaviour seems unforgivable; but he was no worse than the generality of clan chiefs, who perpetrated similar evictions of their own people in all parts of the Highlands . Referred to ever since as the Highland Clearances, these events left a legacy of bitterness which has survived right down to modern times."

The mill, used for grinding oats, was built in the early 19th century and last used as such about 1912.

Balnakeil Mill.

"DO NOT enter the upper floor which is accessible but unsafe. The water wheel, long gone, was obviously sited in the prominent trench alongside the road, at the south end of the building. On the opposite side of the road you can identify the stone-lined channel (or leet) through which the water was fed. 

Balnakeil Wheel Pit.

"Pass through the small gate leading to the beach and turn right to reach the wheel pit. This consists of a stone rectangle oriented east-west and divided into two parts. The deeper south compartment clearly housed the water wheel; one of the two iron trunnions which carried the axle is still in place. The shallower compartment on the north side now contains an infill of blown sand, which obscures a pair of large iron pulleys.

 In summer these are further obscured by vegetation, but you should be able to find them lying roughly in line with the horizontal iron strut which crosses the adjoining south compartment. Note the 'size and shape of the pulleys, then walk a few yards upslope and look across the top Of the gate beside Balnakeil House. About seventy yards away, projecting up from a low stone building, you should see a vertical iron post topped by a short horizontal axle; this carries two pulleys which are identical to those in the wheel pit.

The wheel pit was constructed to provide power for threshing machinery in the farmyard. The rotary action of the wheel was transmitted by rope belts carried on the pulleys. Given the distance involved, one must presume that several pulley posts were originally set up in a line running eastwards from the pit. After the machinery fell into disuse they were either taken down or simply collapsed, but luckily one still survives to tell the tale."