This heritage mill site contains a group of three derelict structures in different stages of disrepair: a derelict historic water-powered corn mill, two corn-drying kilns, joined into one L-shaped structure, in a ruinous state, and a derelict vernacular “kilnman’s cottage”.

 

The mill’s water needs were, in the past, met by the presence of two separate watercourses: a branch of a small local stream and an artificially constructed mill race whose provenance are the nearby loughs. The stream and mill race branch out and join together several times as they flow through the site, contributing to a truly dynamic character of this picturesque setting.

 

The three buildings and the infrastructure between them are rare surviving, yet threatened, examples of architectural industrial heritage and an important testament to rural Irish lifestyle, once so prevalent in Ireland and in the county. They have remained frozen in time (but for the dilapidation of the building fabric), like an actual time capsule. Irish vernacular water mills are all absolutely unique in their setting, operations and appearance, which are primarily dictated by the intricacies of the site on which they were erected.

 

The corn mill, kilns and residential cottage with the dynamic infrastructure of waterways criss-crossing the site form a symbiotic complex which makes a positive contribution to the rural landscape. This picturesques and quaint setting was once a bustling commercial premises with significant activity of workmen, clients, carriages and cargo. The spatial relationships between the structures are an example of the relevant requirements for easy and efficient operation of a corn mill of its period.

​

Read more in the history of the site here.

​