Site no OFIAR-042-008 Mill Park - Offaly County Council

Component OFIAR-042-012 2TypeGrain kiln; Grain mill (water); Tuckmill (water)FunctionGrain milling; WoolCategoryFood processing & products;Textile manufacture & productsContextIndustryIrish Grid 211319 190617 +/- 10mSurvey date 01/08/2003SurveyorFred HamondBuildingWaterworksPlantMachineryDescriptionRemains Substantial remains Condition Poor Use DisusedRemains Some remains Condition Poor Use DisusedRemains No visible remains Condition N/A Use N/ARemains No visible remains Condition N/A Use N/ABuildingsA five-bay, five-storey roofless shell of former flour/tuck mill, aligned north-south atSE corner of premises. Now roofless, but gables indicate a hipped profile. Renderedrandom rubble walls with stone eaves and dressed stone quoins. Square-headedopenings with rendered brick heads and stone jambs; window cills partly removed.Upper floor openings are diminished in height. No floors survive internally.East elevation abutted by a two-storey former grain kiln, now without roof or dryingfloor. Vestiges of random rubble furnace and ghost of vaulting on inside face of wall.Waterworks, plant and machineryPond and headrace infilled. Traces of tailrace along north side of access lane fromroad. Waterwheel pit on north gable with dressed stone apron; 2.29m (7ft 6in) wide.Level of intake feed indicates a high breastshot wheel. No machinery survives.InterestEvaluationArchitectural; HistoricalThe scale of these buildings attests to the importance of grain milling in this areaduring the late 1700s/ early 1800s. The mills are also of historical interest and alsoadd interest to the landscape hereabouts. Despite being only shells, their size makesthem of regional industrial heritage merit. The two mills merit their inclusion asProtected Structures in the Co Offaly Development Plan 2009-15.RatingRegionalProtection Offaly RPS 61-18 Action None (in RPS)Associated withOFIAR-042-025Other dbase NIAH 14942021(R)ReferencesValuation Mill Book, 1840s. Reproduced by Hogg, W. The Millers and Millsof Ireland c.1850 (Dublin, 2000).Page(s) 76