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

e largely devoid of openings. A ground floor door and window both have voussoiredstone heads and jambs and the windows have stone cills. There is a chimney on itseast gable.A plaque built into a new boundary wall to a house on the north side of the road pastthe complex reads "Perry's Mill". This was presumably from a gatepost or one of thebuildings in the complex.WaterworksThe mill pond is still discernible a short distance south of the block, albeit largelyinfilled. The masonry sluice gate emplacement at its outlet survives. The head- andtailraces survive as drainage channels.PlantThe waterwheel on the return projecting from the west gable of the middle bay is ofthe high breastshot variety and measures 14ft in diameter by 14ft wide. It is of metalconstruction throughout, with eight spoked arms and 40 curved buckets (allunventilated). Cast on to the rim is "Jacob Clonmel 1855". Apart from its metalsoleplate and some buckets, the wheel survives intact.MachineryThe power transmission machinery is contained within the projecting west gable ofthe middle bay. A cast-iron segment wheel affixed to the mill side of the waterwheelconnects with a bull nut mounted on the outer end of a cast-iron axle. At the otherend of this axle, in side the mill, is a bevelled pitwheel which drives a wallowermounted at the bottom end of the cast-iron upright shaft.Mounted on the axle between the bull nut and pitwheel is a spur gear connected to asmaller pinion. Along the axle on which this pinion is mounted is a large pulley wheeland small external pulley wheel. It is uncertain whether the latter was an externaldrive to the machinery, or an external power take-off driven from the waterwheel.The collapsed remains of other shafts and gears are also visible inside the building.InterestEvaluationRatingArchitectural; Historical; TechnicalThis is one of the largest surviving industrial sites in Co Offaly, albeit in a veryderelict state. The sheer scale of the buildings, historical link with the Perrys, andsurvival of the waterwheel and principal gearing all make it of regional industrialheritage signficance. It merits inclusion in the Record of Protected Structures.RegionalProtection Action RPSAssociated withOFIAR-042-010Other dbaseReferencesValuation Mill Book, 1840s. Reproduced by Hogg, W. The Millers and Millsof Ireland c.1850 (Dublin, 2000).Page(s) 73OFIAR-042-009_01 FWH 18/07/2003 General view from north-east.