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

comprises floorboards over joists resting on timber beams supported on timbercolumns. The floors over the waterwheel are now missing. The roof comprisescommon rafters over single purlins resting on A trusses. The floors and roof of theeast section are similarly detailed.WaterworksImmediately north of the mill is the millpond, now dry, overgrown and partly infilled.There is no trace of the sluice gate on the channel into the mill. An overspill runsunder the return to the grain store. The tailrace and bypass channel emerge as asingle channel at the south side of the yard, between the mill house and weighbridgeoffice. The channel is culverted under the road.PlantAlong the east side of the west section of the mill is an internal breastshot waterwheelmeasuring 4.57m in diameter by 1.98m wide (15ft x 6ft 6in). It is of cast-ironconstruction throughout save for the curved metal wrought-iron buckets andsoleplate. 'Byrne 1883 Dublin' is cast on each segment of the rim. It is in faircondition except for the deteriorating soleplates. The water was controlled by a twosteprack-and-pinion sluice gate.MachineryAt the west end of the ground floor of the west section is a bucket elevator. It wasdriven by a lineshaft from the mill proper and raised the grain to the attic, from whereit was discharged into the grain store.At the west end of the ground floor of the east section is a great spurwheeltransmission to three sets of millstones on the floor above. The gears and shafts areof cast-iron except for the timber upright shaft and cogs to the stone spindles. Thestone nuts were disconnected from the great spurwheel by jack rings. Tentering(adjustment of the gap between the stones) was by means of a screw operatingthrough the axis of each stone spindle. This floor also contains three bucket elevatorsand an inclined metal reel (for flour dressing).The first floor of the east section contains three sets of millstones - a one-pieceshelling stone and two French burrs for grinding (one is 1.37m/ 4ft 6in dia). There arealso the remains of grain cleaning equipment, a reciprocating sieve, elevators and apulley drive off the crown wheel at the top of the upright shaft.The second and third floors are devoid of machinery except for the elevators up tothe attic floor. There is also a lineshaft pulley drive up to the attic floor on the thirdfloor.The attic floor contains the elevator discharges, a pulley drive (formerly to a sieve,now gone), and remains of a sackhoist.