Survey Data
Reg No
40830013
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Mill (water)
Date
1800 - 1870
Coordinates
233620, 410129
Date Recorded
01/11/2013
Date Updated
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Description
Detached three-bay single-storey over basement former corn mill, built c. 1810 and altered c. 1865, having external cast-iron waterwheel with remains of timber panels. Now in use as an agricultural outbuilding with single-storey extensions to south. Pitched corrugated-metal roof with tin ventilator to roof ridge. Rubble stone construction with brick repairs in places. Concrete blockwork walls and corrugated-metal cladding to extensions to south. Square-headed openings with remains of timber louvers and battened timber doors. Relatively intact mill workings to interior (not viewed) including cast-iron waterwheel with remains of timber paddles and sandstone quern stone inscribed ‘Kay & Hilton, Fleet Street, Liverpool 1862’. Located to the south bank of small unnamed river flowing into the River Foyle at Saint Johnstown to the east. Millrace formerly ran from the west to east running past the east elevation of mill. Remains of former mill pond, now partially silted-up to the west of site. Formerly detached two-storey former store to the west of site, built c. 1860 and possibly containing earlier fabric, with pitched natural slate roof, rubble stone walls with brick repairs to the north-east end of east elevation and having red brick block-and-start quoins to corners to south, and square-headed window and door openings with red brick reveals, some timber lintels, and remains of battened timber fittings. Set back from road in the rural countryside to the west of Saint Johnstown. Modern grain silos and outbuildings to site.
Appraisal
This simple small-scale former corn mill retains much of its early form and character despite being now out of use and the construction of modern structures to site. It is robustly built in local rubble stone masonry and its plain utilitarian form is indicative of its original use as functional small-scale vernacular industrial building. It probably originally dates to the start of the nineteenth century, which was a boom period for the Irish corn milling industry. There was a mill at Clashygowan mentioned as far back as 1783 when there is reference to the construction of a bridge between Clashygowan and Saint Johnstown Mill (there is or was formerly a bridge adjacent to the north of this mill complex that may be the bridge referred to). Of particularly significance is the remains of the cast-iron waterwheel with timber buckets to site, and internal workings with a quern stone inscribed ‘Kay & Hilton, Fleet Street, Liverpool 1862’ (not viewed). Early machinery such as these are now increasingly rare survivals and provide an interesting historical insight into early industrial processes and techniques. This mill was originally powered by water stored in a now largely silted-up mill pond to the west of site, which in turn supplied a millrace that ran to the south side of the building before discharging into a small unnamed tributary to the north of site. The modest scale of this complex indicates that it was a vernacular corn mill, rather than a large-scale merchant corn mill as found more commonly in the eastern and south-eastern parts of the island. This mill provided a basic service to local farmers in grinding and milling their corn (and possibly oats). The larger two-storey structure to the west of the site is later, built c. 1860 though possibly containing part of an earlier structure to site (to the north end of building with brick walls). Cartographic evidence (Ordnance Survey twenty-five inch map of c. 1905) indicates that it was originally associated with a flax mill, and its form suggests that it may have been a store. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1836 record that there were twelve flax mills working regularly every winter in the parish of Taughboyne at this time, of which this was probably one. This later building is also robustly constructed with rubble stone masonry with red brick quoins to the corners and to the openings that is a feature of many buildings of its type dating to the second half of the nineteenth century. Its visual appeal is enhanced by the retention of the natural slate roof. This former corn and flax mill complex was run by a John Moody in 1881 and later by the appropriately named Thomas Millar in 1894 (Slater’s Directories). This unassuming complex is an integral element of the built heritage of the Saint Johnstown area, and of the industrial archaeology of Donegal.