Survey Data
Reg No
41402406
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Mill (water)
Historical Use
Mill (water)
Date
1940 - 1950
Coordinates
271031, 317279
Date Recorded
25/05/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Mill complex, built c.1945, comprising detached ten-bay single and two-storey mill, having two-bay two-storey corn mill to north end, and eight-bay single-storey former flax mill to south end, now in use as corn mill. Single-storey elevation to rear (east) of two-storey block, due to sloped site. Pitched corrugated-iron roofs, with some cast-iron rainwater goods. Painted lined-and-ruled rendered walls with low render plinth course to two-storey section. Square-headed window openings throughout, having steel casement windows, to south gable and south end of front elevation, and replacement uPVC windows, with painted masonry sills, to north end of front elevation. Steel-framed quarry-glazed window to first floor north gable, timber casement window to rear elevation. Square-headed door openings with timber battened double-leaf doors. Square-headed loading door opening, with timber battened door, to first floor. Single-bay two-storey outbuildings to rear of mill, having pitched corrugated-iron roofs, rendered walls, and square-headed openings. Two-bay single-storey former flax store to west of site, having lean-to addition to west gable, with pitched corrugated-iron roof, lined-and-ruled rendered walls, and square-headed openings with steel casement windows and timber battened double-leaf doors. Electrical powered mill machinery to interior. Site entrance to north-west with rendered canted square-plan piers with decorative double-leaf wrought-iron gate. Set in own grounds at road junction, mill race to south of site, rubble stone boundary wall to roadside.
Appraisal
While the fabric of this mill dates from the twentieth century, it is built on the site of an eighteenth-century water-powered beetling mill, which was converted to a corn mill in mid-nineteenth century. The twentieth-century mill depends on electrical rather than water power, and the machinery dating from this period is still functioning today, namely a rolling mill manufactured by Moffetts of Clontibret, and a hammer mill by Miracle Mills of London, both for the processing of grain. In 1837 Lewis' Topographical Dictionary noted that there were fourteen mills between Creeve Lough and Ballybay Water, the tail race of one becoming the head race of the next. While there are many disused mills and ruinous mill buildings in the area between Creeve and Ballybay, this is the only functioning mill. It is still in occasional use, continuing the local milling tradition. These small simple buildings use materials typical of twentieth-century vernacular structures, including mass concrete and corrugated iron. The simple unadorned forms combine to create a pleasing group, visible from the approach roads.