WESTOWN, Naul, DUBLIN

Description

Detached two-bay three-storey mill with half-attic, built 1718-22, on a T-shaped plan; two-bay full-height central return (south). In ruins, 1934. ROOF: None. WALLS: Part coursed rubble limestone walls on battered base with rough cut limestone flush quoins to corners. OPENINGS: Square-headed window openings with cut-limestone sills, and red brick block-and-start surrounds with no fittings surviving. INTERIOR: Ruin. SITE: Set in overgrown grounds. GENERAL: Erected (1718-8) by Arthur Mervyn (----) opposite the site of an earlier mill illustrated on the Down Survey (1656). Operated (8th May 1847) by James Ennis (----) and valued at £36 0s. 0d. with Anthony Strong Hussey (1782-1859) of Westown House named as the "Immediate Lessor" (Primary Valuation of Ireland). The roofless ruins inspired the poem "The Mill at Naul" (1934) by Oliver St. John Gogarty (1878-1957).