Survey Data
Reg No
13313004
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social, Technical
Original Use
Mill (water)
Date
1780 - 1820
Coordinates
211110, 264152
Date Recorded
08/08/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached multiple-bay four-storey former flour mill on L-shaped plan, built c. 1800, now disused. Roof now collapsed. Roughcast rendered roughly coursed limestone walls. Square-headed window openings with tooled cut limestone sills. Square-headed door openings. Machinery now removed. Set at a bend in the road at the north end of a mill complex incorporating millrace to the west of site and interconnecting millponds to south. Tooled carved monolithic limestone gate pier to east of site. Former bathing house at edge of millpond to south of site, of roughly coursed limestone construction and having cast-iron boat rings to pond elevation. Located to the west of Keenagh.
Appraisal
The substantial remains of a large-scale former milling complex, which retains its enormous industrial scale and character despite its derelict condition. The remains of the millponds to the south and the millrace to the west provide an interesting historical insight into past industrial processes. It probably dates to the late-eighteenth or early-nineteenth century, which was a boom period for the Irish corn milling industry. It formerly had a breast water wheel, later replaced by a turbine. It was a source of employment for the town of Keenagh until 1912, when it accidentally burned down. The location of this mill adjacent to the east of the Royal Canal suggests that it may have availed of commercial opportunities associated with this transport amenity. Local landlords were often involved in the development of the canals and local industry and the location of a bathing house to the south of the site, accessible from the Mosstown Demesne, may indicate a landlord involvement in the development of this complex. This flour mill complex forms an attractive group in the landscape and represents an important part of the social history and the industrial and architectural heritage of the Keenagh/Mosstown area.