Survey Data
Reg No
14819265
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Technical
Original Use
Hydroelectric power station
In Use As
Hydroelectric power station
Date
1870 - 1880
Coordinates
205443, 204933
Date Recorded
31/08/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Stone structure, built c.1879, as part of the civil engineering works regulating the flow of the Camcor river mainly for generating electricity at the turbine. Located within Birr Castle demesne.
Appraisal
This stone weir-like structure was erected by the fourth Earl at the end of the 1870s. It was part of the civil engineering works which regulated the flow of the Camcor River, mainly for generating electricity at the turbine. The Camcor was retained at this height by this structure, raised as a weir in order to carry, in a tunnel underneath it, the water from the end of the head race, which passes in a concrete shoot over the tail race, then descends in a hole between the latter and the river, with enough force to drive it through the tunnel into the lake, for which this acts as the sole source of supply. This remarkable piece of nineteenth-century engineering is still in use today.