Survey Data
Reg No
14819272
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Machinery
Date
1840 - 1860
Coordinates
205390, 205471
Date Recorded
03/09/2004
Date Updated
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Description
Waterwheel casing with trough, arched recess and support platforms, built c.1850, within Birr Castle demesne. Enclosed on three sides by battered limestone walls. Drainage channel to west, lined with roughly coursed limestone.
Appraisal
This site provides an excellent insight to the original engineering design of the structural support and features of nineteenth-century waterwheels and of its approach and departure channels. The tooling on the limestone indicates an attention to aesthetics on an otherwise utilitarian structure. It was used to drain the farmlands or callows. These lands flood each winter as they are lower than the river. Channels and underground tunnels were constructed to drain the water to this point. Here it emerged through a central hole to drive the waterwheel, which then pumped it back into the river. High floods increased the speed of the wheel resulting in faster drainage.