Survey Data
Reg No
40909915
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical
Previous Name
Coxtown Mills
Original Use
Mill (water)
Date
1840 - 1870
Coordinates
192595, 371869
Date Recorded
05/12/2011
Date Updated
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Description
Detached six-bay four-storey former corn mill on complex-plan, built c. 1855, now ruinous and out of use. Roof now largely collapsed, formerly pitched natural slate. Squared rubble stone walls, now overgrown with vegetation. Square-headed window openings with brick or cut stone voussoirs over. Cut stone sills. Square and segmental-headed doorways. Set back from road in own grounds to the north of Ballintra. Remains of former external waterwheel (composite timber and metal) attached to the gable end (not viewed). Weir and former headrace to the east. Ruinous outbuildings to site.
Appraisal
This large-scale and imposing former corn mill is an interesting feature in the rural landscape to the north of Ballintra. Although now derelict with roof collapsing and floors removed, this building retains its early form and stark industrial character. It is well-built using good quality squared rubble stone masonry, and its continued survival despite a long period of disuse is testament to the quality of the original construction. The remains of the former watermill to site (not viewed) and the remains of the weir and headrace to site provide an interesting insight into past industrial processes. This building appears to date to the mid-nineteenth century (not depicted on Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map of 1837) but may incorporate some of the fabric of an earlier corn mill(s) to site. It is unusual to find a mill of this type dating to the mid-nineteenth century in rural Ireland as the domestic corn milling industry went into a serious decline following the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, and the later mills tended to be sited at large ports to avail of ship transport, and to allow for the installation of heavy steam and later turbine machinery and fuel that became more popular as the nineteenth-century progressed. This mill may have been originally built at the expense of the Hamilton family, the local landlords at the time of construction, of nearby Coxtown Manor (see 40909913) who built and ran mills somewhere around this area c. 1840 (record of Hamilton, Alexander and Andrew, Millers, Coxtown Mills, in 1846). The scale of this building indicates that very significant resources were employed in its original construction. This mill may have replaced the massive earlier flour mill, the ruins of which lie a short distance to the west (see 40909916). Griffith’s Valuation of 1857 records that a William Armstrong was the miller at this site at this time, when the holding was described as consisting of a ‘house and land, flour mill, house, office and yard’ with a rateable value of £98 and 10s, and a ‘house, corn mill and kiln’ with a rateable value of £38 and 15s. This imposing industrial building is of considerable social and economic significance to the local community, and would have employed a considerable work force in its heyday. In addition to representing the transition from the vernacular milling tradition to industrial mechanisation, this building stands as a symbol of the physical impact of large-scale industry on the rural landscape. This ruinous building is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area. It forms part of a group of related structures along with the remains of the former flour mill to the west (see 40909916) and the probable former mill manager’s house (see 40909918).