Birr Castle

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.

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.