mill (water)

Detached L-plan mill complex, built as beetling mill, comprising five-bay three-storey mill building to north, built c.1780, converted to corn mill c.1840, with two-bay full-height kiln, built c.1840, to west end of rear (south) elevation. Now disused and derelict. Remains of hipped slate roof to mill, pitched slate roof to kiln, some cast-iron rainwater goods remaining. Coursed rubble limestone walls. Segmental-arch window openings with red brick voussoirs, some with remains of square-headed timber-framed windows with cast-iron glazing panels, some gridded, some latticed. Some timber window surrounds remaining. Segmental-headed door openings with red brick voussoirs, some with square-headed timber battened doors. No machinery remaining. Inclined cast-iron turbine feed pipe to south, supported on rubble stone piers.

This mill as originally built as a beetling mill and noted as such on the 1835 Ordnance Survey map. Beetling was the final stage in the linen process, and involved beating the fabric with hammers to reduce porousness and give a smooth slightly shiny surface. The linen industry contributed to the prosperity of the Aughnamullen area in the nineteenth century, and this is one of several mills once owned by the Jackson family. The kiln was used for drying corn, and was a later addition, dating to the conversion of the mill for processing corn. Disused since the early twentieth century and now partly roofless, it is nonetheless a reminder of the thriving linen industry, and the technology of previous centuries, and retains some notable fabric including cast-iron windows.