mill (water)

Detached four-bay two-storey spade mill, built c.1820, later used as saw, flax and corn mill, and now in use as storage. Remains of kiln to rear (north) elevation. Pitched roof having replacement corrugated plastic covering, and replacement rainwater goods. Random sandstone and limestone rubble walls, rebuilt in places with concrete blocks, having squared dressed stone quoins. Timber louvered panel to first floor to front. Square-headed window openings having timber louvered vents. Square-headed opening to front with steel lintel. Square-headed door opening having tooled stone lintel and timber battened door. Three-centred-arch opening to east elevation with tooled stone voussoirs and double-leaf timber battened door. Segmental opening to rear having tooled stone voussoirs. Waterwheel with cast iron rim, cogged inner wheel, iron axle, and timber spokes, and cast-iron line-shaft drive to interior. Millstones to grounds.

This mill served a variety of purposes throughout its history, including spade-making, flax scutching, corn milling, and saw milling industries, making it a site of particular economic and social importance in the history of the locality, and reflecting the preponderance of industry in County Monaghan. The machinery which remains extant to the interior adds to its technical interest and provides context for the building, the cogged wheel being a development of the later nineteenth century which allowed power to be transferred to a drive shaft from the wheel rim instead of the axle, thereby increasing power. The site as a whole is a notable visual presence in the roadscape.