Mill

There are a number of references to a mill at Athassel in the post Dissolution grants. In 1551 the possessions seized from the abbey included 'a mill with its water source' (White 1892, 18-9). In 1562 Thomas, Earl of Ormond and Ossory was granted the 'site of the priory of Athasshell, a mill, the demesne lands, and land in Athasshell' (Cochrane 1909, 281). Cochrane speculates that the mill was situated close to the gateway or at the SW angle of the courtyard, or outer precinct, and that the dried up stream immediately W of the abbey complex was used as a mill race (ibid 281, 289). The surviving NW wall of the building immediately N of the SE end of the bridge is particularly thick and the suggestion has been made that this could have been to provide extra protection for a watermill, as in the case of a mill incorporated into the late medieval defensive wall around Waterford (Quinlan 2008, 38). The precise location of this mill is unknown within Athasselabbey North townland. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011