Weir, Mill race — Unknown Townland

The mill stream or race that runs through Chapelizod village may indicate the former location of a tuck mill mentioned in the Civil survey (1654-6) and marked on the Down Survey (1655-6) maps (Simington 1945, 223). Chapelizod's milling industry originated in the medieval period. Hugh, Bishop of Meath, mentions a mill on the manor of Chapelizod in the Great Pipe Rolls for the first year of Henry 111's reign (Went 1954, 51). Mention is also made of a mill leased to John de Selby for the year 1305 (ibid 12). The presentmillrace at Chapelizod has late concrete sidings but there is stone masonry visible on the N face. Pre-development testing on the site of the mill associated with this millrace in 1994 exposed a disturbed trench that produced Medieval cooking ware and wood and bone fragment (Carroll 1995, 19). Another excavation at Maiden Row junction identified a pre-mid 18th -century clay bonded, river revetment and a Dutch clay pipe bowl dated to 1830 (Gowen 1995, 18-19). Excavations in 2002uncovered a millrace and drystone mill undercroft. The undercroft was constructed of rectangular blocks of stone, while the tail-race was faced roughly with rubble blocks. The mill had been reconstructed on possibly three occassions and dates to the 10th-11th century(Walsh, c. (2004, 135). Pre -development testing in 1994 at the junction of Maiden Row (which runs along the north side of the mill race) and Chapelizod Road revealeda clay-bonded riverfront revetment. Examination of the river bank on the south-eastern side of the 'mill stream' bridge revealed a very similar structure in situ. In that location the revetment survives four courses high and is composed of similar squared blocks. The dating of the structure is established by finds retrieved from the ashy layer behind it. These include a fragment of a brown-glazed Staffordshire cup, a tin-glazed Staffordshire plate and a fragment of hand-painted delft. The revetment is therefore unlikely to have been in existence when Rocque's map was made(Gowen 1995, 18-19).