Gowran Flour Mill — Gowran,gowran Demesne

On a mill race constructed S of and, roughly parallel to, a tributary which flows into the River Barrow c. 5km to the E. A late medieval mill or mills was possibly located at or in the vicinity of the watermill indicated on the 1st (1839) OS 6-inch map as, ‘Gowran Flour Mill’ which lies c. 100m S of Gowran town, accessed from a road running S from the fair green, and c. 500m SW of the medieval castle of Gowran (KK020-060004-). A document in the Calendar of Ormond Deeds, dated 1594, relates to the 'customs and duties that said commons [townsfolk] were bound to do to the Earl's mills of Gawran [Gowran]', which included, 'to bring all the timber and other necessaries for the reparation of said mills, adding that by this time the commons of Gawran gave carriage for bringing of 'cogges and spindels' to said mills' (Curtis 1943, vol. 6, 126-7). Furthermore, 'Dermot O'Morgho of Gawran, miller, deposeth that the commons of Gawran, of the town of Johnmore and of the Haggard street from time to time have brought timber and all other stuff for reparation of the Earl's mills of Gawren, except straw and scolps. He hath been a miller in said mills these 40 years' (ibid. 127). A royal grant, dated 1597, mentions, ‘a garden within the burgage or franchises of Balligawran by the way leading to the New Mill of the Earl of Ormond’ (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 401). According to Drennan (1965, 58), ‘Fr. Healy, refers to the “Lords new Myll” as being on the coach road to Waterford and says, “across the river was old brewery [KK020-060020-] of much earlier date”’. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 29 March 2021