Mill — unclassified in Ballysakeery

Built into the E end of a narrow terrace on a steep ridge slope bordering the S side of a stream. The stream enters the estuary of the River Moy 10m to E. A road, leading to the shore, borders the N bank of the stream. A mill is shown here on the Down Survey Barony map (1656-8). A building is shown on the 1838 and 1929 OS 6-inch maps but is not marked as a mill. Roofless rectangular building (8.45m E–W; 6m N–S), with well-constructed walls (T 0.6m) at W, N and E of coursed, mortared stone. The S wall is formed by the vertical rock face which backs the terrace. The N wall (H c. 5m) is flush with, and provides a facing for, the vertical scarp or drop on the N edge of the terrace. The E wall also coincides with a drop at that end of the terrace. To the W of the building, the terrace provides level ground leading to a doorway (Wth 2m; H 2m) in the W wall (H c. 3.3m). The doorway is topped with a shallow arch of voussoirs, and is fitted with a drawbar socket in the S jamb, just at the spring of the arch; a matching socket in the N jamb is partly destroyed. There is an offset just below the top of the N wall, and a small window at the E end of the wall. There is a window (Wth 0.22m; H 0.34m) in the E wall, with a small square ope (W 0.12m; H 0.15m) beside it on the N side. At the N end of the E wall, there is a blocked-up opening (Wth c. 1m) of a door or window with a head of evenly matched voussoirs. This opening is just above interior ground level but would have opened on to a vertical drop in the exterior of the wall. A stone-built sluice lies 20m to W channelling a narrow stream towards the bedrock cascades adjacent to the mill. There is a castle (MA022-054----) located on elevated ground on the N side of the stream, a church (MA022-055001-) and graveyard (MA022-055002-) are c. 50m to S, and a rath (MA022-056----) is c. 200m to SE. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 7 May 2019