Flour Mill — Tallow

Situated on the floor of the W-E Bride river valley, c. 1km S of the river. Sir Richard Boyle, the first Earl of Cork, developed the iron industry at Tallow, which was known as Tullach an Iarainn (the hill of iron), in the early 17th century. A mill had been set up by 1608 and a report of 1622 says that there were two iron mills at Tallow. The iron-works seem to have survived the disturbances of the 1640s, but by 1685 they were defunct according to Sir Richard Cox (Walton 1987, 28). A forge is marked on a Bateman map of 1717 (NLI: ms. 6148, 21), which is probably the same feature. Its location is uncertain but it may have been on the site of the saw mill marked on the 1840 and 1927eds of the OS 6-inch map at the end of Mill Lane, although the standing remains appear to be 18th or 19th century in date (Bradley et al. 1989, vol. 1, 121-2). (Power 1978, 33) Bradley, J., Halpin, A. and King, H. (1989) Urban archaeology Survey of Waterford City and County, 2 vols. Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works. Power, T. (1978) Richard Boyle's ironworks in Co. Waterford. Part 2. Decies, No. 7, 30-36. Walton, J. (1987) Two descriptions of County Waterford in the 1680s. Decies, No. 35, 25-33. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 29 September 2011