Water mill — vertical-wheeled in Knockrath Little

Situated in the valley of the NW-SE Avonmore River, on the SW bank with the stream c. 50m to the NE. Drainage works uncovered a number of dressed timbers and a subsequent archaeological excavation (14E0365) financed by the National Monuments Service recorded the remains of a watermill. An earthen platform (Wth 6.8m E-W) appearing in a section together with the base of its drystone-built N (Wth 1.5m; max. H 0.8m) and S walls supported the mill building, which would have had a wooden superstructure. Portions of the original head-race appeared in sections of the modern drainage together with timbers on the upstream side, suggesting that it had a timber-lined head-race. A large base-beam (L 5m plus; Wth 0.5-0.7m; T 0.3m plus) with mortises on its upper side 27m from the platform could be the dam of a mill-pond. Some post-medieval pottery, late 17th century clay pipes and hand-made bricks were recovered. Fragments of 18 timbers were recorded and re-buried at the location. They consisted largely of base-plates or oak stakes. The remains are interpreted as those of a vertical undershot-wheeled mill, and one of the timbers produced a dendrochronological date of AD 1679 +- 9 years. (Hayden 2014; 2015) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revised upload: 27 October 2015