Water mill

Discovered in 1844 during construction of drain and investigated by John Windele (Berry 1893, 25). Windele's account (ibid.) describes planks of oak four feet under ground and a 'cellar' with a floor of oak planks, from which extended, to within a few feet of the surface, a balk of oak with a groove along its length. The site was on a slight slope and all the timbers had been dug out except for 'the trough or shoot', two massive side beams and some lesser pieces of timber. The timbers that had been removed consisted of flooring planks, beams with various mortices, a wheel stock and portion of quern or millstone (ibid.). Windele gives the townland where the mill was found as Ballylought but this is not on the OS 6-inch maps; Berry (ibid., 24) suggests that Ballylought had been incorporated into Ballyviniter, though whether Ballyviniter Upper, Lower or Middle is not clear. (Rynne 1988, 325) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 4: North Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2000). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009