Water mill - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

On an elevated area, immediately above the Magherabaun River, in the angle of a meander, on the E-side of the watercourse. The ground slopes up steeply to ENE from this location and a waterfall is adjacent to W, which discharges into Poulawillin. This is depicted as a building named ‘Poulawillin Mill (in ruins)’ on the 1842 edition of the OS 6-inch map, indicating that it had gone out of use and was probably abandoned by this time. It is not visible at ground level. A meander of the river to W of the current course, appears to have been the main river channel, as shown on the 1842 edition of the OS 6-inch map. It is shown as having shifted to the current channel from the OS 25-inch map (1888-1913) onwards. The old channel fed back into the current channel immediately below the waterfall, via a deeply incised outlet. The waterfall is formed by limestone rock formations which are naturally shaped by the fluvial action of the river. There is a large flat-faced limestone rock abutment on the W side of the current channel and a craggy abutment to the E side, having a distinct overhang. The river bank downstream of the waterfall is formed by a high limestone rock-face to W and by a more uniform, yet quite steep earthen slope, to E. There are various in-river limestone rock formations immediately downstream of the waterfall and these all appear to be naturally formed. A large tree has fallen across the river channel below these rock formations. On inspection in 2018, it was not possible to cross the river as water levels were too high due to fast-flowing flood waters. Nevertheless, there are no immediately apparent signs of any extant structures that may be associated with the mill. Due to the lack of surface expression, it is likely that this mill structure has been robbed of stone and any associated timber elements are likely to have perished.

Compiled by: Mary Tunney, Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly

Date of upload: 5 December 2018