Mill - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a S-facing slope down to the W-E Broad Meadow River and partly incorporated into a field bank which is c. 15-50m from the stream. A mill and related works pertaining to fish are recorded at Killegland in land grants from the late twelfth to the early thirteenth century (Gilbert 1889, 45-6, 50). The messauge of Hugo the tenant miller is also mentioned in these documents. According to the Civil Survey (1654) a mill was still on the property in 1641 (Simington 1940, 98). A topographical survey identified the mil-race (visible L 100m plus), and three depressions between it and the stream at its W end are likely to be the fish-ponds (ME045-041001-).

Archaeological testing (02E1728) by W. Frazer confirmed the mill-race as a straight-sided ditch (Wth 3-3.4m; max. D 1.5m at S), with the upcast forming a low earthen bank (Wth of base 4.05m; H 0.3m) on its S side (excavations.ie 2003:1346). There is a shallow drainage ditch (Wth of top c. 2m; D 0.3m) on the S side of this bank. The primary fill of the shallow ditch and the S side of the bank were covered by a dense silt layer (D 0.15m), indicating at least one serious inundation from the river. The mill-race was not stone-lined and therefore this section was probably not close to the mill house, although the enclosed messauge (ME045-072----) on the N side at the E edge of the development area may have been the miller’s house. Medieval pottery was recovered from the primary silts at the W end of the mill-race but most of the pottery recovered is post-medieval, indicating that it was open into the eighteenth century. The mill-race was also sampled (04E1213) by Frazer (excavations.ie 2004:1167) at the centre of the Killegland settlement (ME045-071----) confirming these findings (Frazer 2007, 47-50). Further E the fill of the mill-race contained a stone-filled drain but the silt flooding layer covered the outer ditch and the S face of the bank. (Frazer 2004; 2007)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 21 December, 2021

References

Frazer, W. O. 2004 Archaeological excavation; Phase 2 Area B. Ashbourne Town Centre Development, Killegland, Co. Meath. Licence No. 02E1728. Unpublished report, Margaret Gowen & Co.

Frazer, W. O. 2007 Final Report on the Archaeological Excavations at Lidl Site, Ashbourne Town Centre Development, Co. Meath. Licence: 04E1213. Unpublished report, Margaret Gowen and Co.

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1940 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol. V: county of Meath. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.

Gilbert, J.T. 1889 Register of the abbey of St Thomas the Martyr, Dublin, 2 vols. London.