This mill was described as partly wrecked in a survey about 20 years ago, although there was said to be some machinery, including a water turbine.
It’s even more wrecked now and is being used as a dust collection box by the surrounding timber processing business, so everything is covered in fine sawdust.
Photos are phone and the external is Google street view.
It’s an old mill, originally with a water wheel, which was last re-equipped in the 60s and 70s for grinding animal feed.
The roof and floors have gone completely in one half of the building.
The bulk of the milling equipment is in the other half - an all-iron transmission system, originally for three pairs of stones on the floor above.
One of the pairs was subsequently replaced by a roller mill so there are only two drive and adjustment systems left between pairs of iron columns on the ground floor.
Upstairs are the stones for barley and oats.
The floors don’t have normal joists so this is as far up as it was sensible to go.
Back down to look at the turbine which was obtained second hand from another mill in Birr - it probably dates from 1887 when the Birr mill was converted from grain milling to a saw mill.
I didn’t see a manufacturer’s name but it looks one by James Leffel and Co, typical of the many turbine designs produced in the US in the mid to late 1800s.
Thousands of these were installed - they were also exported as convenient replacements for ageing water wheels so turn up in the UK/Ireland occasionally.
The skinny rod on the right is the throttle for controlling the flow of water.
While I was in the mill I’d noticed an increasing sound of traffic on the road outside.
On climbing out every tractor in Offaly seemed to be trundling past, some with families on board - turns out this was the ‘Tullamore Tractor Run’, which is a charity thing.
It’s even more wrecked now and is being used as a dust collection box by the surrounding timber processing business, so everything is covered in fine sawdust.
Photos are phone and the external is Google street view.
It’s an old mill, originally with a water wheel, which was last re-equipped in the 60s and 70s for grinding animal feed.
The roof and floors have gone completely in one half of the building.
The bulk of the milling equipment is in the other half - an all-iron transmission system, originally for three pairs of stones on the floor above.
One of the pairs was subsequently replaced by a roller mill so there are only two drive and adjustment systems left between pairs of iron columns on the ground floor.
Upstairs are the stones for barley and oats.
The floors don’t have normal joists so this is as far up as it was sensible to go.
Back down to look at the turbine which was obtained second hand from another mill in Birr - it probably dates from 1887 when the Birr mill was converted from grain milling to a saw mill.
I didn’t see a manufacturer’s name but it looks one by James Leffel and Co, typical of the many turbine designs produced in the US in the mid to late 1800s.
Thousands of these were installed - they were also exported as convenient replacements for ageing water wheels so turn up in the UK/Ireland occasionally.
The skinny rod on the right is the throttle for controlling the flow of water.
While I was in the mill I’d noticed an increasing sound of traffic on the road outside.
On climbing out every tractor in Offaly seemed to be trundling past, some with families on board - turns out this was the ‘Tullamore Tractor Run’, which is a charity thing.
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