Sitting in a Centra having a sandwich and browsing maps I saw this place was just down the road.
From the available information it sounded like another roofless shell, COOLA, WESTMEATH - Buildings of Ireland.
However some half-hearted Googling showed that a hydro plant was installed in 2007, and where there are new turbines there may be old ones - worth a look.
I had to be back in Dublin in a few hours for the ferry so this was a rapid once round with the phone.
Obligatory map, with the mill race crossing a loop in the Brosna River.
Google street view showing a crenellated shell at the end of a range on the left (east), with more buildings on the right.
View of the eastern range with an arch near the far end, originally taking water to an interior wheel.
The is where the hydro plant now lives, although it looks defunct.
Next door is a space containing a pair of grinding stones, driven from below.
The rest of this building seems to have housed the last activity in the mills, with grinding and storage above, bagging below.
Over to the other buildings.
The left section is empty.
The middle area was for drying grain - the brick structure on the right is an oven for heating air which was circulated around the drying towers.
The five storey end building has a roller mill outside but is mostly collapsed inside with some more equipment among the detritus on the floor.
Now what we came for, a rather obvious turbine house, on the left as viewed from the other side of the river.
The water coming out is overflow from the modern hydro setup that’s been diverted under the buildings.
There are two turbines in a row here, in concrete compartments filled by culvert.
The first one of unknown make has the rotor immediately before the draft tube, with the driveshaft going through a wall.
The second one has the rotor in what is now the modern hydro overflow with the driveshaft going through the draft tube.
This one was made by Robert Craig & Sons (Belfast).
The only other examples of Craig turbines I’ve seen were also in an Irish mill, Report - - Misc Oirish Derps.2 (Dunshauglin/Drogheda/Inniskeen, Eire, Aug, 2019) | Other Sites.
As in Inniskeen, both turbines here were used to generate electricity.
Finally a bonus hydraulic ram outside one of buildings…
…and probably the last (sometime after 1994) variety of flour produced here.
From the available information it sounded like another roofless shell, COOLA, WESTMEATH - Buildings of Ireland.
However some half-hearted Googling showed that a hydro plant was installed in 2007, and where there are new turbines there may be old ones - worth a look.
I had to be back in Dublin in a few hours for the ferry so this was a rapid once round with the phone.
Obligatory map, with the mill race crossing a loop in the Brosna River.
Google street view showing a crenellated shell at the end of a range on the left (east), with more buildings on the right.
View of the eastern range with an arch near the far end, originally taking water to an interior wheel.
The is where the hydro plant now lives, although it looks defunct.
Next door is a space containing a pair of grinding stones, driven from below.
The rest of this building seems to have housed the last activity in the mills, with grinding and storage above, bagging below.
Over to the other buildings.
The left section is empty.
The middle area was for drying grain - the brick structure on the right is an oven for heating air which was circulated around the drying towers.
The five storey end building has a roller mill outside but is mostly collapsed inside with some more equipment among the detritus on the floor.
Now what we came for, a rather obvious turbine house, on the left as viewed from the other side of the river.
The water coming out is overflow from the modern hydro setup that’s been diverted under the buildings.
There are two turbines in a row here, in concrete compartments filled by culvert.
The first one of unknown make has the rotor immediately before the draft tube, with the driveshaft going through a wall.
The second one has the rotor in what is now the modern hydro overflow with the driveshaft going through the draft tube.
This one was made by Robert Craig & Sons (Belfast).
The only other examples of Craig turbines I’ve seen were also in an Irish mill, Report - - Misc Oirish Derps.2 (Dunshauglin/Drogheda/Inniskeen, Eire, Aug, 2019) | Other Sites.
As in Inniskeen, both turbines here were used to generate electricity.
Finally a bonus hydraulic ram outside one of buildings…
…and probably the last (sometime after 1994) variety of flour produced here.
