2003:0604 - GRANGE, Dublin

The site was excavated because it was directly threatened by the realignment of the Griffeen River within the precincts of the Grange Industrial Park. Surface evidence for the mill was in the form of the north wall, surviving as part of the boundary fence separating the Beattie farm from the Grand Canal towpath. Some 19th-century pottery was found on the surface and some fragments of floor tiles from an industrial drying kiln. Testing and subsequent excavation revealed the extent of the building as a single block, 13m west–east by 8.5m. Wall thickness was between 0.8 and 0.9m. The wall structure was of coursed rubble with opes defined by brick dressings. The dressings allowed for the identification of two window opes in the north-east corner of the building. Flanking the main block to the west was a wheel pit, 2.2m in width and 1.6–1.7m in depth. The wheel pit is delimited on the west by a wall 0.85m thick, widening to 1.1m where the axle bearing was mounted. The wheel pit was partially lined with red brick. The upper courses, forming the downslope of the wheel pit, are formed of brick with headers presented, while the lower part of the pit and its base are lined with brick, stretchers presented.

The flanking walls show evidence for wheel wear in the stonework, and this suggests that the wheel had a diameter in the region of 3m. The wheel was breast shot fed from a headrace to the south. The headrace either emanated from a penstock to the south or was linked back to the Griffeen further upstream. There was no evidence for a race in the field south of the mill site. The confluence of the headrace and the wheel pit is again lined with red brick in a rough English bond pattern.

Within the mill structure, the pit for the pit wheel was identified. No machinery was present on the site. Artefacts within the mill structure were largely of 19th-century date, although some sherds of post-medieval imported ware were found in the topsoil but do not appear to be contemporary with the mill. It is possible that the mill has its origin in the later 18th century and served as a gristmill for flour milling. The general water supply would make such a mill difficult to operate. With the inauguration of the Grand Canal, a constant head of water became available and so the mill relocated to the Lock area at Adamstown. It is likely that the machinery was taken from the old mill and tweaked to function within the new mill. The old mill may well have served a later function as a cereal-drying kiln, as suggested by the quantities of kiln tiles found on the northern part of the site.

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin