2013:373 - Ballintlea North, Clare

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Clare Site name: Ballintlea North

Sites and Monuments Record No.: CL052-057 Licence number: 13E0406

Author: Florence M. Hurley

Site type: 18th-century oil mill

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 547695m, N 664277m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.727057, -8.774335

The owner of this site wished to explore the feasibility of installing a small water-powered turbine to produce electricity for his own use using the original mill channel. The location of this was not certain and the purpose of the investigation was to locate any remains of the mill race and establish its form.

The site is located 1.6km south of the village of Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare. Immediately adjacent to the mill is the Owenagarney or Ratty River which flows into the River Shannon at Bunratty. This is tidal as far as the oil mill site. The mill currently forms part of an inverted L-shaped complex of buildings consisting of a range of outbuildings running parallel to the river which is on the west, with the oil mill originally forming the return leg. Ballintlea Lodge, the main residence, is attached to the southern end of the oil mill/farmyard structures. A pair of in situ millstones is present within the oil mill with fragments of others lying outside to the north. The northernmost part of the range is believed to have formed part of the mill complex at some point but sections of the connecting walls were taken leaving it as two structures. Immediately to the south-west is a substantial three-storey derelict building known as the ‘soap factory’. There are two derelict houses on the site, one of which was a gate lodge.

There is believed to be a mill on the site since at least the mid-17th century as a millwheel symbol is shown in the area on the 1658-59 Down Survey barony map of Bunratty. The following year an agreement was made between Captain Peterson of Limerick and John Cooper of Meelick requiring the former to build ‘a duble oyle mill’ on the place where the mill formerly stood near Sixmilebridge. It is a possibility that this oil mill is either the same mill or an earlier one on or close to the site of the present mill. It is also possible that a grist mill mentioned in a mid-18th-century lease as being on the western side of the Owenagarney River may be the mill in question.

In 1696 George Pease, a Dutch-born English entrepreneur, obtained a lease of the oil mills and rebuilt them in the Dutch style and the present structure is believed to be the result of this rebuilding. His brother Joseph Pease established an oil mill in Hull in 1740 and went on to found Pease’s Bank. After George Pease’s death in 1743 his widow and brothers inherited the business but it appears to be been encumbered by debts. In 1762 the complex and lands were leased and the indenture for this survives and the document identifies the main features on the site. It contained the oil mills, storehouses and soap house, messauges, barns, stables, fruit trees and gardens. The indenture also mentions the use of the waters, watercourses, mill pools, mill dams, cisterns and utensils. Unfortunately no detail is provided about these as a separate schedule listing these no longer survives. Also mentioned is a grist mill and a small garden, both on an island and separate from the oil mill. These were on the opposite side of the river and in a different barony. Given its proximity to the site it is possible this may be the earlier mill referred to in some accounts of the site.

It is believed locally that the oil mill ceased operating sometime after D’Esterre’s Bridge was built downstream in 1785, preventing navigation upstream. The fact that the oil mill is marked as being ‘in ruins’ on the 1842 OS map indicates that the principal active industrial component has ceased to function and had fallen into decay for some time before this date. As the product of the oil mill was necessary to any soap manufacturing on site, the closure of the mill would have resulted in the end of any soap production. While it may have continued in operation for a short time after Pease’s death, it is likely that once the site closed that many of the portable and saleable utensils and equipment would have been sold off to recover monies to pay off any debts.

The location of the head race was not clear in the field north of the oil mill while the poor structural condition of the mill itself meant that no archaeological investigations could be conducted within the building due to safety concerns prior to conservation or stabilisation works being undertaken there. Archaeological investigation would be required to fully determine the course, nature, dimensions and condition of the head race and to also possibly determine if any mill pond was present in the area north of the oil mill.

As a section of masonry believed to be part of the eastern side of the head race was visible during the initial inspection of the site it was decided to place Trench 1 across this feature. This section of masonry lined up with the top of the arched opening in the northern wall of the oil mill. This trench uncovered a substantial well-built masonry wall 1.64m in height, constructed of angular limestone rubble stone. Traces of lime mortar were present in the joints near the top of the wall face. Large slabs were used to cap the top of the wall. No equivalent wall was located on the western side of the trench, although a band of collapsed stones was noted. Given the well-constructed nature and size of this feature it is believed to be the eastern side of the head race. There was a considerable amount of modern fill in the top of the feature below which lay several layers of silty sand and pure sand. At the base of the trench was the natural bedrock, sloping downwards at a shallow angle towards the west. No finds or dateable material of any sort was found.

In order to examine further the masonry wall, Trench 2 perpendicular to Trench 1 was excavated. Here the foundations of a rectangular structure were found. This consisted of a masonry foundation which had narrower brick walls built on top. This was aligned north-east/south-west and was built at a slight angle to the masonry wall. It measured 4m by c. 3.2m externally. The structure was partly built in the head race channel itself and partly on the eastern edge. The foundation was uncovered close to the surface. However the brick wall did not survive on the western side of the structure where the top part of the stone foundation was also missing. A maximum of four courses of handmade, poor quality brick survived to a height of 0.22m on the southern side.

There are two gaps in the southern wall of the structure suggesting the presence of two possible doorways. These are c. 1.1m and 1.2m wide respectively. There is an area of metalling leading up to and through the western opening. The interior of the structure was filled with fragments of red brick and slate, crushed mortar and occasional pieces of stone and fragments of pantile. The general fragility of the feature meant that the interior was not investigated, it was however noted that the western wall of the structure used the wall of the mill channel to provide its foundation and the channel wall does not appear to continue under the rectangular structure.

 

[caption id="attachment_38323" align="alignleft" width="685"]Ballintea Fig. 1. Plan of mill channel and structure.[/caption]

 

 

A short section of roughly faced un-bonded walling 2.3m in length runs off at an angle from the western corner of the rectangular structure. It comprises a single course of stones at the southern end and three courses at the northern end. It is not bonded to the foundation of the rectangular structure and is stratigraphically later than it. The walling slopes downwards towards the north. There is a metalled surface running under this crude walling which follows the slope of the wall. This continued up to the eastern baulk.

 

Fig. 1. Plan of mill channel and structure.

A short section of roughly faced un-bonded walling 2.3m in length runs off at an angle from the western corner of the rectangular structure. It comprises a single course of stones at the southern end and three courses at the northern end. It is not bonded to the foundation of the rectangular structure and is stratigraphically later than it. There is a metalled surface running under this crude walling which follows the slope of the wall. The deposits on the northern and eastern side of the structure consist of a thick layer of sand. There was a small amount of complete and broken bricks and occasional small and medium sized stones mixed through the sand, generally in the uppermost layer. From this came a single sherd of 17th-century German Westerwald stoneware. The only other dateable item found was a fragment of a plate of Mason’s Ironstone china made 1813-20 which came from the upper fill of the mill channel.

Trench 3 was situated some distance north of the other trenches and was located to cross the mill race if it was present and to examine the soil deposits in this area. The trench ran from the top of the riverbank eastwards. This was found to be made of a layer of small and medium sized stones and was c. 3m wide. These were piled randomly. The deposits behind the bank consisted of four layers relatively uniform in thickness that extended beyond the eastern end of the trench. The upper two were sandy silts, one containing noticeably more gravel inclusions than the other. The two lower layers were almost pure sand and lay over the bedrock which was found 1.4m below ground level.

To confirm the stratigraphy noted in Trench 3 another test trench, Trench 4, was excavated near the corner of the field just to the south of where a small stream enters the river. This found the stony bank noted in Trench 3. Here it was possible to excavate out as far as the water’s edge where three courses of rough stone facing was found on the western side of the bank. The bank here was approximately 3.5m wide. Immediately behind this a broad shallow cut feature 3.3m wide with a distinctive pocket of crushed brick was found. This was cut into lighter brown sandy silt containing a much smaller amount of stone inclusions.

There was no obvious evidence of any silting in either trench to suggest the presence of a mill pond. The stratigraphy noted in Trench 4 does indicate that the wide cut feature is man-made. It is possible that some of the layers of sand seen at the base of Trench 3 are the result of deposition from moving water but the thickness of the layers and their uniformity mean that a considerable amount of material would have to be carried along by water action to result in the deposition of so much sand.

The final test trench, Trench 5, was located closest to the oil mill itself, although given the concerns about the stability of the structure in was excavated 4m away from the building, perpendicular to the line of the masonry wall found in Trench 1. This uncovered a substantial stone-built feature abutting the masonry wall which would block any mill race channel. The feature consists of a solid platform of un-coursed stone roughly faced on its eastern side. Due to the presence of several trees growing on top of the riverbank, the northern (riverside) edge of the platform could not be investigated. The exposed section has a maximum height of 1m. Immediately adjacent to the northern side of the mill arch a small area was examined where a stone facing could be seen on the river’s edge. This showed that there was a masonry wall located between the river and where the northern side of the head race channel should lie. The band of collapsed stone noted on the northern side of Trench 1 may be a continuation of this wall. The feature sits on a brown clayey silt deposit with moderate small stone and occasional brick and pantile fragments, some of these indicating exposure to fire. Also included in this material are occasional mortar lumps. A layer of sand lies under this material close to the southern wall of the mill channel.

Although conclusive proof of the existence of a head race channel was not found, the section of walling exposed is substantial measuring over 17m in length and well-built and it is difficult for it not to be seen as anything other than one side of a water channel. What is unclear is the purpose of the rectangular brick-built structure. The insubstantial nature of its walls would suggest that it was a single story building. The fact that it is not shown on the 1842 OS map shows that it had been demolished by that time.

Conservation work on the mill structure and ‘soap factory’ buildings is planned. Further archaeological investigation within the oil mill may take place once conservation and stabilisation works have been undertaken.

8 Marina Park, Victoria Road, Cork.