As part of the Irish Independent's schools competition, some pupils from Sixth Class have put together this project on the old Corn Mill at Victoria Bridge.

Click on the links below to read about the mill, or click on the pictures to see them full size.

Introduction

On first glance the Old mill may be seen as an old building. But upon a closer look the mill is a building of great beauty, a building representing hundreds of years of history. These are among the reasons why we picked this building for our project

We think it has been a milling site since the 14^th century and there is evidence from Cromwell's time of a mill there.    In 1649 it had been on the map as derelict.

It is now being renovated and its present owner is hoping to turn it into a cultural studio.    So as well as having an interesting past, the mill will also have a very bright future.

Location

The old mill is about one mile off the M7 and about the same from Caragh village.   It is right beside the river Liffey; it’s a good place because the river is not too slow or not too strong, it’s just right. It’s the best part of the Liffey between Athgarvan and Sallins.

  It was a good place to build a mill because there was a lot of corn growing in that area.   The land is very fertile and there was, and still is much farming.    It was famous

Significance

The mill would have been standing during Cromwell’s invasion, the 1798 rebellion, the famine and black ‘47, the two world wars and would have been closed in 1940.   The mill was built as a cornmill in the beginning, and was very important to the people in its early times.

Here are some reasons why:

The early mill would have been used by farmers who would have brought corn, in their carts to the mill and paid to get it grinded into flour and feed it to their cattle.   Mansfield’s were probably the richest people in Caragh at this time.   They had seven houses in different parts of what the owned, which was Castlekealy, Gingerstown and other parts of Caragh up to the Newbridge Road.   Mansfield himself was the Landlord of the mill.    He hired normal people to work in the mill, for most people at this time they would have made their living by doing this job.

The mill is now very important because it has so much history attached to it and will be lovely in the future.    Arts Research Facilities, Hire of studio Facilities, Sound Recording, Art and Antique Gallery, Recitals of all kinds, Telematic Facilities and General functions are all parts of Eoin's plans for the mill which are all near enough finished.

 He hopes that it will be a great tourist attraction. It is easy to get to and it is right beside ‘Victoria Bridge’, which was built in Victoria’s time and many people swim there in the summer.

 The mill is part of our heritage and locality.   It gave work to many local people over hundreds of years  and it will give a future to Caragh because of its beauty, locality and it will attract tourist for many years to come.

The grounds of the mill contain three acres of beauty which includes a St. Brigid's Well. 

History

This is a very old mill, in fact it’s the oldest mill in Kildare. It dates back to the 14^th century.   There are actually three buildings in one and in a survay in 1654 one of the buildings was found to be in ruins, probably destroyed by Cromwell’s men because of its use to the Irish.

As you enter the red-lead painted door of the the building you can see the name and date of “Flood 1810”.    The Floods also owned a mill just one and a half miles away from this one.

  Later in the 19^th century the land was taken over by the local landlord “George Mansfield”.    Although Mansfield supported the English government he also supported the Irish in his area and generously gave £15 when the famine collection came around.

Finally in 1988 the mill was bought and renovation began by Eoin O’ Toole.   He has been rebuilding the wheel (inside and outside) and he has turned the top floors into a recording studio and an art gallery.

Milling

People think that milling is just grinding up corn to make flour but, it's a little more than that.

It all starts at a river, in our case the river Liffey.   The water turns a large wooden wheel, which turns a 'pit' wheel, which turns a  'wallower’ wheel, which in turn turns a crown wheel, which turns the millstones, upstairs.

The millstones grind the corn into rough flour.  The rough flour is ground again.    If it still has lumps in it, it is sieved to get the lumps out.

 The flour is then sold and eventually turned into bread.

Mill Power

Most people know what the mill does, but do they know what powers it?   It's simple, it is powered by hydro-power or water power.

First the race was dug, to channel the water from the Liffey.  Then a ‘head race’ is let in by a  sluice gate which turns  the big water-wheel.   The water goes out in a ‘tail race’ while turning the pit wheel which turns a ‘wallower’ wheel, that turns a ‘crown’wheel which turn’s the millstones upstairs.[see diagram on page ]

Drawings

Structure

We don’t know for sure when the mill was built because we don’t have archeological records but we think it was built in the 14^th to 15^th centuries.

At first it was used locally to grind wheat and oats for feeding animals and humans.   The stone is a unique type of limestone, (Probably got in local areas).

Oliver Cromwell came to Ireland in the 1640s and destroyed the mill and everything else that the people needed.    When Cromwell's adventurers put their claims to land the civil survey of 1654 recorded Yeomanstown as a "watermill but ruinated and waste. "

  In the 18^th century a portion of the new mill was built, probably two stories.   The walls in the pit section are 4 foot thick.   The water ran threw the pit wheel in the middle ages and flowed through a tunnel in his garden and back into the Liffey.

The present mill is four storeys high and was built in the 18^th.century.   Some of bricks came from Birmingham and were a purplish color.   

The Sack–Hoist

This is a picture of the sack – hoist.   This was used to haul up the sacks of corn to the second floor to the grind stones.   The outside wheel has a rough stone for grip.   This was turned by hand.   There were ropes on the wooden drum shape to tie the bags onto.

The Weir

The weir is like a small dam that holds the water back so there is a constant supply of water in the headrace. A weir is really important, without a weir there would be shortages of water in the headrace and tailrace. If there were a shortage of water in the headrace the wheel wouldn’t turn properly.

Recently a net was put over the weir because it is dangerous to swimmers who use the water held back by the weir as a swimming pool.

The Mill Garden

The mills gardens are two acres of beauty, with St.Brigid's well on the grounds and Victoria Bridge at the bottom of the garden.   There is also some sculptures scattered around the garden which people who came to the mill, sculpted them themselves.

St.Brigid's well is almost covered in trees so as you walk by you hardly notice it.   There is a "Triple Ash Tree" growing beside the well and that is funny because St.Brigid's was known as a triple goddess of "Smithcraft, healing and poetry".

  There is also a hazelnut tree growing beside the well and it is believed that the salmon of knowledge fed on the nuts that fell of a hazelnut tree over where it swam.

In the back garden there is a small statue of a "Buddha" surrounded with flowers and it is also holding a flower, the Buddha brings peace and relaxation to the garden.

For such a huge area of space it is very well kept and the River Liffey and the wheel are a lovely feature to the outside of the mill.

Future for the Mill

The present owner, Eoin O’Toole, has many plans for the future such as:

1.  Arts research for tourists.

2. Hire of studio facilities, Sound recording and Graphic and Visual Arts studios.

3. Arts and antique Gallery.

4. Music, drama and poetry recitals,book launches, General functions and small business conferences.

5.  Telematic facilities hire for design work etc. to local small industry and others.

 Eoin O’Toole and his family have been living in the mill since 1988.  A mill may seem like a funny place to live but it’s just like a normal house with a sitting room, kitchen and bedrooms. 

The business in the mill has a website, which tells you more about the work that goes on there. The website address is:  www.iol.ie/~larc.     

How we did it.

Ten of us pupils from 6^th class, Caragh National School began work on this project a few weeks ago. We started by going on a tour guided by the owner of the mill, Eoin O’ Toole. He showed us every room and explained it all in great detail how each worked and what each one was for. As we walked around we also took notes and our teacher; Mr. Murphy filmed it all on the camera.

 We gained a lot of information from a book named "The Book of the Liffey, from the source to the sea" by Elizabeth Healy, Christopher Moriarty and Gerard O’ Flaherty.

  We also gained information from the LARC website @ www.iol.ie/~larc.

Over the past few years we have been learning to use computers in school. For this project we have learned to use the digital camera and scanner to load and edit things onto the computer.

All of us had a great time doing this project we hope you enjoyed it as much as we have.

This book was made by: Sarah Byrne, Laura Caffrey, Amanda Conlon, Richard Hadnett, Daryl Leavy, Derek Nolan, Patrick O’ Driscoll, Robert Power, Brenda Walsh and Tracey Walsh.

Facts