Found this old corn mill while driving all over the place looking for the nearby Athcarne Castle. Very little information about this site online, though it seems to have been built in the late 1600s/early 1700s by the Walsh family. Historical records show the importance of corn mills to the local economy in the 17th and 18th centuries with over 100 corn mills throughout Meath recorded in a 1654 census. The large beautiful house right across the road from the mill was built by the Walsh family in the 1760s, it is now high-end self catering accommodation The old mill is an incredibly interesting and imposing building with a disused waterway running through it, the waterway would’ve been used for power and for transportation and seems to have been a man-made canal leading to the nearby River Nanny. I would recommend parking a bit up the road from the entrance and scooting into the building super fast as someone from the house across the road started shouting at me as I left!
GPS: 53.6214, -6.48026
I remember this old corn mill well and the fine Georgian house which stood just across the road from it .The Murphys were there in my time, I think they had bought it from the Walsh family.. The present structure and the mill race leading from the Nanny river would seem to date from the early 19th century. A lease dated 2 Jan. 1840 Melinda Osborne of Ballymagarvey to Sir Wm. Somerville the then mill owner sets 1 rood and 21 perches to him for the construction of a mill race and the withdrawal of water from the river on Ballymagarvey land under strict conditons. All gone now, the Osbornes, Somervilles, Walshs, even the mill is but a shadow of its former self as the machinery still existing was sold for scrap during World War 2. Athcarne Castle had a magnificent bedroom where King James was supposed to have slept on his way to the Battle of the Boyne. Wonder if it is still there ?
Believe it or not but there are still descendants of the Walsh family still alive.
Cecily are you a descendant? My great grandfather was Richard Walsh who is buried there I believe.
I am a descendant My Great grandfather was Richard Walter Walsh.There is a a gathering of the Walsh clan and extended families on Saturday 21 July 2018 in Reddans Neptune Hotel, Bettystown. Co. Meath. My brother James is organising this.
He has an extensive family tree on the Walsh Family. Unfortunately I don’t think Richard Walsh from England can make it.
My brother has to charge 15 euro a head to cover cost of renting the room and for finger food. My e mail address id cecilywalsh25@hotmail.com
I am so sorry for not getting back to you but I haven’t been to this site since 2016.