Statistical Survey of the County of Clare, 1808

By Hely Dutton

State of mills of every kind

THE mills, that dress flour, are those of

Grist-mills

Tuck-mills

The tuck-mills receive 1d. per bundle of twenty-seven inches for milling; a piece shortens about one-third in the operation, sometimes more, or less, according to the use intended to be made of it, or the fancy of the owner of the cloth; these mills are of very rude construction, and almost always use more water than necessary, from the improper construction of their water-wheels, and the bad condition, in which they are generally kept; they are mostly a great nuisance in a country, throwing back water on great tracts of ground, and converting that water, which would manure many thousand acres of ground to a purpose, that could be equally well effected by wind. The rape-mill at Skarriff is conducted by Mr. James Flannery; I was informed he could procure as much seed as he can manufacture. It appeared to me, that he lost much of the oil from want of sufficient pressure, and I have no doubt his rape-cake would make excellent manure, from the quantity of oil remaining in it. This mill is highly useful, as an inducement to the cultivation of rape in bogs. The river Ougarnee, running through Six-mile-bridge into the Shannon, is one of the best calculated I have seen for extensive manufactures; the supply is equal to any expenditure of water, in the midst of a fine corn country, and contiguous to Limerick, Ennis, Six-mile-bridge, the Shannon, &c. &c. From Ballymacastle to Six-mile-bridge the fall is so rapid, that there could be a mill erected at every hundred yards.

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