newmills corn and flax mills

One of the few monuments of industrial archaeology in state care in the Republic is the complex of mills at Newmills, three miles west of Letterkenny.

It was operated for centuries by the Gallagher family until it ceased functioning in 1982. Water was siphoned off from the River Swilly for the quarter-of-a-mile long mill-race which fed two separate mills in turn. The upper mill, with much of its machinery still in place, was for flax, used in the making of linen, while the lower mill, which ground barley and oats, was turned by one of the largest surviving Irish Mill-wheels, made in 1867.

The whole complex is an interesting reminder of a stage in the industrial development of this country which has now given way to a more sophisticated, but usually far less fascinating technology. The visitor to Newmills can experience the pleasure of seeing one of the largest waterwheels in Ireland in action as it drives the machinery of the corn mills.