CHAPEL LANE MILL

The Chapel Lane Mill, also known as Tuam Mill or The Little Mill, is a historic watermill located in the town of Tuam in County Galway. It was built around 1825 and consists of two blocks of different heights and dates. The mill is one of the few surviving examples of an urban watermill in Ireland and has been described as “a very unusual survival of a mill in an urban location” .

The mill was powered by water from the River Nanny, which flows through the town. The water was diverted by a weir and a mill race to a large water wheel on the south side of the mill. The wheel drove the machinery inside the mill, which was used for grinding corn and other grains. The mill also had a kiln for drying the grain before milling .

The taller block of the mill is a three-bay four-storey structure that dates from around 1850. It has a pitched roof covered with corrugated iron and lime-rendered walls with a string course between the first and second floors. The windows are square-headed with stone sills and timber sliding sash frames. The lower block is a three-bay three-storey structure that was added slightly later. It has similar features to the taller block, but with smaller windows and no string course .

On occasions the mill is open to the public and sometimes also hosts small events but the mill is need of conservation and preservation. It is a protected structure under the Galway County Development Plan 2015-2021 and is listed in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage as being of regional significance. The mill is an important part of the industrial heritage of Tuam and Galway and represents a rare example of a water-powered urban mill in Ireland .