Eastern
County Down together with
northeast County Wexford have a denser population of windmills
than anywhere in the country, this may be because of the
flatness of the terrain and the consequential lack of sizable
streams to power water mills.
There are many windmill
stumps scattered around the county, it is said that at one
time there were over 100 working mills in County
Down, only Ballycopeland Windmill has survived. It has been
restored to full working condition, the attached Miller's
House forms part of this unique and interesting visitor
attraction.
It is uncertain
when it was built but it is estimated around the 1780s or 90s,
it first appeared on a Ordnance Survey map of the area in 1830s.
The Ballycopeland Windmill
is of the tower type with a mobile cap this is moved by a fantail
in order to keep the sales facing the prevailing wind. There are
two entrance doors the west door allows access should the main
east door be blocked by the
sails.
The mill and Miller's house
are open to
the public.
The advent of the industrial
revolution and the adoption of roller milling, where the grain
is crushed between rotating rollers led to the centralization
of milling, which came to be based near large seaports when foreign
grain began to be imported. This led to a slow decline in the
use of wind power as well as water mills, most in their twylight
years were only used to process animal feed for local farmers.
By the early years of the twentieth century, most windmills had
fallen into disuse a few water powered cornmills survived into
the 1950's.
There are three other restored
wind mills in Ireland. At the moment we do not have their contact
details, contact the relevant county tourist office. The mills
are Tacumshin in Co
Wexford, Bllenerville in Co
Kerry and Elphin in Co
Roscommon.
the public.
