"Gilded watermills of Ireland"

Bealick Mill: enchantment flowing serenely

Rhythmically communing with a lovely watermill

Watermills are as fine a piece of machinery and as delightful an heritage site as one could hope to meet. There is one in Kilbeggan, county Westmeath, beside the old whiskey distillery, which is most pleasing, but Bealick Mill, outside Macroom, county Cork (West Cork) is particularly enchanting. It's one of these places where the elements seem to blend together to shower one's being in a fountain of knowledge. I just wanted to sit down on the ground by the river Larney and let its serene flow flood my being; I just wanted to lie down on the ground, and let my heart beat and my soul rhythmically commune with the rotating spin of the mill's wheels. And it seems only fitting that it is to be found in the heart of West Cork, which is much like South Armagh, in that it has all the credentials and characteristics of a republic within itself! 

Impressive facade of the Heritage and Crafts Centre

The building and mill has quite a dignified and strong history: erected in the early nineteenth century having once housed the first public electrical generator in Ireland, the potentialities and scope of opportunities that it could also in time be utilised for, are many:

1) Could some sort of arts and crafts co-op be set up - the building being the lynch pin for it? (of course, Rosscarbery in the district of West Cork, was the progenitor of the first great Co-op in Europe, established by William Thompson in 1824!).

2) Although the days of the CE Schemes providing part-time community work for people are now gone, perhaps as my host said to me, people could be induced into volunteering to assist in the day to day activities of the centre. The old Gaelic concept of the Meitheal springs to mind - so vital and relevant now - of the community as a whole mucking in together for the common good, and taking the workload off one individual, who has been rendered and burdened into near exhaustion; this mode of thought could be applied for the betterment of the Heritage Centre.

THE ACOUSTIC THERAPY OF WATERMILLS

There is something really relaxing about watermills; the locomotion at work, the rotation of the wheels, the full revolution and cycle of the movement and spin, reflecting the sun and the earth in their circumnavigations, me thinks! But they also symbolically, seem to replicate the meanderings of mother earth, the veering and swaying of the circadian currents of the human body, and the human heartbeat when totally in harmony and balanced. They are such simple pieces of machinery; yet, as always, with the simple, the simple things can produce and reap the greatest dividend; for the value of the watermill is infinitesimal, just like the windmill etc.

Where elements seem to blend together

IRELAND'S FIRST WATERMILL

According to the annals and chronicles of ancient Ireland, the nation's first watermill, was established by King Cormac MacArt (who reigned circa 260 AD) by the Gabhra river in the Tara/Skyrne Valley, to alleviate the toil of a local woman, who was carrying pails of water on her back! Cormac MacArt is generally accepted to have been an historical figure so the story might well be true. The probable location of the mill was near Brundlestown, which is now the interchange for the M3 motorway!



Beelick Watermill is a lovely mill, with a setting as picturesque as if in some Impressionist painting; the River Larney is as quaint as a water siren playing for the first time, and the building is an architectural gem - as aesthetically pleasing as any of the great houses of Ireland. The stream and the mill are like pieces of enchantment on a mosaic floor to behold - for they will embolden and brighten your day. Ach sure just let your thoughts float away and start dreaming....

PS Opposite here there are some standing stones to be found, which mark the site of a battle involving Brian Boru in the late 900's. I'll have to return to see them!

The hypnotic wheel turn of a watermill