(157) Glen Dhoo Mill

Near the end of the somewhat hidden Glen Dhoo - a U-shaped glacial valley with steeply sloping sides and raising ground to the south - the associated farm is about 50m from the mill though all are now tholtans, the left most wall was on the edge of the rapidly rising valley side..

There is the remains of the wheel case - small probably overshot, there is a stone which appeared to have been the support for the spindle. Marked as a Tuck Mill on the 1868 plan but around this period one of the three Shimmin brothers was described as a nailer - possibly the mill worked a bellows for the fire and a hammer. Christian refers to a letter by Anne Duff, the child of the last tenants of the farm, in the 1930s that it was a flax mill - flax was a common crop in the late 18th Century but had declined by mid 19th. The report by Davey et al also raised queries as to age and function of the small mill.

Henry Cadman, though describing Glen Dhoo as "one of Mona's most charming glens" comments that in dry weather the bed in many places is quite dried up and he wonders how any trout survive..

The stream flows through a boggy area - the leat is no longer visible but there is a level raised causeway which follows the stream bed until the stream diverts away and the causeway joins the rising ground towards the valley end - possibly the leat was a wooden channel on top of this causeway providing a head of about 3-4m of water.

References

Sarah L Christian From Travail to Tranquility: A Social History of Glen Dhoo Ballaugh
P Davey et al Upper Glendhoo Ballaugh Interim Report Centre for Manx Sudies 1997 ISBN 1-899-338-05-6

		Water powered Mills etc
Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received The Editor © F.Coakley , 2023