The mill that now occupies the site is comparatively recent by that measure, yet it too has considerable age behind it, and the layering of activity here, prehistoric, medieval, post-medieval, makes this a quietly loaded corner of north County Dublin.

The watermill at Balrothery appears in 16th-century records of monastic possessions for the parish of Holmpatrick, where it is listed among the properties and revenues belonging to the parish (White, 1943). By the time of the Civil Survey of 1654 to 1656, it was already being described as a decayed watermill, suggesting it had fallen out of use or into disrepair during the upheavals of the mid-17th century (Simington, 1945). The present complex dates to the 19th century and was built on or immediately adjacent to that earlier site. Watermills of this type typically harnessed a reliable stream to turn a horizontal or vertical wheel, which drove millstones for grinding grain; they were essential infrastructure for any farming community and frequently changed hands between ecclesiastical and secular owners across the centuries. Fingal County Council undertook restoration work on the complex, as noted by Ni Ghabhlain in 1987, which has preserved something of its structural character.

The site sits towards the base of a prominent ridge that looks out over Skerries and the coast. The restored mill complex is the most immediately visible element, but anyone with an interest in the longer prehistory of the area should note the sloping field to the rear, where those early flints were recovered during fieldwalking. Access to the surrounding landscape is straightforward from Balrothery village, and the elevated ground of the ridge offers orientation across a stretch of north Dublin coastline that would have been equally legible to the people who left those stone tools behind.