The name Gardens suggests a demesne setting, the kind of cultivated landscape that grew up around Anglo-Norman and later Anglo-Irish estates, where mills were as much a mark of economic organisation as they were a practical necessity. A mill in such a context would typically have served to grind grain from the surrounding estate lands, its wheel driven by a diverted stream or mill race, the water channelled and controlled by whoever held authority over the land. That combination of landscape management and milling technology points to a site with a longer story than its quiet designation lets on.