Windmill, Rush, Co. Dublin
Co. Dublin |
Kilns
In the middle of Rush village, on a small triangular green, sits a squat cylindrical tower that most people pass without a second glance.
It was once a working windmill, its sails long gone, its rendered exterior now covered in graffiti. What remains is the bare bones of an industrial past that once shaped this coastal Dublin community, quietly occupying an artificial rise that was itself constructed to give the mill's sails the best possible catch of wind.
The structure is three storeys tall with an external diameter of 6.10 metres and walls nearly a metre thick, built from randomly coursed masonry, meaning the stones are laid without regular horizontal courses, giving the surface an uneven, almost improvised texture. It was once finished with a smooth render coat, which has since fallen away. The tower retains two opposed doorways, one to the north and one to the south, each with flat segmental arches, now closed off with metal doors. Light enters the interior through narrow slit openings, known as slit opes, positioned above the doors on the south-east and north-north-east sides. A relieving arch, a structural device used to redirect weight away from an opening below, survives on the east side. A basement feature extends roughly two metres to the south-east of the tower, hinting at the ancillary infrastructure that would have supported the mill's operation. The vault arch has been stabilised, suggesting some conservation work has taken place to prevent further deterioration. The site was documented by Healy in 1975 and recorded by Geraldine Stout, with details later updated by Christine Baker.
The tower sits in plain sight on the green at the centre of Rush and requires no special access. Because the doorways are sealed, there is no way inside, but the exterior can be examined closely from all sides. The graffiti is dense enough that the original masonry texture is easier to read at the base and where patches have worn through. The relieving arch on the east face and the slit opes are the most architecturally legible features from the outside. The artificial mound on which the tower stands is subtle but noticeable once you know to look for it, a small but deliberate intervention in an otherwise flat coastal landscape.