flour milling

flour milling. By the early 17th century, water‐powered flour mills had begun to replace domestic production using hand‐operated querns. With the expansion of arable farming in Ireland during the 18th century, and a growing demand for meal and flour, the number of mills increased significantly. Many utilized the new technologies that had been pioneered within the British milling industry; the larger and more sophisticated concerns shelled and sifted the flour prior to grinding. After grinding, the flour was bolted mechanically. Grain and flour were also moved around these mills using mechanical hoists and elevators.

By 1835 there were almost 2,000 corn mills operating in Ireland and it was during this period, when the population was highest and exports to Britain were also significant, that the industry probably reached its peak output. Irish flour had a privileged position in the British market until the repeal in 1846 of the corn laws that had excluded foreign grain from the United Kingdom. Flour milling was largely concentrated in the wheat‐growing areas of Munster and Leinster, with a number of very large mills in or near the larger port towns where millers could exploit urban markets and the export trade. Clonmel, situated inland in the heart of a major grain‐growing area, was by far the largest milling centre in the country, exporting most of its flour to Britain through Waterford. The repeal of the corn laws and the transport revolution altered the supply conditions in the UK market and by the late 1870s American wheat began to undermine the Irish trade, damaging the business of inland mills. However, a number of roller mills were established in the decades after 1879, Shackleton's of Carlow being the first, and the industry—increasingly concentrated in large steam‐driven mills located in the major ports—was able to make a recovery by milling imported grain.

Bibliography

Cullen, L. , ‘Corn Milling in Ireland during the Eighteenth Century’, Irish Economic and Social History, 4 (1977)
Mc Cutcheon, W. , ‘The Corn Mill in Ulster’, Ulsterfolklife, 15–16 (1970)

Andrew Bielenberg