Ep 38: A Real Working Windmill in Ireland

When you drive through Blennervile to get to the Dingle Peninsula you can’t miss what Blennerville is known for; a real working windmill. It’sfive stories high and for nearly 100 years it ground grain into four to support Englad when it was at war with France. This magnificent windmill is just a part of Blennerville’s history but it is a very important part of Blennerville’s history and of its current day economy too. both history and current day Blennerville.

The Blennerville windmill and the Blennerville Bridge.

It proved an economic stabilizer for the town back in the day putting people to work. When the steam engine came in and outdated the wind power that was always used the mill ceased to run, But the town recognized that you simply can’t drive through Blennerville without wondering about the magnificent windmill on the water’s edge. So they restored it, and built a museum to show off what it that windmill once meant to the town.

How the Blennerville Windmill works.

The gears that make the Blennerville Windmill work.

What Blennerville looked like when the Windmill was working fulltime.

You can climb the five stories, see the gears in action and stroll through the town’s history and see how its role in Irish history changed over time.

Flour was put into sacks and dropped five stories to the carts below.

Daily tours take you up the 5 stories of the windmill and Desi and Dolan are happy to show you how the grain was milled and how it was fed into bags that were dropped down the five stories to farmers waiting at the bottom with their carts.

The railroad through Blennerville in replica.

The museum adds in stories of the ships that sailed from Blenerville, how the town became a transportation hub and how the railroad that helped push Blennerville into the future.