Author: Paul

We are all familiar with the beautiful imposing Cregg Mill building, a landmark in our parish, which has been carefully maintained and occupied up to the present day. However, at one time, this was just one of three mills in a milling complex on the Cregg River, demonstrating a rich history in milling in this area spanning at least the last four centuries. The building we call ‘Cregg Mill’ today was originally known as Drumgriffin Mill, with the original Cregg Mill across the river in Aucloggeen on the Cregg Estate, and the Aucloggeen Mill across the road.
Milling in Annaghdown Parish is first recorded in the Books of Survey and Distribution, where Andrew Kirwan is listed in 1641 as the proprietor of a ‘Grist Mill & Tucking Mill under one Roofe’ in Craigebulline Cooley (now Cregg townland). There are only 15 mills listed in Co. Galway in this period with most described as Mill’ or ‘Little Mill’. There is only one other grist mill recorded in the county, and only three corn mills. Grist mills ground cereals into flour and tuck mills were a step in the process of woollen cloth making.

The foundation stone for St Brendan’s was laid in 1831, under the direction of parish priest Rev. Raymond Hargadon. The building was part of a wave of new churches built throughout the country following the relaxation of the Penal Laws under the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829. The church is actually located in the townland of Carrowbeg South, and replaced a thatched chapel in Corrandulla townland, the ruins of which can be seen in the present cemetery. The site appears to have been supplied by the Blake family of Cregg Castle, who later provided the adjoining site for the Franciscan Monastery and Boys’ School. The church is built to a standard cruciform plan, along an inverted liturgically-correct axis (east to west rather than west to east). It consists of a two-bay double-height nave opening into single-bay transepts centred on the chancel, with a pitched slate roof, and with a single-bay three-stage tower on a square plan attached to the main entrance.