Vinegar Hill Windmill

This free standing truncated single stage cylindrical windmill tower was the command centre during the 1798 Rebellion on Vinegar Hill. The tower, with an external diameter of 4.6m, survives to the first floor at a height of c. 4.5m. On the west side of the tower is a doorway to the first floor which was lit by three slit windows. The doorway frame is square headed with a cut-granite step threshold. The bricks of the doorway frame are red brick with voussoirs decoration (tapered stone used to construct an arch). The tower was built in the 17^th/18^th centuries and represents the industrial heritage of the area. By 1839 the windmill was recorded to be in ruins.

Vinegar Hill windmill stands as a silent witness to the beginning of the end for the United Irishmen’s uprising against the Crown forces. This is the site where 20,000 highly skilled men commanded by General Gerard Lake, armed with cannons and muskets, surrounded the hill and attacked the 15,000 men, women and children armed with pikes and scythes. The Irish ballad, ‘The Croppy Boy’ depicts the fate of the United Irishmen rebels who were nicknamed Croppy due to their cropped hair. The attack, on 21 June 1798, lasted four hours.

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This national monument is protected in accordance with the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014