A piece of lost Cork industrial history comes up for sale

Preview of upcoming sales at Fonsie Mely's and Morgan O'Driscoll

Watermill thought to be O'Sullivan's Mill at Blarney attributed to Henry Brocas at Fonsie Mealy.

A lost piece of Cork industrial history features at Fonsie Mely's Irish and International art sale at Castlecomer next November 16. A c1810 watercolour of a watermill attributed to Henry Brocas senior has been identified as likely to be the five-storey mill that once stood in the village of Blarney beside the River Martin. The flax mill, owned by James B. O'Sullivan, flourished for several decades. Little remains of it today as it was demolished to make way for the Blarney Woollen Mills. Among more than 400 lots in the upcoming sale is a design by Daniel MacLise for a Cork Art Exhibition Medal in 1852.

An arresting double-walled thrown porcelain bowl with velvet underglaze by Grainne Watts sits comfortably among the sculptures at Morgan O'Driscoll's Irish and International art sale.