When harnessing water for power in the 1700s things seem to have been pretty simple on the face of it.

In a three step process:

1. You acquired land 'on' a river

2. You didn't publish too much information so as to protect your idea and  secure permissions etc. ( if the establishment got wind of your potential to prosper from water activities, up front charges could be handsome).

3. Move forward with securing any necessary water rights, more often than not, in this part of the world, with the Honourable, The Irish Society.

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Then, you just got on with it.

Bearing in mind there were no earth moving machines, laser theodolites or , even, highly accurate maps, a great deal of the work relied on a keen eye and an expert, 'local' understanding of the seasons,  flow rates and fall of the ground.

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In the 1700s available materials, (basically, stone / timber!!) and the manpower needed for large construction very much limited the  scale of activities.

 

 As a result the process was as simple as choosing a good spot and building your structure so that the water wheel dipped into the water as in the diagram below:

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As can be seen in June Clark's watercolour, The Old Middle House will have used this principle, initially, with the water wheel turned by the flow of the river.

The waterwheel in turn (!!) would be attached by cogs and gears and used to turn moving machinery parts.