[7] In 1803, during the Napoleonic Wars, this mill was purchased by the Government for £20,000 and converted for uses as a barracks and stables, though part of the premises was leased back to Lynch.

[7] Eighteen years later, with both Lynch and the barracks gone, the Government sold the building to Lord Midleton's brother, the Archbishop of Cashel, for £1,750, a steep discount on what they had paid for it.

[7] On 20 December 1825, Lord Midleton sold the property for £4,000 to three brothers, James, Daniel and Jeremiah Murphy, who hoped to convert it for use as a distillery, the 1823 Excise Act having made distillation far more financially attractive.

[9] The ambition of the Murphys (and the effect of the 1823 excise reforms) is underlined by the fact that just two years earlier, the largest pot still in Ireland had a capacity of just 750 gallons.

[2] The distillery, which was lit by gas, was reported to have an output in excess of 1,000,000 gallons per annum, and to produce a whiskey known as "The Cork Whisky Make".

These included, the rise of blended Scotch whisky, Prohibition in the United States, the Anglo-Irish trade war (which locked Irish exports out of the British Empire).