There is nothing to see, no stone, no wheel, no millrace, yet the Steine Mill is one of the older named industrial sites that Dublin's documentary record preserves, a working watermill that once drew its power from a river that no longer exists above ground.

The mill took its name from the River Steine, a small watercourse that flowed through what is now the southern city centre before being culverted and eventually absorbed into the urban fabric entirely. A watermill of this kind would have used the river's flow to turn a wheel, which in turn drove millstones to grind grain, a commonplace enough technology in medieval towns but one that required consistent water supply and regular maintenance. The Steine Mill is first mentioned in the historical record in 1276, which places it firmly in the period of Anglo-Norman Dublin. It was repaired in 1297, suggesting it remained in active use, but by 1462 it was described as ruinous and in need of rebuilding, a trajectory familiar to many medieval urban structures that passed through phases of use, neglect, and attempted recovery. These details come from Clarke's survey of medieval Dublin and from earlier cartographic and archival work by Bradley and King.

Because there are no visible surface remains, a visit here is really an exercise in reading the city rather than observing a monument. The location, just outside the west front of Trinity College, is one of the busiest pedestrian junctions in Dublin, with College Green and Dame Street close by. Knowing that a river once ran here, and that a mill stood on its bank sometime before 1276, gives an odd texture to an otherwise entirely modern streetscape. The River Steine is sometimes identified on historical maps of the city, and tracking down one of those, whether in the National Library or in a good atlas of Dublin's historic cartography, is probably the most rewarding way to situate the mill in its original landscape.