Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB09/05/020 D

Address :
Loughry Mill group of buildings Loughry Agricultural College Cookstown Co Tyrone BT80 8AD

Townland:
Ballygroogan

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Mill

Former Use
Mill

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
Yes

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
124/15

IG Ref:
H8132 7437

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Owner Category

Central Govt

Exterior Description And Setting

This is a mill complex in the grounds of Loughry College, built c.1790, now vacant. The complex comprises a stone mill building in a series of connected farm buildings, a single storey stone powerhouse and the associated river, millrace and sluice gates. It is located on the periphery of the Loughry College estate; formerly the country estate of the Lindesay family. The mill building comprises a long rectangular block to the south, adjacent and parallel with the river and millrace. It is two-storey. The roof is pitched with slate covering. Rainwater goods are plastic. This block is gable-ended with a pitched roof. To the east end a smaller single-storey block runs perpendicular to the main block but does not meet it at the corner. At the northern end of this block a two-storey block, square in plan, projects in front of the single storey block. Both blocks to the east lean against a taller party wall to an adjoining building. The south block also runs into this party wall. Between the southern block and the river to the south is the small square powerhouse, located about halfway along the length of the southern block. This is a single storey building with a pyramidal roof. It stands over the millrace and is open through the floor into it. The machinery is still in position. Roof finishes are generally slate. The millrace is separated from the main river to the west, where it changes direction from flowing south to the east. A sluice gate controls the flow of water into the millrace. There is a large stepped weir across the river at this point and a second sluice gate next to this. This second gate would allow the flow of the river to bypass the weir if opened. Mill: The south elevation is coursed rubble with flush cut-stone quoins. The block is in two halves. The eastern half is single storey; the western half is two-storey. There are a variety of square-headed window openings, which have red-brick surrounds and cut-stone sills. A variety of small irregular openings in the wall appear to indicate the location of the machinery that connected the powerhouse to the mill. A long lintel in this area at first floor level may have been extra support for machinery or may indicate a larger opening which has been closed up. Some of the openings have timber window frames; all appear to be boarded up from the inside. The west gable elevation is painted stone. There is a tall square-headed window opening to the attic with a timber window and cut-stone sill. There are two much smaller similar window openings to the lower level. There are also numerous vents to this wall. The roof is slate with a flush finish at the eaves. The north elevation is also painted stone. There are two large square-headed door openings and three smaller square headed openings to the ground floor. These are irregularly spaced and of various sizes. They have timber sliding doors, with painted metal skirts over the rails to the heads. There are square-headed window openings as previous to the ground floor and five to the upper. Some of these may have been added or altered at a later date. There are also numerous small vents to the wall. There are long rectangular skylights to the single-storey section. There are three painted roof monitors with timber louvres and pitched slate roofs to the single-storey section. East Block: The single-storey block to the east is flat-roofed and the walls are a mixture of painted brick and stone. It appears to be of a later date than the south block. It is a row of four similar sheds or workshops, each having a square-headed door opening with timber tongue and groove door and one or two square-headed windows. The windows have timber frames with eight panes and cut-stone sills. There are two cut-stone steps to each door. Rainwater goods are cast-iron; the roof covering is not visible. Powerhouse: The powerhouse is situated between the south block of the mill building and the river to the south. It appears to be more recent than the rest of the mill buildings and is possibly a replacement for an earlier structure. It sits directly over the millrace. It is square in plan, with coursed partially dressed stone walls. It has a pavilion roof with slate covering with a decorative cast-iron ball finial to the apex. The south front elevation faces the river and has a segmental-headed door opening to the right. This has a cut-stone surround with quoins to the edges and voussoirs over. The door is replacement tongue and groove with modern irongmongery. To the left is a segmental-headed window opening with surround as before and a cut stone sill. The window is timber-framed with nine panes and a metal grille over the outside. The east side elevation has a single central window opening, segmental-headed with surround and sill as before. It is twice the size of the front window, having eighteen panes. The rear north elevation has no openings. The cast-iron downpipe descends to the left of this elevation. The west side elevation has a single large central segmental-headed opening, with surround as before. This is open to the interior. The opening is over the millrace and access is provided by a modern steel grille bridge with simple steel guarding. The walls are in coursed partially dressed stone with cut-stone quoins to all four corners. The roof is slate and the rainwater goods are cast-iron. The gutters are supported on scroll brackets. Setting: The mill complex is located in an enclosed farm yard to the west of Loughry house; it is adjacent to the north side of the fast flowing Killymoon river. The southern side of the river bank side is quite over grown. A footbridge crosses the river in front of the mill. To the southern bank of the river there is a gate to the footbridge. The northern bank of the river and both banks of the millrace have stone retaining walls. These are in partially dressed coursed rubble with raised pointing to some sections. To the west of the footbridge are the weir and sluice gates. The weir is built in four steps, with a bypass sluice gate next to it. The sluice gate to the millrace is located slightly further upstream to the north. The sluice gate next to the weir is timber with twin lifting gears. Ratchets and rollers are still in place. The gate to the millrace has been replaced or augmented with galvanised steel, and has the same lifting mechanism as before. The weir and gates are in fairly good repair.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

These buildings are first shown on the second edition OS map of 1905. They are undoubtedly the ‘saw mill’ and ‘offices’ recorded by the valuers as being added to the site by the then owner of Loughry, Frederick Lindesay, in 1863. New offices [i.e. outbuildings] are recorded as having been added within the vicinity by later owner, John Wilson Fleming in 1902, however it is uncertain where these where actually located. Loughry Demesne was sold to the Irish Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction and became the Ulster Dairy School (now Loughry College of Agriculture and Food Technology]. It is not known what use the mill complex was put to after this date, but latterly the building appear to have been used as stores. [For the history of Loughry House etc. see HB09/05/020A, B.] References- Primary sources 1 PRONI VAL/12B/37/21A Annual valuation revision book, Tullaghoge ED, 1860-63 2 PRONI VAL/12B/37/21B Annual valuation revision book, Tullaghoge ED, 1864-80 3 ‘Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1870) 4 ‘Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1880) 5 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5C Annual valuation revision book, Tullaghoge ED, 1881 6 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5D Annual valuation revision book, Tullaghoge ED, 1881-94 7 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5E Annual valuation revision book, Tullaghoge ED, 1895-1912 8 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster directory’ 1902- (Belfast News-Letter, 1902- ) 9 PRONI OS/6/6/38/3 OS map, Co. Tyrone sheet 38, c.1905 10 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5F Annual valuation revision book, Tullaghoge ED, 1913-29 11 PRONI VAL/3B/7/5 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Tullaghoge ED 1935 12 PRONI VAL/3C/7/7 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Tullaghoge ED, 1936-57 13 PRONI VAL/4B/6/9 Second general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Tullaghoge ED, 1956-72 14 PRONI VAL/14A/126 Third general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Sandholes ED, 1975 15 PRONI VAL/14B/174 Third general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Sandholes ED, 1976-87 16 PRONI VAL/14C/156 Third general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Sandholes ED, 1987-93 Secondary sources 1 Godfrey, Ernest, ‘The Lindesays of Loughry, Co. Tyrone- a genealogical history’ (London, 1949) 2 ‘Loughry through the ages’ (DANI, ?2000)

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This mill complex including outbuildings shares group value with the adjacent Loughry house. Typical plain detailing has been substantially preserved. Although there have been a number of alterations including the rebuilding of the power house it, nevertheless, retains much of its original character and setting, but is not of the same special interest as the other listed structures on the site. Please note that this building is located within a Grade A Historic Park and is therefore protected under policy BH6.

General Comments

Date of Survey

03 January 2008