Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB14/06/055 B

Address :
Cricket Pavilion Liddel's Mill 43 Main Street Donaghcloney

Townland:
Donaghacloney

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
22/06/2010 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Pavillion

Former Use
Pavillion

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
202/1SW

IG Ref:
J1290 5340

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

The cricket pavilion is a single-storey, double-pile Domestic Revival-Style structure of 1900-01, which may have been designed by Hobart & Heron architects. A predominant feature is the applied ‘half-timbered’ gables; either side has paired gables while the front and rear are matching centrally positioned gablets. The front facade includes a raised and recessed veranda. Each of the facades is symmetrical. To the rear there are two later lean-to toilet extensions. The pavilion is roughly square in plan. It has an overhanging double-gabled roof finished with natural slate and red fireclay pierced ridge tiles and gable finials (some damaged). There are shaped and exposed rafter tails which support ogee cast-iron guttering and circular down pipes. The walls are finished with red clay facing brick resting on a chamfered base, with the applied half timbering to each of the gables. The front (east-facing) elevation has a hooped wrought-iron fence delineating a small ‘garden enclosure’. Central steps are framed with side-walls and plain pillars rise to an open veranda. The overhanging roof is supported centrally on square timber pillars with curved timber braces and at either side on brick piers. The braces rise off plain timber dosserets. To the centre are paired flat-headed door openings with flat brick arch lintels and bull-nosed reveals with chamfer stops. The doors are timber sheeted with paired glazed panels. To either side is a flat-headed window opening with four-light timber frames with top-hung openers. Reveals and sills are painted timber. The veranda is protected along its outer edge with a later wrought-iron railing with scrolled motif. The north and south facades are mirror imaged but otherwise identical, barring the insertion of a later modern window frame and a centrally positioned pass door, to the south façade. To either side and centred on each gable is a flat-headed window opening. Frames are essentially as before with four lights and top hung openers but with semi-circular features to the top-opener frames. A semi-circular door opening exposes the ends of the veranda. To either side of the rear (west) facade is an externally accessed lean-to toilet. To the centre is a window opening with timber frame all as before.

Architects

Hobart & Heron

Historical Information

By the early 1900s, William Liddell & Co. had become one of the leading damask manufacturers within Ulster [?the largest in the world at one point], with the firm notably supplying linen for the ill-fated Titanic. Like so many other such mills a small village of workers’ housing was constructed by the Liddells from the late 1800s, giving rise the village of Donaghcloney itself. The family also built a church (1894), a schoolhouse (1912- consecrated for use as a church c.1980), and, in common with several local mill owners, provided a cricket pitch, and, in this case, cycle track also. The aforementioned pavilion, an attractive red brick Domestic Revival building possibly also by Hobart & Heron, was added to the cricket pitch in 1900-01 at a cost of £131. History of Industrial complex that the cricket pavilion is associated with. The vicinity of Donaghcloney appears to have served as crossing point along the River Lagan, since a bridge (‘Banoge Bridge’) was constructed there in the early 18th century. With the obvious advantages of this particular site on the north-western side of the river, it is probable that linen was being produced here as early as 1742, when the property was in the hands of a linen draper by the name of Marmaduke Dempster. The Dempsters had held a large plot of land in the vicinity (from the Gill Hall estate) since 1708, and ‘Donaghcloney- Dempster Esq.’ is marked on Taylor’s and Skinner’s road map of 1777. The area remained in the family until 1806, when David Dempster sold the lease to a John Currell ‘of Moylurg’, but Currell relinquished this in 1808, and in 1812 Dempster sold it on to John Brown (1770-1834). No buildings are indicated on the site on James Williamson’s County Down map of 1810. Shortly after acquiring the land, however, John Brown is believed to have built a new bleach mill, the long narrow building to the north end of the present complex. This building carries a non-contemporary date stone (possibly c.1900) which reads ‘Jn. Brown A.D. 1813’, and is shown on the OS map of 1834 along with several other smaller structures to the west and north, and the large bleach green to the south, stretching to the river bank. The OS Memoirs of October of the same year describe the site as containing ‘a bleach green and mill the property of Mr John Brown, capable of finishing 10,000 pieces of linen per annum…[and giving] constant employment to about 16 men.’ In the valuation of the following year the long bleach mill – here referred to as containing ‘beetling mills, wash house and drying loft’- is noted as measuring 137½ft x 27 x 23, with a further beetling mill of 33 x 26½ x 9, a boiling house of 17½ x 16 x 11, a dwelling house amounting to 36½ x 19 x 10 and an accompanying ‘office’ of 21 x 19 x 9. The mill was water-driven, having 3 wheels each 15ft in diameter, all ‘in full work’ at the time of the survey. After John Brown’s death in 1837, the mill passed to his brother, James, and 14yr old son, John Shaw Brown. Part of the property, namely the house and the bleach green, were sold to Robert G. Nicholson, the owner of a bleachworks at near by Banoge townland. James Brown carried on the business and by 1840 he was reported to be employing 250 damask weavers. Upon his death in 1851 all of the land was sold to Nicholson. In 1855 William Liddell, a cousin of the Nicholsons, was given the option of acquiring the lease of both the Donaghcloney and Banoge mills. In order to finance this he went into partnership with John Shaw Brown and a Mr. Magee of Lurgan. Mr. Magee was apparently bought out in 1861, and Brown withdrew from the partnership in 1866 to found his own mill at Edenderry, near Belfast, thus leaving the entire Donaghcloney concern in the hands of the reconstituted ‘William Liddell & Co.’. During the three decades following 1835, the mill complex itself appears to have expanded on a relatively modest scale, the OS map of 1858 showing additions to the north and south ends of the large bleach mill as well as a much smaller building set at right-angle close the north end, several other small buildings immediately west, close to the river, and a narrow L-shaped structure to the south-west. Unfortunately, the second valuation of c.1861 does not provide any detail regarding the complex, other than stating that the valuation of the site was £40- unchanged from 1835. This was soon to alter somewhat dramatically as Donaghcloney, in common many other Irish linen mills, was to benefit greatly from boom in the linen industry brought about by the restrictions on cotton supplies caused by the American Civil War. Thus by 1864 the rateable value of the works had doubled to £80, and by 1867 had leapt again to £290. The latter increase was largely facilitated by the construction of a new weaving ‘factory…built to hold 280 looms’, a 30hp steam engine and a gasworks. This ‘factory’, built for the production of damask linen using power looms, appears to have been instigated by W & G Moorehead, brothers-in-law of the late Robert G. Nicholson, but shortly afterwards acquired by the newly-formed William Liddell & Co. It consisted of the square northern section of the present large single-storey north-light roofed mass of buildings to the south of the old mill of 1813, as well as the two-storey southern section of the office block and the portion linking this to the main factory. The rise of the rateable valuation to £294-10-0 may suggest an extension of the weaving factory, or possibly the construction of some of the relatively small freestanding buildings which stood to the west of the original bleach mill, (and which are shown on the 1903 OS map), but this is not certain. In 1889, however, a ‘new workshop’ consisting of two single-storey blocks of 27yds x 13 and 24 x 13 – both probably attached to the main factory- were added, raising the valuation to £300. A simple sketch of the premises printed on the cover of the firm’s catalogue of 1896 depicts what seems to be a view from the north. It shows the complex enclosed by a wall with a grand carriage entrance, which presumably stood at the south end of the drive off Main Street. The original bleach mill is shown as three-storey and is set next to an equally tall (but seemingly two-storey) structure with a bellcote- probably the (‘Rural Needs Development’) building we still see in the same position today, albeit slightly altered. According to Charles Brett (who had access to an unpublished MS history of the business) the original mill was indeed fully three-storey; whether this history drew this information solely from the 1896 drawing is not known, but it is clear that at some point the uppermost portions of the walls of the building were rebuilt in brick and the roof replaced. It should also be noted that the valuers record it as being 23ft high in 1835, and 19ft in 1908. Internal evidence shows that all of the floors have been replaced and the uppermost floor structure has been removed to create a double-height first floor level, however this removal seems to have taken place at more recent date, after the upper portions of the walls were rebuilt. In 1898 the northern half of the office block, (originally also containing ‘drying rooms’ and measuring 43ft x 34½ x 33) was constructed at a cost of £650, raising the rateable value of the whole concern to £322. This rose to £338 in 1904 following some minor single-storey additions to the north and east sides of the main factory, and the building of the cricket pavilion in 1900-01 (see below). There were further extensions to the east and south sides of the factory -a ‘card store and cloth store’, in 1908, as well as the installation of a new engine (replacing the gasworks), all of which increased the valuation to £360, with larger extensions added to the south side in 1910 (£450). Another addition, spanning the whole of the south side of the factory, and others to its north-western and south-western corners were constructed in 1915, (possibly to designs by Hobart & Heron), lifting the valuation to £500. In 1925 the valuers note more ‘alterations in progress’, they do detail the nature or extent of these, but it appears likely that they entailed the further expansion -in single-storey form- of the main factory; whatever the case the rateable value of the whole collection of buildings increased to £560 as a result. Apart from the building of some not insubstantial ‘warehouses’ to the southern end of the factory c.1970s-80s, most of the complex as we know it today was in place by the end of the 1920s. In 1973 the company merged with the Belfast firm of William Ewart & Sons to become ‘Ewart Liddell’, who in 2001 were acquired by the Baird McNutt Group. The Donaghcloney site remained in operation until c.2002. Since then the complex has remained largely idle. In recent years some buildings to the west of the old bleach mill have been demolished, whilst others have been bricked up. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI D1820/3/1 Copy Lease- John Magill, Esq. Gill Hall, Co. Down to David Dempster, Donaghcloney, Co. Down, concerning lands in the townland in Donaghcloney containing 54a. 2r. (Plantation measure), 1 December 1708 2 Harris, Walter and Charles Smith, ‘The Ancient and Present State of the County of Down’ (Dublin, 1744) (see accompanying map of 1743) 3 NIEA Map of County Down Kennedy’s map, 1755 4 Taylor’s and Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland’ (Dublin, 1777), map 15 5 PRONI D3044/A/4/10/1 Clanwilliam Papers Renewal of lease, Clanwilliam to David Dempster, Donaghcloney, Parish of Donaghcloney: [original lease, Sir John Magill to William Hutton of Donaghcloney, 1699], 1804 6 PRONI D1820/3/3 Johns, Elliot, Wallace & Co. papers Assignment- David Dempster, Donaghcloney, Co. Down to John Currell, Moylorg, Co. Antrim, of a bleachgreen at Donaghcloney, Co. Down, 10 June 1806 7 PRONI D1820/3/4 Johns, Elliot, Wallace & Co. papers Original and Copy Lease for 21 years Yearly rent of £53 18 10½. Parties: John Currell, Moylorg, Co. Antrim to David Dempster, Donaghcloney, Co. Down. Lands: Farm and Bleach green of Donaghcloney, Co. Down, containing 23 a. 37 ps. plantation measure, 1 November 1808 8 PRONI D616 James Williamson’s map of County Down, 1810 9 PRONI D1820/3/5 Johns, Elliot, Wallace & Co. papers Lease for term of 21 years Yearly rent of £100. Parties: David Dempster, linen draper, Donaghcloney, Co. Down to John Browne, linen draper, Waringstown, Co. Down. Lands: Farm of land in Donaghcloney, Co. Down containing 23 a. 37 p, 29 May 1812 10 PRONI VAL1A/3/20 OS map, Co. Down sheet 20 with valuation
references, 1834[-c.1838] 11 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of County Down’ vol.12, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams, (QUB, 1992), pp.57-58, 61 [1834] 12 PRONI VAL1B/340 First valuation, Donaghcloney parish, 1835 13 PRONI VAL2A/3/20A OS map, Co. Down sheet 20, with valuation references, 1858[-c.1864] 14 PRONI VAL2B/3/46C Second valuation, Donaghcloney parish, c.1861 15 PRONI VAL12B/21/44A Annual valuation revision book, Donaghcloney ED, 1866-75 16 PRONI VAL12B/21/44B Annual valuation revision book, Donaghcloney ED, 1876-85 17 PRONI VAL12B/21/44C Annual valuation revision book, Donaghcloney ED, 1885-1900 18 PRONI D1882/2/4 Printed catalogue of William Liddell & Co., 1896 [D1882 is a collection of documents relating to William Liddell & Co., however they are mainly financial, wages etc.] 19 PRONI VAL12A/2/26 Valuers’ office notebook, Lurgan Union, 1899 20 PRONI VAL12B/21/44D Annual valuation revision book, Donaghcloney ED, 1900-08 21 PRONI VAL12A/3/69 Valuers’ office notebook, Moira RD, 1901 22 PRONI OS6/3/20/3 OS map, Co. Down sheet 20, 1903 23 PRONI VAL12A/3/70 Valuers’ office notebook, Moira RD, 1904 24 PRONI VAL12A/3/71 Valuers’ office notebook, Moira RD, 1908, 1910 25 PRONI VAL12B/21/44E Annual valuation revision book, Donaghcloney ED, 1909-29 26 PRONI VAL12A/3/72 Valuers’ office notebook, Moira RD, 1915 27 PRONI OS6/3/20/4 OS map, Co. Down sheet 20, 1916 28 PRONI VAL12F/4/12/2 Annual valuation revision book, Donaghcloney ED, 1930-35 29 PRONI VAL3B/4/3 First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, Donaghcloney ED, 1935 30 PRONI VAL3C/4/26 First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, Donaghcloney ED, 1936-57 31 PRONI VAL4B/3/55 Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, Donaghcloney ED, 1957-72 32 NIEA McCutcheon Collection DN/1454-1515 Photgraphs of Liddell’s mill and weaving factory, c.1960s Secondary sources 1 Green, E.R.R., ‘The Industrial Archaeology of County Down’, (Belfast, 1963), p.24 2 McCutcheon, W.A., ‘The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland’, (Belfast, 1980), pp.308-309, plates 95, 98 3 Brett, C.E.B., ‘The Buildings of North County Down’, (Belfast, 2002), p.240 4 Rankin, Kathleen, ‘The Linen Houses of the Lagan Valley…’, (Belfast, 2002), pp.8-12 5 NIEA Industrial Heritage Record, 02985:000:00, 02985:001:00, 02985:002:00, 02985:003:00, 02987:000:00 02987:001:00, 02987:002:00 Websites and online facilities 1 NIEA Web-mapping- Map of the Donaghcloney area and aerial photography, 2003 2 Irish Architectural Archive www.iarc.ie

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Edwardian single storey cricket pavilion which is externally intact and thus is an increasingly rare example of a sports pavilion from this era. The pavilion is well detailed in a typical late Victorian/Edwardian style and has group value with the other listed buildings associated with this former industrial complex (see HB14.06.055A) site, social interest and associations with the wider late Victorian development of Donaghcloney as an industrial village. The setting is unspoiled as the former bleach green to the East forms the cricket pitch which is wrapped around on three sides by the River Lagan

General Comments

Date of Survey

11 February 2010