Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB10/07/010 A

Address :
1 Sion Terrace, Sion Mills, Co Tyrone, BT82 9HB

Townland:
Sion Mills

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
17/01/1979 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House - Terrace

Former Use
House - Terrace

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
72-16

IG Ref:
H3383 9325

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Attached end-of-terrace two-bay two-storey house, built c.1860, located to the east side of Church Square. Rectangular-on-plan with one-and-a-half-storey gabled return to west, further abutted by single-storey flat-roofed extension; attached lower two-storey annex to north-west, built c.1995, of little interest. Roof is pitched natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles over corbelled eaves course; smooth rendered chimneys with clay pots; yellow brick corbelled chimney to return; single rooflight to east pitch; two rooflights to west. Walls are painted roughcast over smooth banded plinth; return is smooth rendered. Windows are replacement square-headed uPVC casements in smooth reveals; all have painted masonry sills. Principal elevation faces east and contains, at left, round-arched-headed opening with stepped painted brick surround containing recessed four-panelled timber entrance door with etched glazed top panels and transom light; single window at ground floor right; two windows at first floor. South gable abutted by HB10/07/010B. West elevation is abutted at right by gabled return; exposed section at left contains single window to each floor. North elevation of gable contains single window to first floor and timber entrance door at ground floor; west and south elevations blank. North gable is blank; evidence of attached single-storey structure at ground floor, now demolished; abutted at right by annex. House is directly accessed from street at east. Roughcast boundary wall with concrete coping encloses yard to rear; access through square-headed vertically-sheeted timber door. Garden to across path to rear bounded to all sides by timber fencing. Roof Natural slate Walling Roughcast Windows Replacement square-headed uPVC casements RWG Cast-iron half-round gutters and round downpipes

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Sion Mills was a company-owned town established by Herdman & Co., a flax spinning mill, and was run by the Herdman family as a model village for their workers and village maintenance staff, who all had an option for healthcare, until the village was privatised in the mid 1960s when the mills needed to raise capital during a slump in the linen industry. The terrace is first shown on the third edition of the OS Map in 1905. Annual Revisions (1860-1923) date No. 4 from 1880, No. 5 from 1897, and Nos. 6 and 7 from 1898. Nos. 1-3 appear to be somewhat earlier. The houses are all described as “house, offices and small garden,” and are leased from J&E Herdman. Nos 1-4 are valued at £610s, No 5 at £7, increased to £15 in 1898 and Nos 6-7 at £8.10s. According to Ferguson, “the village was originally built consisting of simple, but well-built, one-storey terraced cottages to house the workers and to save them having to walk miles to work. At the beginning of the [twentieth] century, when Captain Ricardo was the Director in charge of personnel and welfare, including the village, he had second storeys added to many of the houses as more workers were needed when the boom in the linen trade started in 1903 and this enabled the villagers to take in lodgers during the week” (Ferguson, p.91). Company housing did not accommodate all the workers, but for those who did live in the village, the Herdman’s social experiment in Sion Mills was along the lines of Robert Owen’s in New Lanark. (Ferguson, p.91). “Until the 1960s, the Mill trained and employed people to cover all the necessary trades needed to maintain and repair the village houses and surround as well as the Mill and its machinery, and the waterpower system. The householders were charged for rent and gas, paid per fortnight and raised occasionally. Over the early years the Herdmans provided a shop with very good fair prices and a dispensary. Workers paid a small payment from their wages, one penny per week in the early days – 6d. in the 1940s – towards health care and the Mill paid a Doctor and a mill nurse. The Herdmans also built a Doctor’s house and surgery in the Mill Lane at the end of the 19th century. The village had its own fire service and fire engine.” (Ferguson, p.95). In an effort to raise capital, the company sold off village houses in the early 1960s for prices ranging “from £60 for smallest to £120 for two-storey houses” (Herdman, p.123). References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/6/10/1 -First Edition OS Map (1832-33) 2. PRONI OS/6/6/10/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1855) 3. PRONI OS/6/6/10/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1905) 4. PRONI VAL/12/E/182/1 -Town Plan of Sion Mills (1866-1898) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/42/1A-F -Valuation Revisions (1860-1923) 6. PRONI VAL/2A/6/9A -Griffith’s Valuation (1858) 7. PRONI VAL/12/E/182/1 -Town Plan of Sion Mills(1866-1898) 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/42/1A-F -Valuation Revisions (1860-1923) Secondary Sources 1. Bence-Jones, Mark. “A Guide to Irish Country Houses.” Second Revised Edition. 2. Herdman, Rex. “Recollections of Rex Herdman.” In Ferguson, Celia, ed. “The Herdmans and Sion Mills, 1835-2005: Book One – The Early Years: A Collection of Letters, Photographs & Extracts from Documents and Books of Interest.” (Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone: Sion Mills Building Preservation Trust, 2005.), p.123. 3. Ferguson, Celia, ed. “The Herdmans and Sion Mills, 1835-2005: Book One – The Early Years: A Collection of Letters, Photographs & Extracts from Documents and Books of Interest.” Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone: Sion Mills Building Preservation Trust, 2005.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

End-of-terrace two-bay two-storey house, builtc1860, located to the east side of Church Square. This building, along with part of the remainder of the terrace, has been modernised in recent years resulting in some loss of unity within the group, for example, the replacement of windows and doors. Despite this, many features remain, such as original yellow brick chimneys, gabled returns and the interior layouts of these simply detailed dwellings have remained largely intact. The terrace, built as worker’s dwellings by Herdman & Co, remain an important architectural group within the model village of Sion Mills and enjoy a good setting looking out to Church Square.

General Comments

Previoulsy recorded as HB10/07/010

Date of Survey

10 March 2009