Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB18/07/001

Address :
Corn Mill 62 Church Road ('Mill Bridge') Ballynahinch Co. Down BT24 8LP

Townland:
Ballynahinch

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
11/02/1980 00:00:00

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:
204/7 SW

IG Ref:
J3734 5166

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Owner Category

Commercial

Exterior Description And Setting

Two and three storey corn mill and kiln complex of 1816-17, driven off an 18ft breast shot water wheel and diesel engine and still in use. The complex is situated to the NE of Church Road, roughly half a mile SE of Ballynahinch town centre. The original mill buildings are in random rubble fieldstone with hipped roofs. To the SE is the mill itself. It is three storey with the uppermost storey quite low. To the SW façade of the mill is a large lean-to section which (owing to the slope in the ground level) is single storey when viewed from the SW, and two storeys when viewed from the NW. This section is also mainly in rubble but brick has been used to raise the roof slightly. To its SW face there is a high level timber sheeted door reached via stone steps. To its (narrower) NW face there is a small corrugated iron constructed lean-to with metal window to its NW face and a timber sheeted door to the NE face (giving access to the engine room) The SW face of the main mill building has a large elliptical arch, with timber sheeted doors, to the left on the ground floor. The voussoirs of this arch are now painted, as is the ‘keystone’ and the stone panel above it which reads ‘Built in 1816, D Ker’. To the immediate right of this arch an external drive mechanism has been clad in corrugated iron, sections of which have fallen away. This cladding has partly obscured a small ground floor window with sash frame (six Georgian panes to the top, two vertical panes to the bottom). The brick dressings to this window have been painted. Granite cill. To the immediate right of this window is the large lean-to (see above). To the first floor central and left are two windows, as ground floor, but with that to the left having Georgian panes to the bottom also. To the uppermost level are two fixed light windows (directly in line with those to the first floor). The SW façade of the main mill building merges to the left (NW) with a two storey lean-to like section which merges with the kiln building further to the NW. This section is obviously a mid 20th century construction, with its front (SW face) in brick and render. There is a large flat arch doorway and irregular ‘chute’ opening to the ground floor and a metal frame casement window to the first floor. The rear (NW) section of this link is concrete block constructed at ground floor level and corrugated iron built at first floor level. Its roof also appears to be corrugated iron. The SE façade of the mill building is flanked to the left by the SE face of the front lean-to (described above) and the SE face of a rear lean-to (see below). The main façade itself has the large iron water wheel to its lower level. At first floor level there is a central window, much as front (SW) façade but with two panes over two. To the uppermost level is another centrally located window, as uppermost level front. The SE face of the left (front) lean-to has a small four pane window at a very low level, and a slightly larger window to the upper level. The SE face of the lean-to to the right has two window openings, without frames. This lean-to appears to be badly dilapidated and is partly smothered in vegetation. The rear façade of the of the main mill building is difficult to see due to the encroachment of vegetation. There is a window (without frame) to the right at first floor level, but the entire left hand side of the façade (where the rear lean-to must be) is completely obscured by a tree and the lower sections of the whole rear elevation hidden behind vegetation. The roof of the mill was completely rebuilt in the 1960s. It appears to be mainly covered in natural slate. Two vents to the ridge. The kiln building lies to the NW of the mill. As described above, it is of similar construction to the mill, but is slightly shorter, and to the NW its roof ends in a gable. Its has more extensive alterations than the mill building. The kiln house can be directly entered on its SE façade where, at ground floor level, there is a pedestrian doorway with timber sheeted double doors. To the right of this doorway the façade is abutted by the ‘lean-to’ link from the mill building (see above). Above the doorway (and slightly to the left) is a first floor window with two pane (sash like) frame. To the right of this is a small roundel recess (with brick dressings) beneath which is a (now painted) stone inscribed ‘Built 1817’. To the left of the doorway a set of stone steps rise to the doorway of a very large L-shaped lean to section which almost completely covers the whole of the SW façade of the kiln house. This section may in part be 19th century, but it is now rough cast rendered and has a corrugated asbestos roof. Its openings to the SE side (which is both one and two storey thanks mainly to the sloping ground level), are mainly modern looking and include a large flat arched doorway with sliding door, two windows with metal frames and a timber sheeted pedestrian door. To the left on the SW façade there is a broad pedestrian door with double timber sheeted doors. To the NW (gable) of the kiln house there is a single storey lean-to in breeze block. To the SW this is largely open apart from two large timber sheeted doors. To the NE the roof level of the lean-to drops and the façade is rendered (this section appears to be built in brick and may be slightly earlier). The short NE face of the lean-to has a broad window with metal frame. The NE façade of the kiln house is completely covered by a single storey lean to section (which may not be original but still appears to be mid 19th century) which looks like it may once have been a stable. Its NE face has three doors and two windows and there is rendered chimney stack in the centre of the roof. The façade of this section has been harled at some point, but large sections have broken off. The roof of the kiln house is mainly covered in asbestos ‘slates’, though there is some natural slate to the rear and to part of the roof of the rear lean-to. There are several small rooflights to the kiln house roof. To the S of the mill and kiln house is a single storey gabled building which was built as a scutch mill in 1820. This too is mainly rubble constructed but its window openings have been enlarged and now have modern frames. Its roof is now in corrugated iron and part of the gables are clad in timber. To the NW side a portion of this building spans over the mill race. This section is somewhat untidy looking and appears to have been much altered and added to [?or completely rebuilt] in the mid 1900s. The whole ensemble is built in mainly in corrugated iron. The water wheel of the former scutch mill is now gone. To the N of the former scutch mill is a tall, free standing, square chimney stack in brick. To the NE of the scutch mill is a small single storey house, built c.1930s.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

This corn mill and kiln house were built in 1816-17 by local landowner, David Ker of Montalto House. It replaced an earlier mill which is shown on Byer’s map of c.1790 and which (on the evidence of a 1749 writ concerning the grinding of corn at ‘Ballynahinch Mill’), may have dated from the first half of the 18th century at least. In 1837 it was reported that the mill ‘a slated house in good repair’ worked five months of the year on average and had a breast wheel of 17½ft by 5ft with a cog wheel of 8ft, ‘double geared with metal machinery’. Beside the corn mill at this stage was a flax scutching mill, built in 1820 and also described as ‘a slated house in good order’. This too had a breast wheel and ‘double geared metal machinery’. At this point the corn mill was worked by Samuel Magilton, a member of the noted Co. Down milling family. In the second valuation of 1863, the whole milling complex was in the hands of one John Martin, with the flax mill is noted as ‘unfinished’- probably indicating that at this stage it was in the process of being converted to steam power (hence the chimney). In 1886 the flax mill [?and the corn mill also] was in the possession of a J. Macaulay. In c.1920 the whole grouping was acquired by the present owner’s father, by which stage the scutch mill seems to have ceased working. In c.1940s much of the corn milling machinery was removed and replaced with apparatus for the rolling of corn for cattle feed. In the early 1960s a diesel engine was installed (though the water wheel continued in use) and the roof of the mill was replaced in c.1962. The mill still operates on a commercial basis. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI D.1255 Title deeds, legal and testamentary papers, correspondence and Irish Land Commissioners Papers re the Ballynahinch Estate, 1630-1940. 2 PRONI D.853 Copy of a writ served upon Robert McCoubrey and Alexander Brown, Ballymacarn, concerning the regrinding of corn at Ballynahinch mill, 1749. 3 PRONI D.272/41 MS map of Ballynahinch by William Byers, c.1790 4 PRONI OS/1/3/22 OS map 1st ed., 1834, Co. Down 22. 5 PRONI VAL/1B/388A-B Valuation records, Magherdrool, 1834-1838. 6 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.17: Parishes of County Down IV’, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB1992), pp.102, 106-107. 7 PRONI VAL/1D/3/19 Valuation town plan, Ballynahinch, 1838. 8 PRONI and Linen Hall Library ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory’ Vols.1-21, 1852-1900, (Belfast, Henderson [1852-65], Belfast News-Letter [1865- ]). 9 PRONI and Linen Hall Library Second (Griffith’s) valuation, Magherdrool, c.1863 [in print]. 10 PRONI VAL/12E/83/1 Valuation town plans, Ballynahinch, 1864-1905. 11 George Henry Bassett ‘County Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886), pp.369-379. 12 PRONI VAL/12E/83/2 Valuation town plans, Ballynahinch, 1905-35. 13 PRONI OS/8/3/2 OS town plan of Ballynahinch, 1920. 14 PRONI VAL/3G/59/1 Valuation town plans, Ballynahinch, 1937-53. Secondary sources 1 E.R.R. Green ‘The industrial archaeology of Co. Down (Belfast HMSO 1963), p.47

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Three storey corn mill and two storey kiln house of 1816-17, both rubble built with hipped roofs. The complex is still working (as a ‘roller’ mill) and the mill building itself, including the 18ft water wheel, is still mainly intact. The kiln house has been much extended over the years and now has a large, modern looking, lean-to section to the south east and a two storey ‘link’ extension to the mill itself. This mill is unique in that it still operates on a commercial basis. To the south of the complex is a relatively small single storey gabled shed, also in rubble, which was originally built in 1820 as a scutch mill. This has been much altered over the years and appears to have lost all its machinery. There is a tall brick chimney next to the former scutch mill.

General Comments

Date of Survey

04 October 1999