SCUTCH MILL

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A water-powered flax scutching mill on the left bank of a tributary of the River Faughan, at the end of a laneway off the Ballyartan Road.

Buildings
The complex comprises a one-storey-over-basement mill aligned E-W. Its W end is abutted by a single-storey store aligned S-N.
Both sections have pitched corrugated fibre cement roofs. The mill section has two square louvred vents on both pitches. Replacement galvanised metal gutters; down pipes missing.
The walls are of concrete blockwork. The mill’s E gable is unrendered, and its N elevation is clad in corrugated fibre cement sheeting. Identical sheeting is used on all but the S gable of the store. A previous report notes that this sheeting is a modern replacement of timber sheeting.
There are two metal casement windows and two doors to the S elevation of the mill and a large sliding door on the S gable of the store. The doors are of galvanised metal and probably modern replacements. There are also two casement windows to the mill’s E gable. All the windows have concrete cills. The remaining elevations are blank.

Waterworks and waterwheel
The river cuts through a deep gorge hereabouts and has been dammed just upstream of the mill by a concrete weir. At the W end of this weir, a narrow rendered concrete block headrace conveys water to the waterwheel on the E gable of the mill. The flow was controlled by a sluice gate at the weir end (no longer visible). The gate was presumably operated by the one-step winch at this end of the race.
The waterwheel is of all metal construction, apart from its buckets and soleplate, which are of timber and rotting vestiges of which still survive. The wheel measures 12ft in diameter by 3ft wide and has a high breast-shot feed. It has two sets of eight arms and 40 angled buckets.
The actual level of the floor of the headrace could have given it a pitchback or even an overshot feed, but the water spills down an inclined chute at the end of the race on to the wheel, losing 33 inches of head in the process. This suggests that the wheel was almost certainly a second-hand one from elsewhere, otherwise it would have been made to suit the specific hydrology of this situation to maximise the power extracted by the waterwheel.
Affixed to the inner set of arms is a cast-iron segment wheel. This drove a small pinion at the 9 o’clock position (when looking at the wheel from the river) which transmitted the wheel’s rotative power along a shaft to a pulley inside the basement. From this pulley, a belt drove a shaft on the ground floor of the mill on which are mounted four scutching handles and a flax breaker. The scutching shaft could also be driven by a portable engine (long gone) when water was scarce.
Once the water had passed through the mill, it returned almost immediately to the river.

Setting:
A water-powered flax scutching mill on the left bank of a tributary of the River Faughan, at the end of a laneway off the Ballyartan Road, in a wooded, rural location.

Materials:
Walling: concrete blockwork / N elevation clad in corrugated fibre cement sheeting
Roofing: corrugated fibre cement
Windows: metal casement / doors of galvanised metal
Rwgs: replacement galvanised metal gutters

Historical information

The mill was erected in 1942 by a Mr McComb to meet the wartime demand for scutched flax. This date is apparently inscribed on the concrete weir. It was an entirely new installation; there was never a flax mill previously at this location.
The mill worked until the mid-1950s and is depicted on the 1970 OS map.
It lay derelict until 1989 when it was leased to Faughan Angling Association as a fish hatchery. The derelict mill was refurbished and concrete tanks fed from the river were constructed in front of the mill. Water was also piped therefrom into more tanks inside the store. The Association was reconstituted as the River Faughan Anglers in 1995 but ceased operations at Ballyartan c.2011. The mill has been unoccupied ever since.

References – Primary sources:
1. PRONI OS/11/49/15/1. First edition 1:2500 IG map sheet 49-15.

References – Secondary sources:
1. F.W. Hamond. Report on Ballyartan Flax Mill for DOE Historic Monuments & Buildings Branch, 23 Oct 1989.
2. F.W. Hamond. Report on Ballyartan Flax Mill for DOE Historic Monuments & Buildings Branch, 29 Oct 1990.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

E. Spatial Organisation
F. Structural System
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

T. Historic Importance
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A scutch mill dating from 1942, erected by a Mr McComb, architect unknown. The spatial organisation of the mill is of architectural interest – the mill and store being in the one block and the former powered from the waterwheel via transmission shafts and pulleys from below. It occupies a spectacular setting above a deep gorge.
It is also of historical interest as it reflects the demand for flax during the second world war; similar spikes in demand are also evident in the 1860s during the American civil war, and again in the 1910s during the first world war. It is of local interest in contributing to the province’s wartime economy and is also of rarity value in being a mid-20th century mill which was water, rather than electrically powered.