Dwelling

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The building consists of single storey vernacular house with outhouse and 2 storey kiln all in line set back 6 metres from roadside and parallel to it.

Thedwelling , 3 bays long with direct entry to former kitchen, has 3 double sliding sash 4 pane windows on the NW side and 3 similar windows to the SE. The entrance door is framed with lower half vertically sheeted with 3 horizontal glazed panels above. On either side of the door there are 2 small narrow fixed sidelights. The sliding sash windows have stone cills well horned in and painted. The reveals of the window are also painted. The stone walls are white washed. The NW gable of the cottage abuts against the gable of the 2 storey kiln. The other gable which rises above the outhouse has a barge rising slightly above the corrugated iron roof and is whitewashed.

There is a low chimney at the SE gable and another to the former kitchen and both are whitewashed. The corrugated iron of the roof is painted black. There is a ½ round metal gutter and one downpipe.

The front wall of the outhouse is set back from the cottage wall with separate door and one 4 pane sliding sash.

To the rear of the cottage is a lean to conservatory/sunroom, the Perspex corrugated roof of which extends across the back of the outhouse. This conservatory extends the length of the cottage and is of temporary construction. A door from the former cottage kitchen leads to it.

The 2 storey former kiln building is in line with the cottage and to the NW of it. Built of stone, whitewashed, on the south east side it has 2 bays with doorway and single window on ground floor with 2 openings at first floor all irregularly positioned. The quoin stones are picked out in black and need not necessarily depict a single stone. A large cogwheel rests against the wall between door and window.

The NW gable is obscured by flimsy constructed sheds. These are on either side of a straight flight of external steps set at right angles to the gable and give access to a first floor door the head of which is well above the eaves. The door is sheeted on lower part and 2 panes on the upper. A rickety wooden handrail serves the stairs. The stairs are built from the ground with a wider portion of wall on either side to give additional stability.

The W gable is also obscured by flimsy constructed sheds and porches. At ground floor there is a door and window and on the upper floor a single window. Again the quoin stones are picked out in black. The SE gable rises high above the cottage roof without windows. The barges have been raised with the addition of a layer/course of concrete.

The roof is corrugated iron like the cottage, painted black, though the former red colour is showing and 2 sheets of perspex on either roof slope light the first floor. Gutters are ½ round pressed metal with one downpipe on the east side. That on west drips onto another gutter at a much lower level contributing to a water supply to motivate a small (model) mill wheel.

The sheds contain a generator among a collection of other items.

The former mill pond of sizable extent is now overgrown and lies to the southeast of the group and can be viewed from Mill Lane. The mill race ran past the near of the dwelling and kiln to a flume directing the water into the millwheel in the adjacent mill building, the ground floor of which is at a much lower level.

To the north of the kiln and a little distance from its gable is the mill building with its long axis at right angles approximately to it. Its ground floor is a storey below housing the former mill machinery. It is divided into 2 spaces by a stone wall and additional timber posts to support timber beams. The mill wheel, now vanished, was at the west gable where the hole for the driving axle still exists. This building is built of stone but has been raised in an ad hoc fashion by the present occupants and adapted to living accommodation. The ground floor is used as a store and workshop with steep stairs leading down to them. There is an entrance to the ground floor and also an entrance to the first floor from the higher ground. The stonework is not whitewashed and the roof sheeted in white corrugated sheet.

Historical information

The O.S. Memoirs records that Derrylane Corn Mill was built in 1804 worked by a stream called Derrylane burn (now called Wood Burn). The present owner informed us that a large mill pond existed to the Southeast of the complex from which the existing mill race issued. The mill pond is largely overgrown and must have accumulated its waters from surrounding sheughs as there is no evidence of a burn or stream feeding it. The memoir also refers to the Corn kiln – “The corn kiln head is of metal. The head proprietor was Richard Hunter of Coleraine and the occupants, at the time, John and Archibald McSparran. Built of stone and lime, slated. Information obtained from Joseph Moor, Miller”.

The 1832 O.S.S. shows the mill building and the corn kiln. The later edition of 1856 shows the miller’s cottage attached. Griffith’s Valuation book gives a valuation of £9 for millers house, corn mill and kiln and the occupant as Thomas Kane, Lessor, John C.F. Hunter.

Later the mill became a scutch mill. Owner previous to the present owner was a Mr McReynolds who rented the property to a Mr O’Reilly. It is presumed that the corn kiln has not operated as such since the mill changed to scutching in the 1860s.

References

Primary Sources
1. O.S. Map 1st Edition 1832 Co Londonderry sheet no 24
2. O.S. Map 1st Rev. 1856 Co Londonderry sheet no 24

Secondary Sources
1. O.S. Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of Londonderry VII 1834-5 Vol. 25 p.21, 57
2. Present owner 20-07-1999

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

The former miller’s cottage and former corn kiln, now a youth hostel, make a vigorous vernacular impact in the townland of Derrylane. The cottage with its calf outhouse is a good example of a mid 19th century traditional direct entry dwelling , retaining its original door and window openings, and fireplace. While no longer thatched the corrugated iron roof is a typical vernacular substitute. The original roof timbers are intact. The corn kiln retains its overall original form and plan arrangement. Though it has lost its drying floor and former roof structure, it makes a very good composition with the cottage. The external steps, window and door arrangement together with the internal stairs should all be retained.