Outbuildings at Annahavil House, Tullyboy Road, Moneymore, Magherafelt

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A complex of haphazardly arranged farm outbuildings built of stone, some harled and whitewashed and a former flax mill.

The older farm buildings consist of cart/coachhouse, long barn and piggery and at a little distance a flax mill. The cart/coachhouse is 3 bays long, part 1½ storeys, the north elevation has 3 coach/cart openings each 3 centred, the ground fills rapidly so centre opening of greater height, while the opening to the W is much lower with a loft floor over. Walls built in random rubble blackstone with redbrick trim. Roof natural slates. The west gable has external steps to square headed door to loft. Stonework whitewashed. The east gable, windowless, stonework whitewashed, small bellcote, gabled top, plain with hall and rope. South wall is covered with vegetation but probably windowless and was whitewashed. The outbuilding is west of the dwelling house with its east gable close to it.

The long outbuilding north of dwelling house is 4 bays long with one large square headed opening and large segmental headed opening, then 2 small shuttered openings and next a projecting return with lean-to slated roof, door on flanking wall and external angle curved. Walls harled and whitewashed, roof natural slates. Gable windowless with semi-circular wall projecting from it which formerly contained a soil bed with ornamental tree. The long wall to the rear has a run of 4 sliding doors, then a projecting canted bay with shuttered square opening with further sliding doors. This may have an outbuilding to house store cattle and the doors allowed them free access to yard.

The piggery and duck house is an L-plan building built of stone whitewashed with natural slate roof looking their age. The piggery has a wooden plaque with word “Annahavil” on it. Annahavil means the marsh of the orchard and is in the parish of Derryloran.

The flax mill some distance to the west of the dwelling house and close to the river was burned down in 1935 and consisted of 2 long stone buildings in line, that to the N single storey and the other 2 storey. The mill is of interest because of its underground tail race which takes it under the river and joins it further downstream. See slides of map dated 1850s.

Historical information

Curl in The Londonderry Plantation refers to Booth’s report of 1827 which included a list of buildings and includes “a flax mill and store house at Annahavil”. In 1818 the Company, anxious to improve modern estate management, “A scutching mill was to be erected to improve the quality of dressed flax, and it was suggested Annahavil would be a suitable site, for there was a mill-race there”. The buildings are shown on the 1832 map.

Some of the buildings there may have been supervised by Jesse Gibson. The coach/cart house probably. The present owner states that his family had been working the farm and buildings there at least 200 years.
I H No. 2325

References

Primary Sources
1. O.S. Map 1832 Londonderry sh. 48.
2. Curl J.S. The Londonderry Plantation 1609-1914 p. 195, 201.

Secondary Sources
1. Munn Notes on the Place Names of the Parishes and Townlands of the County of Londonderry p. 121.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

An interesting group of stone built farm buildings of c 1820, ruins of flax mill erected by the Drapers Company to improve farm production and estate management.