Saw Mill at Holy Hill House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A detached two-storey three-bay saw mill dating from c.1840 and located to the west of Holy Hill House (HB10/11/001A). Rectangular on plan.

Pitched corrugated metal roof, timber bargeboards, rainwater goods missing; random rubble stone walling set in lime mortar. Openings are t&g sheeted throughout (unless otherwise stated), without sills.

Southwest gable (entrance elevation) is mainly covered with sheets of corrugated-metal including a double-width corrugated-metal door with simple metal canopy over.

Northwest elevation is asymmetrical. First floor has three window openings (sheeted). Ground floor has louvred window and entrance door, both having rubble stone relieving arches over.

Northeast gable formerly housed the mill wheel (no longer present) with retaining wall built against the rising terrain to northeast.

Southeast elevation is partially built into a bank and has three openings to first floor including a loading door and two small openings with heads at eaves level. Ground floor has a multi-pane timber window with relieving arch as before, partially concealed by bank.

Setting
The saw mill is set in wooded surroundings on the demesne of Holy Hill House (HB10/11/001A-L), which comprises lawns, mature parkland and farmland, all situated on undulating land to the north-east of Strabane town

Roof: Corrugated iron
Walling: Cut stone and rubble
Windows: Openings t&g sheeted, one multi-pane timber window.
Rainwater goods: None

Historical information

The building first appears on the second edition OS map of 1856. It is captioned on the 1854 and 1906 editions.

The Holy Hill estate is likely to have been cultivated and improved and the house enlarged in the 1730s and 1760s, by John Sinclair, owner from 1718 until 1770. During the ownership (1770-1804) of his son, George, who had been apprenticed as a linen merchant, the estate was cultivated and a mill was likely established after 1779. Under the ownership of his nephew James , J.P., from 1804-1865, the estate was greatly cultivated and many estate buildings were erected, including the walled garden. While James’ son William, a former High Sheriff in Co. Donegal in 1854 who became Deputy Lieutenant of Tyrone in 1876, also probably improved the estate until his death in 1896, it is highly likely that subsequent owners did not embark on any new projects.

The first reference to a mill at Holy Hill is found in a letter dated 1779 from Mrs Elizabeth Sinclair to the Earl of Abercorn concerning the possible use of water to power a mill at Holyhill. No further
references can be found until Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) records, in a marginal note, “Sawing mill 35x21x13 used only for farming purposes of Captain Sinclair. Wheel 18x2.6x0.10. Fall of water 10 or 20 ft overshot. Power applied at top.” A note of a later date calls this a “thrashing mill”.

In 1810, James Sinclair had planted “1,412 spruce firs, 62 Scotch firs, 78 ‘silver and balm of Gilead’ firs, 1,520 larches, 1,230 ashes, 171 horn beams, 273 birches, 870 alders, 1,041 beeches and 509 oaks.” OS Memoirs are lavish in their praise of “Mr. [James] Sinclair,…the only resident proprietor [in the parish of Leckpatrick] and his “skill in every department of agriculture [which] enabled him to suggest the most effectual means of improvement, whilst his liberality induced him to supply in a great measure the means. The woods of Holyhill yielded timber for [his tenants’] houses and farming implements and its nurseries provided quicks and trees for their gardens and fences, to ask for which was as great a source of satisfaction to the donor as to receive it would have been to others”. (p.117, 119). This suggests some form of saw mill may have been in existence earlier, but no evidence was found.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI T.1652 – Sir Josias Bodley’s plantation maps of all baronies in Co Tyrone
2. PRONI T/371/H – Civil Survey Barony of Strabane (1655-67)
3. PRONI D597/4/1 Petty’s Down Survey maps (c1655-75)
4. PRONI D1854/1/23 – Book of Survey and Distribution (c.1680)
5. PRONI D623/D/1/6 – Abercorn papers – map of Gortcrone c1720-1750
6. PRONI D623/A/15/441 – Abercorn Papers – Letter from Abercorn to Nisbitt (13 Jan 1756)
7. PRONI T2541/1A/1/4/89 – Letter from Sinclair to Abercorn (1757)
8. PRONI D623/A/43/147 – Abercorn papers – letter from Mrs Elizabeth Sinclair to Abercorn (1779)
9. PRONI D623/D/1/22 – Abercorn papers – map of manor of Cloghogle (Jan 1804)
10. PRONI OS/6/6/5/1-3 – Ordnance Survey Maps (1833, 1854, 1905)
12. PRONI VAL/1/A/6/5 – Townland Valuation Map(1828-40)
13. PRONI VAL/1/B/640 – Townland Valuation Records (1828-40)
14. PRONI VAL/2/A/6/5 – Griffith’s Valuation Map (1856-64)
15. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/43B – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
16. PRONI VAL/12/B/42/22A-F – Annual Revision Records (1860-1925)

Secondary Sources

1. Bence-Jones, Mark. “A Guide to Irish Country Houses.” Second Revised Edition. London: Constable and Robinson, 1990.
2. Bradley, J, etc. “The Fair River Valley – Strabane Through the Ages.” Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2000
3. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Tyrone I, 1821, 1823, 1833-36, Vol . 5.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1990.
4. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Tyrone II, 1825, 1833-5, 1840, Vol. 20.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1990.
5. Diocesan Histories
6. Dooher, J. “Commit They Work to God: The History and Times of the Sinclairs of Hollyhill.” In Concordia (1995). Cited in “The Sinclairs of Holy Hill.” Chap. In “Bready Ancestry: Bready and District Ulster-Scots Development Association. Http://www/breadyancestry.com/index.ph?id=35. Accessed 17 March 2009.
7. Hutchinson, W. R. “Tyrone Precinct: A History of the Plantation Settlement of Dungannon and Mountjoy to Modern Times. Belfast: W. Erskine Mayne, Ltd., 1951.”
8. Lewis, Samuel. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate, Market, and Post Towns, Parishes, and Villages, With Historical and Statistical Descriptions; Embellished with Engravings of the Arms of the Cities, Bishopricks, Corporate Towns, and Boroughs; Of the Seals of the Several Municipal Corporations.” London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837
9. Reid, Thomas. Travels in Ireland in the Year 1822, Exhibiting Brief Sketches of Moral, Physical, and Political State of the Country: With Reflections of the Best Means of Improving Its Condition. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1823.
10. Roulston, William J. “The Parishes of Leckpatrick and Dunnalong: Their Place in History.” Strabane, Co. Tyrone: Self-published, 2000.
11. Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979.
12. Sinclair Monument, photo in Dillon, Charles and Henry A. Jefferies, ed. “Tyrone: History and Society.” Templeogue, Dublin: Geography Publications, 2000.
13. “The Sinclairs of Holy Hill.” Chap. In “Bready Ancestry: Bready and District Ulster-Scots Development Association. Http://www/breadyancestry.com/index.ph?id=35. Accessed 17 March 2009.
14. “Our Love Families.” Http://www.love-genealogy.com/love-genealogy-generation-07.htm. Accessed 2 March 2009.
15. Young, Robert Magill. “Belfast and the Province of Ulster in the Twentieth Century.” Pike's New Century Series, ed. W. T. Pike. Brighton: W. T. Pike, 1909.
16. “The Parish of Leckpatrick: A Brief History.” Undated packet.
17. “The Church,” “Monuments,” “The Parish,” In “The Area.” “Church of Ireland Church of St. Patrick, Parish of Leckpatrick.”

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A two-storey sawmill constructed in the mid-nineteenth century to service the Holy Hill demesne (HB10/11/001A-L). The demesne has Plantation origins and the saw mill represents one of the latest phases of improvement still in evidence at the estate. It displays good proportions, is plainly detailed and features traditional materials including rubble stone, timber and corrugated metal. The wooded setting remains intact and the building is a key ancillary structure within an important and well preserved demesne. It has group value with the other listed structures in the Holy Hill estate.

General comments

This record number was previously used for the Coal Cellar, which is now incorporated with the A record for Holy Hill House.
It has been decided to re-use this K record number for the Saw Mill.