Store in The McCreedy Mill Centre

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The building under review forms part of the McCreedy Mill Complex, on the Caledon Road at the south-east end of Aughnacloy. The complex formerly comprised four blocks and this building sits at the north-east end of one of them .

The building under review is aligned NW-SE and comprises a small single-storey/ one-bay structure latterly used as a store but now vacant and in disrepair. It has a curved corrugated metal roof, but its original profile is likely to have been pitched. The walls are of quarried random rubble sandstone.

The SE gable was formerly abutted to SE by another building (now demolished; formerly the stables). The ragged edges to each corner of this gable indicate that both were erected at the same time. There is a small entrance door at the left end of this elevation. The use of modern brick, cement and concrete around this opening indicates that it is a modern insertion.

The SW elevation is cut into a revetted bank. There is an infilled window opening at left (stone jambs; hand-made brick head). This elevation is otherwise blank. As the NW gable is cut into the bank, it is not visible from the outside.

The NE elevation has three openings. All are original and have dressed stone jambs, internal brick reveals and timber heads. That at left is a door (now with external replacement concrete head; door missing) and the other two are window openings (frameless; one has a concrete head, the other a dressed stone head; both have concrete cills). A low rubble stone platform runs at right angles from the right-hand end of this elevation.

As already noted, the remainder of this block has been demolished. The corn mill and kiln, to the east, have also been demolished. Both have been rebuilt as a sports centre, day-care centre, offices and holiday accommodation. The original rubble stonework have been recycled and an attempt made to mimic the earlier buildings' form and style. The stream which drove the mill still runs alongside the mill's SE gable but the large pond directly behind the mill has been infilled. The block at the north end of the complex has been truncated to one storey (for safety reasons) and only its SE facade is now visible. In short, the original context of the building under review has largely been lost.

Historical information

All four blocks and the building under review are shown on the 1834 OS 6" map; the corn mill is explicitly captioned; and three mill ponds are also shown [1]. The complex is noted in the 1836 first Valuation as belonging to John Falls and is described as a "mill, stores, malt house, etc"; the malt house probably doubled as a grain-drying kiln [2].

The 1850 OS map shows the same configuration of buildings and waterworks; only the mill and kiln are captioned explicitly [3]. The 1859 Griffith Valuation notes the occupier as John Fiddes and the mill, kiln and office are rated at œ32 [4]. West of them is a block containing stables, miller's house and kilnman's house, and to the north, a corn store and second kiln (fig.1) [5]. The entire complex has a ratable valuation of œ51.5s.0d - a not insubstantial property in its day.

The Valuation revision books note William J Fiddes and Matthew J Fiddes as taking over the complex in 1878 (probably from their father) [6]. Matthew becomes the sole owner from 1892 onwards [7]. The entire complex is shown on an OS map of 1896; the kiln beside the mill is captioned but the other, to the north, was now a music hall [8]. The 1907 OS shows a similar configuration, although neither the kiln nor the music hall are captioned; the building under review is shown as a roofless shell [9]. The following year, the music hall appears to have been converted into a saw mill [10]. As there was no water power at this location (it being higher than the mill race), it was presumably driven by an internal combustion engine.

Around 1921, the entire complex was acquired by Robert McCreedy [11]. A Valuation survey carried out in 1934 notes the presence of a flax mill as well as the corn and saw mills. An accompanying sketch map shows the flax mill in the same block as the saw mill (ie in the north-most block); it probably shared the saw mill's engine [12]. Robert was almost certainly the instigator of the flax mill but by this time the complex had passed to his son William. The corn mill contained three pairs of stones, the saw mill was noted as "good", but there was "no trade in flax" [13].

The corn and saw mills are cited in the 1935 Valuation, but not the flax mill [14]. All the buildings are shown on the 1936 OS map; the corn mill and saw mills are both explicitly captioned, but not the flax mill [13]. Interestingly, the building under review is again roofed and was probably now a store. A 1937 Valuation entry notes the ground floor of the corn mill in use as a fowl house and the first floor as a flax store. The flax trade had apparently revived thanks to government subsidies [15]. However, an entry for the following year notes that the entire premises were in a poor state of repair; the corn mill was idle and the flax and saw mills were only partly used [16]. The corn mill disappears entirely from the valuations in 1938 [17]. Although there is no mention of the flax mill, it is possible that it was pressed into wartime service. The saw mill seems to have gone out of use around 1948 [18].

With the cessation of industry, the mill buildings gradually fell into dereliction. The corn mill and adjacent kiln were demolished in 1997 and the present development completed the following year under a CRISP scheme.

To conclude, it is notable that nowhere in the documents is the function of the building in question explicitly cited. Since the late 1850s, when the buildings are first recorded in detail, it does not appear to have had any industrial or domestic use; presumably it was being used as a store, if not lying empty. It probably took its present form (ie curved roof and door inserted in its SE gable) sometime between 1907 and 1936 (it may well have been refurbished in the 1920s by McCreedy).

EHS retain 12 exterior photographs and 8 interior photographs as well as some sketches of this building in its records.

Primary sources:

1. 1834 OS 6" map, Co Tyrone sheet 60 (PRONI OS/6/60/1).
2. 1836 Valuation book (PRONI VAL/1B/68, p.21). The accompanying Valuation map (VAL/1D/6/4) shows the building under review to be an integral part of the mill complex.
3. 1850 OS 6" map, Co Tyrone sheet 60 (PRONI OS/6/60/2).
4. 1859 Valuation book (PRONI VAL/2B/6.6C); published in 1860. The lessor was Robert M. Moore. The land was part of the Acheson Moore Estate and remained in the Moore family's hands until the late 19th century. PRONI holds several documents on this estate but none casts any light on the mill. An 1813 map of Co Tyrone (by William and George Knox, PRONI D/173/1) shows nothing at this location.
5. 1859 Valuation map, scale 1:2112 (PRONI VAL/2D/6/13).
6. 1878 Valuation book revision entry (PRONI VAL/12B/36/3C, p.87). However, according to Miss Anne McClean (1 Orangefield Crescent, Belfast 6), her grandfather (Barnes McClean), great-grandfather (Thomas John McClean) and great-great-grandfather (also Thomas John) were the owners of the mill, Falls and Fiddes merely renting it. One of the houses in the block abutting the building under review was occupied by Thomas McClean in 1885 (VAL/12B/36/3D, p.96), but no McClean is cited in the valuations as either the lessor or leasee of the mill.
7. 1892 Valuation book revision entry (PRONI VAL/12B/36/3D, p.96).
8. 1896 OS map, scale 1:1056 (PRONI OS/8/47/2).
9. 1907 OS 25" map, Co Tyrone sheet 60-14. (PRONI OS/10/6/60/14/1).
10. 1908 Valuation book revision entry (PRONI VAL/12B/36/5A, p.76).
11. 1921 Valuation book revision entry (PRONI VAL/12B/36/5B, p.61). McCreedy may actually have acquired the complex in 1919.
12. Valuation revision survey dated 6 June 1934 (VAL/3D/7/2D/1).
13. 1936 OS 25" map, Co Tryone sheet 60-14. (PRONI OS/10/6/60/14/2).
14. Valuation revision book, 1935 (VAL/3B/7/1).
15. Valuation revision survey dated 20 Oct 1937 (VAL 3D/7/2D/1).
16. Valuation revision survey dated 12 May 1938 (VAL 3D/7/2D/1).
17. 1938 Valuation revision book entry (PRONI VAL/3C/7/3).
18. 1948 Valuation revision book entry (PRONI VAL/3C/7/3).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This mill complex probably dates from the earlier 19th century. Although the building under review is probably associated with the mill's initial development, its original function is unknown. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it was possibly a dwelling originally and then became a store. There is no internal structural evidence to indicate that it was ever used as a kiln or for any other industrial purpose.
The building's principal interest lies in the three arched recesses on its NW internal gable. The middle recess was possibly a fireplace, albeit of somewhat unusual design. However, this feature is insufficient to merit the building's listing, particularly given the other alterations to it (notably the roof - it would have been pitched and covered with slates or thatch originally), absence of other significant features, and loss of context.

General comments

EHS retain 12 exterior photographs and 8 interior photographs as well as some sketches of this building in its records.