Former sawmill and byre at

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two single storey timber clad outbuildings of c.1929 with Belfast Truss roofs, one a former saw mill the other built as a byre. The buildings are set to the rear of a house to the western side of Markethill Road, roughly 3 miles SW of Portadown. The former saw mill lies close to the S boundary of the property, the former byre to the N boundary.

The former saw mill is the larger of the two buildings having a central curved roof section roughly 5.2m wide and lean-to sections to either side (N and S) measuring roughly 2.5m and 5m in width. The length could not be calculated accurately on site but it appears to be roughly 20m, though the lean-to to the N is only half the length of the rest of the building. The structure is clad in timber with a large vehicle entrance with double door to the E (gabled) elevation. There appear to be no other openings to any of the other elevations. The central curved roof is covered in corrugated metal with the lean-to sections covered in similar material. The curved roof has a central roof light filled with transparent corrugated Perspex.

The former byre is a taller rectangular structure measuring roughly 11.6m x 6. It is constructed in the same fashion as the former saw mill with a timber clad façade with the curved roof covered in corrugated metal. There is only one opening, a large vehicle entrance to the long S elevation, without a door.

Historical information

According to the present owner, the former saw mill was built by her father in 1929 and continued in use until the 1960s. The former byre is believed to have been built around the same time.

References- Secondary sources
1 Information supported by the present owner (2003)

The Belfast truss was developed in the mid-nineteenth century to meet the demand for efficient, lightweight and long span roofs brought about by the industrial revolution. A detailed description of the historical development of the Belfast truss is included in the record for HB18/08/139. In brief, the first known reference to a curved wooden felted roof structure supported by bowstring girders is in an advertisement in the Dublin Builder for 1866 by the Belfast firm of felt-makers, McTear & Co. McTear’s continued making trusses until they went out of business in 1908.

A second Belfast felt supplier, Anderson & Co., began to produce trusses, to a slightly different design, in 1886. In 1896, Anderson’s launched their Mk II version; promoted as maximising long spans whilst maintaining light weight. This model was subsequently used by other companies, and is referred to by historians as the Belfast truss, although this term is widely used to apply to all timber bowstring trusses where the internal bracing members meet not on the bottom of the truss as was the convention but on the top curved member.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Two single storey timber clad outbuildings of c.1929 with Belfast Truss roofs, one a former saw mill the other built as a byre. Relatively intact ‘domestic-scale’ examples of early 20th century Belfast Truss-roofed buildings

General comments

Surveyed as part of the Belfast Roof Truss survey.