Annalong Corn Mill

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

This complex comprises: (1) water-powered mill for grinding oats, wheat and animal feed, (2) grain-drying kiln, (3) engine house, and (4) store. All the buildings are of Silurian schist and snecked granite rubble construction and the natural slate roofs are pitched and coped and have cast-iron rainwater goods.

1. The mill is two storeys high and cut into a south-facing slope. There is a disused chimney stack at its left gable (as viewed from the south/harbour elevation). There are sliding sash windows at ground and first floor levels.

The west gable has a sliding sash window at first floor level. Below it sits an external waterwheel; this has a high-breastshot feed, measures 4.4m in diameter by 1.2m wide and is of cast-iron and wood construction.

The mill is entered by a plain door at first floor level from the rear (north).

2. A two-storey kiln abuts the west elevation of the mill.

It has a chimney on its west gable elevation and a fixed square ventilator in the middle of its ridge, there is a small sliding sash window on the first floor. The basement firehole is accessed through a small lean-to extension on the west elevation.

3. At the north east corner of the mill is a one-storey engine shed which is level with the first floor of the mill.

The east elevation is of stone and has a sliding sash window. The west elevation is of brick with a fixed window. A tall chimney, also in brick, signified the presence of a former steam engine, now gone. There are double doors on the north elevation.

The headrace to the wheel runs along the east wall. Two circular metal cooling tanks (for the engine inside) are positioned above the headrace.

4. Abutting the north elevation of the kiln is a two-storey store. The first floor is entered from its north gable, and the basement from a door in the west elevation. The upper floor is lit by fixed windows on its east and west elevations.

The water to the mill is abstracted from the Annalong River at a masonry weir (locally known as the Battery) upstream from the road bridge to the west. The headrace is culverted under the road and along an open channel to the mill. The tailrace directs the spent water into the sea at the mouth of the river.

Historical information

Only the cornmill proper is shown here on Alexander Nimmo’s 1821 map of Annalong Harbour. It is thought to have been erected in the early 1800s, superseding a cornmill a short distance upstream in the same townland. The 1835 valuation book describes it as having two pairs of millstones. The 1859 OS map shows the kiln and store to have been added in the interval; the 1861 valuation book notes three sets of stones. This suggests that the mill was completely refurbished in the mid 19th century. The steam engine (and associated engine house) was installed in the 1890s as an auxiliary drive (from 1901 the river was partly diverted at the Annalong Weir, Dunnywater, to supply the Mourne Conduit to Belfast). This engine was superseded about 1930 by the Marshall engine. The mill stopped working about 1965. Newry & Mourne District Council purchased it in 1982 and restoration commenced the following year. This entailed re-roofing all the buildings, re-erecting the collapsed chimney, inserting new floors, doors and windows, plastering the walls (as appropriate), and replicating the smaller items of equipment. Where possible, the original materials and dimensions were followed. The Council re-opened the complex as a tourist and educational attraction in 1985. Winner of a Civic Trust award in 1986.

Primary Sources:
1. A. Nimmo, ‘Report on the fishing stations on the north coast of Ireland’, in Fourth report of the Commissioners of Irish Fisheries, (1822). This is reproduced in M. McCaughan, ‘Nineteenth century accounts of maritime activity at Annalong’, in Field excursions in Ulster, 3: the Annalong district of the Mournes, county Down (Belfast1985), pp 24-27.
2. PRONI – OS 6/3/56/2 (1859 OS map).
3. PRONI- VAL 1B/ 390A (1835 valuation).
4. PRONI- VAL 2B/3/81D (1861 valuation).

Secondary sources:
1. Research notes by F.W. Hamond.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

D. Plan Form
E. Spatial Organisation
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

The restoration of this complex entailed a major refurbishment which retained its basic structure and original character. The complex is typical of the area in terms of its snecked granite construction. The various building additions serve to illustrate the mill’s development.

It is of national significance in terms of its technical completeness and one of the very few in the province to be still workable under a live water supply.

From a landscape viewpoint, it is very picturesque and enhances the character of the adjacent harbour.