Ballykeel Mill Mill Road Ballykeel Mullaghbawn Co. Armagh BT35 9TZ

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Roadside complex of single storey mill buildings to the east of Mill Road to the south of Ballykeel bridge in Ballykeel townland Mullaghbawn. The complex comprises principal mill building of three-bays. The building faces west with front projection to right and remains of water powered turbine and attendant infrastructure, including mill race, beyond (Building A), together with detached, single storey block to north, with front gable facing west (Building B). The mill pre-dates the first edition OS map of 1835.

Supplied with mill race on higher ground to east, the mill was originally powered by a water wheel, later replaced by a hydroelectric turbine.
Building A has natural slate pitched roof with flush (dry) verges and proprietary black fibre cement ridge tiles. Rubblestone walling throughout with no evidence of fascia boards or rainwater goods Stone faced, blank end bay with pair of full height, painted, vertically sheeted timber doors to central bay, Right hand side projecting bay has cat slide roof with raised concrete verges with full height timber sheeted door to left and top hung, painted timber framed window to right with stone cill. Left hand side return has top hung, painted timber framed window stone cill. Beyond, to right hand side, high level poured concrete structure, supported with concrete column, which terminates mill race. Low level, roadside, stone rubble wall (stone), defines enclosure for turbine mechanism and water discharge outlet below.

Rear elevation has three bays with central projection defining a “T” plan form. Natural slate pitched roof with flush (dry) verges and proprietary black fibre cement ridge tiles. Rubblestone walling throughout with no evidence of fascia boards or rainwater goods. Left hand side has single square headed window opening with natural stone head and cill, with single pane painted timber frame window. Central projection has flush verge with single square headed, timber framed window opening to gable, with natural stone head and cill. Right hand bay blank.

North facing elevation with flush verge and high-level single square headed window opening with natural stone head and cill. North facing elevation of rear projection to left has full height, vertically sheeted timber door. Evidence of built in stone quoins on external corner. South elevation dominated by concrete cast high level mill race structure to east terminating at point of contact with turbine.

Building B to north connected to Building A with double metal gate and high rubble walling. West facing gable to roadside, having natural slate pitched roof with raised concrete verges and proprietary black fibre cement ridge tiles. Rubblestone walling throughout with no evidence of fascia boards or rainwater goods. Elevation facing south with full height vertically sheeted door and to left single square headed window opening with natural stone head and cill, containing one over one timber sliding sash window. Rear elevation with centrally positioned single square headed window as described above.

Setting:
The complex is located on the roadside, with a grass verge, to the east of Mill Road. The asymmetrical alignment of the stone-faced buildings, walls and gates exudes a rustic charm, complementing its rural location.

Roofing: Natural slate.
Walling: Random local rubblestone.
Windows: Timber frame.
RWG: none

Historical information

Ballykeel Mill is located to the NE side of Mill Road and to the south of Ballykeel Bridge and the associated river. The mill pre-dates the first edition OS map of 1835 and is shown on this edition captioned ‘Corn Mill’ opposite an associated dwelling house. The mill likely dates to c.1800 as the road on which it lies is not shown on Rocque’s 1760 map of County Armagh. An ‘intended road’ is shown by Rocque in the vicinity of the present-day Mill Road, and it is possible that the ‘intended road’, although it takes a slightly different route on Rocque’s map, became the Mill Road sometime in the closing decades of the 18th century. The corn mill became a flax scutching mill c1887 and was extended to front and rear between 1907 and 1933. Originally powered by a water wheel, a supplementary oil-fired engine was added in the early 20th century and the water wheel was replaced by a hydroelectric turbine after 1933.

The ‘Mill and Kiln of Ballykeel’ were advertised for sale by the late Colonel Ogle in 1832 and the property is subsequently listed in the Townland Valuation of 1836 as a house, corn mill and kiln valued at £4. The dimensions of the corn kiln (24x20x11) roughly fit the building that lies adjacent to the current mill building to the N (this building is not depicted on the 1st edition but the map shows an unroofed area which may indicate re-roofing of the building). The corn mill building itself was slated, 37x19x11 feet, and designated by the quality mark as ‘not new’. The mill was in ‘sound order and good repair’, while the kiln was ‘slightly decayed but in good repair’. The dwelling house opposite, occupied by William Delaney, was thatched and 24 feet in length (this dwelling is depicted as longer on the first edition map and the extra length may be accounted for by attached outbuildings that are not recorded). The mill is powered by water and had one pair of stones ‘at present’, while another pair of stones were in the process of ‘getting as new’. The mill operated for 4 months in the year and Delaney paid £15 rent for the mill and an acre of land, but had no lease. The valuator comments scathingly, ‘inferior mill’.

By 1857 when the mill at Ballykeel is recorded in the Agricultural Statistics of Ireland, a flax scutching mill had been added to the site and is recorded as having 4 stocks, working 13 weeks in the year. The second edition OS map of 1862, shows a new building (most likely a new house) and flax mill (captioned) added to the site to the S and Griffith’s Valuation notes that the ownership had changed. Terence Doran now leased the buildings from local landlord Henry Alexander. The ‘corn mill’ and ‘corn kiln’ are also captioned on this map. The house, outbuildings, corn mill, kiln and flax mill were valued at £11. Dimensions are given in the valuer’s notebook for the corn mill and kiln which are consistent with those given in the Townland Valuation. The corn mill now had two pairs of stones working ‘in turns’, one pair for shelling and the other pair for grinding, and a set of elevators. The flax mill had four stocks and each mill worked for three months and 12 hours a day on average. The two wheels were identical in size, 13½ feet in diameter, 36 buckets, three feet wide, depth - one foot and fall - seven feet.

The flax scutching mill met an unfortunate setback in 1872, when it was ‘wholly consumed’ by fire. Terence Doran had begun to scutch flax at the end of August that year and it is thought that the friction of the machinery generated sparks which gave rise to the fire. All the flax was burned and none of it could be saved. ‘Great sympathy’ was felt for Mr Doran who was well liked by his neighbours and it was thought that he would be ‘quite unable to repair his loss’ as the premises was uninsured, although a newspaper advertisement suggests that Doran did receive compensation within a few days from the ‘West of England Insurance Company’ (Newry Telegraph).

It appears that the flax scutching mill was repaired and passed to John O’Hare c1880, before being affected by a further incendiary incident, this time apparently malicious. John O’Hare claimed £150 from Ballybot presentment sessions for the malicious burning of his scutch mill at the end of September 1881. The court heard that the flax mill had been burned on two previous occasions (no further primary evidence could be located for the second previous fire). O’Hare stated that the property was the subject of litigation when he purchased it in 1878 for £100. He had spent about £70 improving it but hostility had been expressed towards him by his neighbours and he was told that ‘he had no right to be there’. This claim was contested in court and it was said that O’Hare’s neighbours had attempted to raise money to assist him but this had been turned down. Ultimately, the court awarded O’Hare £50 against his losses. At a second hearing before the Armagh Grand Jury, O’Hare claimed that he had been threatened by members of the Land League who did not want him to scutch for a particular farmer who was not a member. His evidence was countered by witnesses who saw scutchers smoking in the flax store adjoining the mill. The court again ruled in O’Hare’s favour and increased his compensation to £100 which was to be funded by a levy on the cesspayers of the surrounding townlands (Newry Reporter, Northern Whig).

The valuation books record in 1882, that the corn mill had no machinery in it and the flax mill had been burned. The corn mill, kiln and flax mill were therefore struck out of the records and the valuation of the house and outbuildings was reduced to £4. The ‘flax mill’ re-entered valuation records in 1887, valued at £6 and having 6 stocks (sets of rotating wooden blades for scutching) and 3 rollers (for breaking up the retted flax plants prior to scutching). It appears that the flax mill was re-established in the building that formerly housed the corn mill and that the former flax mill was then used as a store. The third edition OS map shows the buildings captioned ‘Ballykeel Mill (Flax)’. The former dwelling house opposite the mill had now gone and had been replaced by a dwelling house further to the south (first shown on the 2nd edition - still extant but heavily modernised).

In 1901, the mill was revalued by the valuation office at £4 and a simple plan and dimensions are given in the valuer’s notebook for the mill and the building to the SE which was now used as a store. The mill was slated and its dimensions are given as 35x20x14. The motive power was 4½HP and there were still 6 stocks although only 2 had worked in 1899 and 3 in 1900. The mill generally worked for about 8 hours a day for a season of 2-3 months, although the mill had only worked for about a fortnight in 1900. John O’Hare, 50-year-old farmer and mill owner is listed in the census as the resident of the three-room mill dwelling house with his wife and five children.

By the time of the 1933 revaluation, the mill had passed to Joseph O’Hare, most likely the second son of John, named in the 1901 census. The mill still had six stocks driven by a water wheel (14x4 feet). The records are unclear but it appears that the rollers were driven by a Hornsby 16 hp oil engine, although the motor was not working in 1933 as the head had blown out and the piston rod was broken. In the early 1930s the buildings were in poor condition and had not worked since WW1, other than 2 days in 1931. By 1935 the former store to the south (still extant today but significantly rebuilt/remodelled) was used as a farm outbuilding.
The valuer’s binder of the 1930s carries a plan of the mill and store showing that by this time a single-storey extension to the front elevation and a rear extension, both roofed in felt, had been added to the mill. These extensions remain present today but have since been slated. The rear extension housed the oil engine.

The mill appears to have had a further lease of life after this time, most likely as the result of increased demand for linen during WW2, because a hydroelectric turbine (Robert Craig & Sons, Belfast, dated 1944) has been fitted in place of the former water wheel that was present in 1933, and the mill race has been rebuilt in concrete block. Still present within the mill building are six flax scutching stocks with wooden handles removed. The building also contains a cast iron mangle by Anderson and Houston of Larne.
The mill ceased to function during the 1950’s with the local decline of the flax industry. Pictures from the McCutcheon archive (1960s) in the Industrial Heritage Record, show the possible former kiln to the north as roofless, partially collapsed and derelict and the former mill building with a partially collapsed roof. The store to the South had a single storey extension to the SE elevation which has been remodelled since the 1960s.

The mill building and possible former kiln have since been restored and reroofed with the retention of much of the internal scutching machinery within the main mill building, as well as the water-powered turbine.

References:
Primary Sources:

1. PRONI D1594/291 Rocque’s map of County Armagh (1760)
2. Dublin Evening Post, 10th March 1832
3. PRONI OS/6/2/28/1 First Edition Six Inch OS map (1835)
4. PRONI VAL/1/B/247 Townland Valuation 1836
5. The Agricultural Statistics of Ireland for the Year 1857 (1858) Dublin: HMSO
6. PRONI OS/6/2/28/2 Second Edition Six Inch OS map (1862)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/2/35B Griffith’s Valuation Parish of Forkhill (1862)
8. Newry Telegraph, 31st August 1872
9. Newry Telegraph, 3rd September 1872
10. Newry Reporter, 13th December 1881
11. Northern Whig, 13th March 1882
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/15/18A-D (1866-1929) Annual Revision Lists, ED Latbriget
13. PRONI VAL/12/B/15/21A (1909-1929) Annual Revision Lists, ED Mullaghbane
14. PRONI VAL/12/A/3/83 Valuer’s Notebook 1899-1901
15. PRONI OS/6/2/28/3 Third Edition Six Inch OS map (1906-7)
16. PRONI VAL/3/C/2/15 (1935-1957) First General Revaluation, Rural District of Newry
17. PRONI VAL/3/D/2/6/Z/1 (1933-57) Valuers RV Binder, ED Latbriget
18. PRONI OS/6/2/28/4 Fourth Edition Six Inch OS map (1956-7)
19. Large scale maps (https://shop.centremapslive.co.uk)
20. Census of Ireland (National Archives: Census of Ireland) (1901, 1911)

Secondary Sources:

21. Industrial Heritage Record 00584 and 00583
22. Sebastian Graham, Mills of Northern Ireland (pers. comm.)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
D. Plan Form
E. Spatial Organisation
G. Innovatory Qualities
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Roadside complex of single storey mill buildings to the east of Mill Road to the south of Ballykeel bridge in Ballykeel townland Mullaghbawn. The complex comprises principal mill building of three-bays with attendant structures to rear and side. The main building faces west with front projection to right and remains of water powered turbine and attendant infrastructure, including mill race, together with detached, single storey block to north. The mill complex pre-dates the first edition OS map of 1835. The complex is an increasingly rare survival of rural industrial heritage in the local area with significant heritage value with its fortunes spanning agrarian unrest; both world wars with the ability to adapt to trends with the introduction of the hydroelectric turbine to accommodate the increasing demand for linen during WW2. It has been recently well restored with the safeguarding of the internal machinery and water- powered turbine much in evidence.