Chimney at former Banford Bleach Works

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A tall, free-standing tapered brick chimney of square cross-section standing to its full height, with corbelled brick crown, erected c.1865. Part of remaining structures at former Banford Bleach Works, located on the Banbridge Road at Tullylish, east of Gilford. Metal bracing bands at regular intervals and vestiges of lightning conductor. Now extremely overgrown and in very poor condition at top.

Setting

Now surrounded by the overgrown demolished remains of miscellaneous mill buildings.

Roof: N/A
Rainwater goods: N/A
Walls: Brick
Windows: N/A

Historical information

The chimney dates from the period 1860-67 and was built by Thomas Houghton and Daniel Jaffe during this phase of the site’s expansion. It was associated with an adjoining boiler house which generated steam for an engine in a nearby engine house; both these buildings have been demolished. The 1924-34 Valuation book records its height at 100ft.

The present complex occupies the site of what was probably the earliest bleach mill on the Bann. Around 1728, John Nicholson, with grant-aid from the Irish Linen Board, installed bleaching equipment and erected a drying house for the processing of brown linen. John’s son Thomas erected Banford House (HB17/02/018, on the opposite side of the main road) in the 1780s and two water-powered bleach mills around 1812.

Benjamin Haughton acquired the premises in 1815. The 1832 first Valuation book notes him as operating an extensive bleachworks, all powered by three waterwheels. One of the wheels was 14ft in diameter by 5½ft wide and drove two beetling engines. A second, 12ft by 5ft, powered three beetling engines, three sets of rub boards, a starch mill, and four pumps. The third, 12ft by 4½ft, powered two wash mills. The 1833 OS map shows a substantial block of buildings with a pond to its E and three tailraces to W and surrounded to N and S by bleach greens.

In 1854, Haughton and Fennell (related by marriage) were engaged in cambric handkerchief bleaching, and employed around 70 people on the premises. Around 1860, the Banford Bleach Works Co was established when Daniel Jaffe entered into partnership with Benjamin's son Thomas.

The site's configuration as shown on the 1860 OS map shows expansion westwards and southwards since the 1830s. These are documented in the 1861 Valuation as wash houses and beetling mills. This valuation itemizes 16 buildings in all within the complex, including a boiling house, three wash mills, a blueing house, and two beetling sheds, with a total rateable valuation of £160. The machinery comprised 15 beetling engines, 8 sets of wash feet, 8 pairs of rubbing boards, two starching machines, as well as drying and squeezing machines. All were driven off two waterwheels and a 16hp high-pressure steam engine. One of the wheels measured 15ft dia by 16ft wide and was rated at upwards of 40hp. The other was a more conventionally-sized 12ft by 5ft wheel, rated at up to 12hp. An annual payment of £78 was made to the Bann Reservoir Co for the supply of water from Lough Island Reavy.

A site plan of 1867 shows yet further expansion to have occurred, notably along the W side of the block (preparing rooms) and at its S end, where there was now a chimney, engine house, boiler house and a large beetling shed.

By 1875, Daniel Jaffe had been succeeded in the partnership by Martin Jaffe. The premises were then valued at £245. The fact that the valuation had increased by half as much again as its 1861 rating reflects the various phases of expansion evident in the OS maps as noted above This expansion is also noted by Bassett who stated that between 1860 and 1886, some £35,000 had been expended in alterations and additions to the buildings and machinery. One such item of machinery was an American Leffel water turbine which was installed prior to 1875. In 1883, John Edgar bought out Martin Jaffe's interest in the company.

Writing in 1886, Bassett noted the buildings as covering nearly two acres, with a further 177 acres of bleach green. The machinery was powered by a 12ft by 5ft breastshot waterwheel and the aforesaid turbine, apparently 7ft in diameter; their combined power was 100hp. Three steam engines provided an additional 100hp. Some 150 people were employed at that time (only six of whom were female). In the locality were 32 workers' houses belonging to the firm.

The 1903-04 OS map and subsequent maps show only minor changes to the site’s configuration. Indeed its valuation decreases to £200 in 1891 (the owners having appealed for a reduction) and remains constant thereafter until at least 1929. This suggests that no major expansion after the 1860s.

Sometime in the late 1800s or early 1900s, Messrs Sinton of Tandragee acquired the complex, although it still traded as the Banford Bleach Works Co. They are noted as installing two Gordon turbines in 1911. The installation of a 24hp Craig turbine is also noted in 1934.

The works continued to operate until 1957, when a strike forced its closure. Three of the buildings were subsequently converted to a house, restaurant, and pottery respectively. Most of the remaining ones were still extant in 1991, albeit in a derelict state, but many of them have since been demolished.

References – Primary sources:
1. PRONI VAL/1/B/350, pp 19 and 47. First Valuation book for Tullylish Parish (1832).
2. PRONI OS/6/3/26/1. First edition OS six-inch map, Co Down sheet 26 (1833)
3. OS Memoirs for Tullylish Parish, 1834. Reprinted as A. Day & P. McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland:
Parishes of County Down III, 1833-8, Mid-Down, p.141 (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1992).
4. PRONI D1136. Records of Banford Bleach Works Co, 1845-1863.
5. PRONI OS/6/3/26/2. Second edition OS six-inch map, Co Down sheet 26 (1860).
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/48A, p.66. Second Valuation book for Tullylish Parish, Banbridge Union (1861).
7. Plan of Bleachworks at Banfield, near Gilford, the Property of the Banford Bleachworks Co, by Robert Cochraine, C.E.
Banbridge (Jan 1867). In possession of owner.
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/25A-H. Valuation revision books, 1864-1929.
9. PRONI OS/6/3/26/3. Third edition OS six-inch map, Co Down sheet 26 (1903-04).
10. PRONI OS/6/3/26/4. Fourth edition OS six-inch map, Co Down sheet 26 (1919).
11. PRONI VAL/12/A/3/11. Valuers’ notebook, Banbridge Rural District (1924-34).
12. PRONI OS//11/201/15/1. First edition Irish Gird 1:2500 map, sheet 201-15 (1972).

References – Secondary sources:
1. E.R.R. Green, the Industrial Archaeology of Co Down, p.21, entry 27 (Belfast, HMSO, 1963).
2. G.H. Bassett, The Book of Co Down, p.261 (1888).
3. C. Scally, Linen Mills of the Upper Bann Valley: an Industrial Archaeological Survey, p.15 (report for Historic Monuments &
Buildings Branch, 1988).
4. F.W. Hamond, Banford Bleach Works, Tullylish, Co Down (report for Environment & Heritage Service, 17 June 1991).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A tall square brick chimney dating from 1860s forming part of the extensive site of what was probably the earliest bleach mill on the Bann. , Although its immediate context has been lost due to the demolition of the buildings around it, notably the engine and boiler houses, this structure forms part of the extensive site of what was probably the earliest bleach mill on the Bann.