Mill Court

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The site is located between the W side of Castlewellan Road and the River Bann. It comprises two sections: a three-storey L-shaped former linen warehouse fronting the road at SE, and a smaller two-storey L-shaped former stable block/ coach house at SW end of the premises.

1. Three-storey warehouse

The roof has been reslated with natural slate and is of hipped profile. Steel half-round gutters and down pipes. The walls are of quarried random rubble blackstone, with an advanced brick eaves course. In addition, the E elevation has v-jointed, stepped dressed granite quoins at both ends. All the window and door openings are square-headed, with brick heads and jambs; the windows are all 6/6 timber sliding sashes with granite cills unless otherwise stated.

The street (E) frontage is nine openings wide to its upper floors and of symmetrical design. In the middle of the ground floor is a three-centred coach arch leading into the yard; it has a dressed granite surround with accentuated foot, spring and keystones. There is a window and half-glazed timber door at left giving access to an electrical goods shop. There was originally a window and door to the right of the archway, but these have all been replaced by a modern shop front belonging to a fast-food outlet. The first and second floors each have nine windows, in line with each other. Two shop signs project at first floor level. The right-hand side of this elevation is abutted by a large two-storey house formerly belonging to the warehouse owner (HB17/07/031A).

The S elevation of the warehouse return faces on to the garden of a neighbouring house (HB17/07/033). It is 15 window openings wide to its upper floors. The stonework to the ground floor is of poorer quality than the rest of the wall and may originally have been rendered. All the windows are in line with one another- six to the ground floor, and 15 each to the first and second floors. One of the ground floor window cills is of sandstone and two are of concrete.

The yard (W) elevation of the front section is abutted at its right-hand end by a three-storey external stairwell. It is five openings wide to its upper floors. This side of the coach arch has a brick architrave and granite spring and keystones. A modern steel gate is hung from one side. To the left of the arch is a sheeted timber door (with overlight) and window belonging to the fast-food outlet. The first and second floor openings are in line with each other; all are windows except for a sheeted loading door at first floor right.
The stairwell in the corner has a shallow sloping felted timber roof, half-round steel gutter, and is of brick construction throughout (with a rounded NW corner). Its N elevation has a 6/6 window at each landing and there is a smaller 6/6 window between each landing on its W elevation. A short flight of timber stairs leads up to a sheeted timber door at the bottom of the stairwell. There is an under-stair opening at the bottom of its W elevation.

The yard (N) elevation of the return is nine openings wide and is abutted at left by the aforementioned stairwell. There are three three-centred arches to the ground floor, all with brick surrounds and raised granite spring and keystones. Two of them have been infilled with rubble blackstone; a sheeted door (with overlight) has been inserted into one of the infilled arches and a 6/6 window into the other; both are trimmed with brick and the window has a granite cill. The unaltered archway at right contains a pair of sheeted timber doors. Each of the upper floors has nine windows, in line with each other.

The yard is bounded at N by a modern building belonging to an adjoining premises.

2. Two-storey stable block

This building has a pitched natural roof, metal half-round gutters and down pipes, and cement-rendered walls (painted to their yard elevations). All the window openings are square-headed and contain 6/6 timber sliding sashes with granite cills unless otherwise stated.

W elevation is two-storeys high over a basement fronting a former headrace to another mill to the south. Its left half is slightly advanced and contains four windows at first floor level. There were probably windows to the ground and basement levels, all now infilled and rendered over. There are also two 3/3 timber sash windows to the right-hand half, set into larger brick-trimmed openings.

S elevation has two windows to the ground floor (one 6/6, the other 3/3) and three to the first floor (all 3/3); there are also two infilled openings to the upper floor, the cills of which survive.

A brick chimney projects from the S pitch of the roof of this elevation. It is of square cross section and stands to its full height, with an out-curving mounded granite crown.

The yard (E) elevation of the N-S section of this building has a raised eaves gable containing a (working) clock in a circular moulded surround. There are three windows and a sheeted timber door to both floors.

The yard (N) elevation of the E-W section has two segmental-arched doorways to the ground floor. One contains a two-leaf sheeted timber door, and the other a modern semi-glazed timber door with glazed sidelights and spoked overlight (the windows are double-glazed).

Affixed to the N end of the E gable of the E-W section is a hand-operated water pump. Its intake and outlet pipes have both been removed. The pump itself comprises an up-down plunger which discharged sideways into a small vertical cylinder with tap at bottom and outlet pipe at top. The pump has been painted but is not workable.

Roof: Natural slate
Rainwater goods: Steel
Walls: Stone
Windows: Timber

Historical information

This complex is first shown on the 1860 OS six-inch map, at the NE end of a bleach green associated with a bleach mill further along the Castlewellan Road. As it is not shown on the 1833 OS map, or cited in the 1834 or 1837 Ordnance Survey Memoirs, it must therefore date to the period 1837-1860.

It is captioned as ‘linen manufactory’ on the 1861 large-scale town map. The 1863 Griffith Valuations describes the site as belonging to William Waugh and comprising a house, linen and yarn stores, offices, yard and garden (the house is HB17/07/031). The complex was rated at £128, indicating a sizeable enterprise. The dimensions of the buildings comprising this valuation are given as follows:
- House 23? Yds x 10½ yds x 30ft/ 2? Storeys high (this is site HB17/07/031).
- Office 26? Yds x 11? Yds x 30ft/ 3 storeys high (this is the section fronting the street).
- Warehouse 24½ yds x 7½ yds x 30ft/ 3 storeys high (this is the side return to the front part).
- Office at gate 2yds x 2yds x 30ft/ 3 storeys high (this is the external stairwell).
The above office and warehouse are described as stone built with cut granite quoins.
- Office 12yds x 10yds x 18ft/ 2 storeys high (at the SW corner of the site).
- Office 11yds x 7yds x 18ft/ 2 storeys high (at NW).
The above two offices are described as stables, coach house and boiling house, with a 60ft high chimney.
- Office at river 21yds x 5yds x 1 storey (this projects into the mill race at the W end of the site).
With the exception of the office on the mill race, all these buildings survive today.

William Waugh is described in a document of 1854 as a linen manufacturer of Banbridge who had erected a manufactory, warehouses, offices, boiling houses and drying lofts “in and adjoining Banbridge, with certain warping and other machinery fixtures” and who was “already engaged in same trade”. These buildings are probably the ones under review and narrow their date of erection to between 1837 and 1854.

The premises appear to have been built for the storage of yarn and linen. The warping of yarn, a preparatory stage in the weaving process, also appears to have taken place. As the site is nowhere described as a weaving factory, the warped beams were presumably dispatched elsewhere for weaving into linen, but whether to hand-loom weavers or power loom factories is uncertain. Moreover, the presence of a chimney and boiling house suggests that the yarn might also have been processed in some way (perhaps bleached) before it was warped.

The Valuation Revision Book for 1864 notes William Walker as the occupant of the linen and yarn stores. Waugh had, in fact, entered into a seven-year partnership with Walker in 1854, but whether they were still partners is uncertain. In 1870, however, the premises reverted to Waugh. The Valuation entry for 1874 notes James C Stuart as the occupant; the site is now described as “reeling, winding, warping and yarn stores”. This description supports the above hypothesis that the site was used for the preparation of yarn for weaving, rather than for an actual manufacturing process.

The Valuation entry for 1881 notes Joseph Morton as taking over. Although the site continues to be described as before, Morton was a seed merchant rather than a linen manufacturer (established elsewhere in the town since 1856). Indeed, the 1889 town map captions the premises as ‘seed stores’. It is likewise described as “grass seed stores” in the 1899 Valuation book. A Cross & Sons are recorded as taking over from Morton in this year and they appear in the valuation entries until 1922, when Joseph Morton reappears.

Whether Messrs Cross ran the site for this length of time is by no means certain, despite the valuation entries. The 1901 census notes Joseph Morton in the adjoining house (HB17/07/031) and records him as a 58-year old seed merchant. However, he describes himself as a 70-year old merchant in the 1911 census. He would have been around 80 in 1922, the year in which he reappears in the valuations, and would probably not have then been actively engaged with the running of the seed business.

According to the present owner, the premises were acquired by the N. Ireland Electricity Board in the early 1950s. They were subsequently sold to Mr Win Milligan, a furniture retailer (trading as the Classic Furniture Co Ltd). The present owner acquired the site in the 1980s.

References – Primary Sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/3/27/1 First edition OS six-inch map, Co Down sheet 27 (1833).
2. OS Memoirs for Tullylish Parish (1834, revised 1837). Reprinted as A. Day & P. McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland: Parishes of County Down III, 1833-8, Mid-Down (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1992).
3. PRONI D2454/10. Deed of co-partnership between William Waugh and William Walker (30 Aug 1854).
4. PRONI OS/6/3/27/2. Second edition OS six-inch map, Co Down sheet 27 (1860).
5. PRONI OS/8/4/1A/6. First edition OS 1:500 town plan, Banbridge sheet 6 (1861).
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/64C, p.138. Griffith Valuation for Seapatrick Parish, Banbridge Union (1863).
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6A-D. Valuation revision books, 1864-94.
8. PRONI OS/8/4/2/6. Second edition OS 1:500 town plan, Banbridge sheet 27-14-6 (1889).
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/7A-C. Valuation revision books, 1899-1930.
10. 1901 Census of Ireland, Ballyvally townland (National Archive, Dublin).
11. 1911 Census of Ireland, Ballyvalley townland (National Archive, Dublin).

References – Secondary Sources:
1. Mr Leo McEvoy (owner).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A mid-19th century former three-storey L-shaped rubble blackstone yarn and linen warehouse, with a two-storey L-shaped former stable block to the rear. Style and proportions of the warehouse -quarried rubble blackstone, granite trim and regularly spaced windows - are typical of a mid-1800s utilitarian building, the industrial interest of which is increased by the chimney. Although some alteration has occurred, the internal spaces are largely intact The king- and queen-post trusses are of structural interest. The building also has group value with the adjoining former owner's house (HB17/07/031A). It is of much interest as a relatively rare example of a yarn/linen warehouse surviving virtually intact with the main house in its original context.

General comments

Record renumber. Previous number was HB17/07/032. AmcL