Fish trap and mill races

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Extensive and largely complete, small scale ‘Georgian vernacular’ rural milling complex dating from the 18th and early 19th centuries, with water powered two storey corn and flax mills and single storey stable block- all probably mid to late 1700s, a two storey miller’s house of 1837, and subsidiary structures, including a small cottage and storehouse of c.1840s. The grouping was abandoned in the 1950s and lay largely derelict until the early 1970s. Since then it has been restored with the corn mill still operating up until the late 1990s. To the rear of the house are large two and single storey wings a section of which appears to have originally been a barn. The whole grouping has a uniform appearance with harled and whitewashed facades, slated roofs and Georgian paned sash windows and timber sheeted doors, an appearance complimented by the abundance of traditional wrought iron farm gates, stone walling and simple gate pillars.

The complex is picturesquely set at the end of a lane to the W of Raleagh Road, roughly 2½ miles E of Ballynahinch. To the immediate W is the Ballynahinch River, with mill pond to the S.

The complex is served by two mill races which thread through the site and a mill pond to the south east. The races are lined in rubble stone for part of their length and are both in good condition.

Over the mill race to the S of the flax mill there is a fish trap, a small, low L-shaped structure with timber walls, a slated gabled roof and shaped barges.

*For the sake of simplicity only the 4 main compass points have been used.

Historical information

The corn mill (without the smaller projection to the north), the flax mill and the stable, are all shown on the OS map of 1834 and recorded in the valuation returns of 1836. At this stage, the miller’s residence consisted of a long single-storey dwelling, which stood on the site of the present house; the valuers believed this to be the oldest building on the site, possibly dating from the early to mid 1700s.

In 1837 the present two-storey dwelling was built, with perhaps some of the fabric of the original house incorporated within the return. The two-storey barn to the south of the house was also added around this date, as was the storehouse to the north of the flax mill, All of these are shown on the revised OS map of 1858.

The valuation of 1861 records that the house and mill were then in the possession of Christiana Silcock, who leased them from Alexander John [?and] Robert Stewart Esq. The buildings listed include: the house measuring 14½yrds x 5 x 2 (storeys), with return of 6 x 5 x 2; offices of 10 x 5 x 1, 7 x 4 x 1, 6½ x 4 x 1, 24 x 5 x 1 and 16 x 6 x 2; a ‘slated’ store of 15 x 5 x 1; a ‘slated’ shed of 6 x 4 x 1; a ‘second scutch mill slated’; a ‘shed store- wing’ of 6 x 3 x 1, and a pig house of 9½ x 3½ x 1. The house was graded ‘A’ with all of the other buildings ‘B’, suggesting that most of these were indeed the same structures listed in the 1836 valuation.

At its height in the late 19th century, the Mary Brook complex employed around 150, not only in corn and flax milling, but also in a small hemstitching factory, which was situated in a (now modernised) building along the main drive off Raleagh Road.

The hemstitching factory closed c.1900, with the flax mill ceasing production a few years later. The corn mill continued in full-time use until after WWI, with production coming to a halt by the 1930s. After THE 1950's the site was abandoned and fell into decay. In the early 1970s it was acquired by Mr Lewis-Crosby, a senior figure within the National Trust, who restored the buildings and brought the corn mill back into use.

The present owner acquired the complex in 1998. At the time of writing (October 2000) the corn mill is not worked.

References- Primary sources
1 Harris, Walter, ‘The Ancient and Present Sate of the County of Down’ (Dublin, 1744), p.78
2 PRONI VAL/1A/3/30 OS map, County Down sheet 30, with valuation
references, (1834-c.38)
3 PRONI VAL/1B/386 First valuation, Kilmore, 1836
4 ‘OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Down IV’ ed Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB, 1992) (1836)
5 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory’ (Henderson, Belfast News-Letter, 1852- )
6 PRONI VAL/2A/3/30A Revised OS map, County Down sheet 30, with valuation references, (1858-c.61)
7 PRONI VAL/2B/3/68 Second valuation, Kilmore (1861)
8 PRONI OS/6/3/30/3 OS map, 2nd edition, Co. Down sheet 30, (c.1901)

Secondary sources
1 Green, E.R.R., ‘The Industrial Archaeology of County Down’ (Belfast, HMSO, 1963)
2 “Silcock’s Mills at Drumnaconagher” in ‘Mourne Observer’, 27th March 1970
3 ‘Burke’s Irish Family Records’ (London, 1976), p.1176 [Details concerning the Traill family]
4 McCutcheon, W.A., ‘The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland’, (Belfast, HMSO, 1980), p.244

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Extensive and largely complete, small scale ‘Georgian vernacular’ rural milling complex dating from the 18th and early 19th centuries, with water powered two storey corn and flax mills and single storey stable block- all probably mid to late 1700s, a two storey miller’s house of 1837, and subsidiary structures, including a small cottage and storehouse, of c.1840s. The grouping was abandoned in the 1950s and lay largely derelict until the early 1970s. Since then it has been restored with the corn mill still operating up until the late 1990s. The whole grouping has a uniform, ‘semi-vernacular’ appearance with harled and whitewashed facades, slated roofs and Georgian paned sash windows and timber sheeted doors, an appearance complimented by the abundance of traditional wrought iron farm gates, stone walling and simple gate pillars.

The fish trap is a partly submerged structure and with the mill pond and mill races it forms an important part of the setting and interest of the site. However it is not considered appropriate to protect these structures by listing.

General comments

For disposition of elements making up the Mary Brook House and Mill complex - see map attached to HB18/05/001A.