Watermill House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey five-bay former mill with attached two-storey five-bay mill-house, built 1747, located in the grounds of Dunadry Hotel to the south of Belfast Road. The mill building is rectangular with mill-house connected to the south-east corner by a link block containing the entrance and stairway. There is a flat roofed two-storey painted brick extension to the north-east.

The roofs are pitched and slated with brick corbelled eaves. The walls are random rubble basalt to mill block and coursed rubble to mill-house. All windows are timber framed 6/6 sliding sash with exposed boxes, unless otherwise stated. Reveals have projecting concrete bands; segmental headed to ground floor and square headed to first floor with brick surround and voussoirs and masonry sill. All windows are timber framed 6/6 sliding sash with exposed boxes, unless otherwise stated.

The principal elevation of the mill block faces west. It is five windows wide with a window to each level. That to first floor centre has a semi-circular cast-iron balcony. There is an elliptical-arched-headed carriage opening below with stone voussoirs. The opening contains a large sliding sash window with flanking sidelights framed by fluted timber mullions and surmounted by a segmental fanlight. The elevation is abutted to the south by a segmental stone arch connecting to a one-and-a-half storey outbuilding.

The north gable of the mill has a large segmental-arched-headed recess with brick dressings to first floor, and is abutted at east by the extension which has one square headed window to each level.

The east elevation of the mill is abutted by the extension.

The south gable-end of the mill has two square headed windows to ground floor and two to first floor, with voussoirs only. The gable is abutted by a two storey link containing an elliptical headed carriage opening with granite quoins and brick voussoirs, accessed by three concrete steps. The opening houses a timber panelled entrance door flanked by fluted collonettes and latticed sidelights, surmounted by a segmented fanlight. Entrance is surmounted by a window with semi-circular cast iron balcony.

The west elevation of the mill-house is abutted by the two-storey link block. The exposed gable-end is blank.

The north elevation of the mill-house is abutted by the flat-roofed extension which is three bays wide, each bay with a square headed window to each level. There are entrance doors to the internal east and west elevations.

The east gable-end of the mill-house is painted roughcast, and abutted by hotel accommodation.

The principal elevation of the mill-house faces south. It is five windows wide with a window to each level. The central bay contains a timber panelled entrance door with glazed lights to ground floor, accessed by three semi-circular concrete steps. The elevation is abutted to the east by random rubble stone walling marking the boundary of the site.

Outbuildings

The outbuilding to the south is one-and-a-half storey to the north and two-storey to the south due to the topography of the site, with random rubble and rendered walling. The roof is pitched and slated with a gabled dormer to the east pitch and a flat roofed dormer to the west. The building has modern timber casement windows. The outbuilding to the north is five bays with 6/6 sliding sash segmental headed windows to first floor and three large openings to ground floor. The central opening is segmental headed with stone voussoirs and the flanking openings are square headed with brick voussoirs. All have modern timber doors.

Setting

The buildings are set to the south of Dunadry Hotel and Country Club. The mill abuts hotel accommodation to the north. A river runs to the south of the site, with a sluice gate to the south, where there is a canted cast iron bridge over the river. The house faces onto an access road and random rubble wall surmounted by a fence. There is a pair of circular random rubble gate pillars with coping to the north.

Roof Natural slate
Walling Coursed rubble blackstone
Windows Timber framed 6/6 sliding sash with exposed boxes
Rainwater goods Replacement cast iron half round gutters with round downpipes

Historical information

According to Munter, referenced by Muir, and McCutcheon (p.255), the paper mill in Dunadry was built in 1747. The building is marked on the 1st Edition OS Map of the area, dated 1833, as ‘Paper mill’. The site consisted, at that time, of a U-plan building to north and a L-plan building to the south-west. This remained unchanged through the nineteenth century, until it became the ‘Bleach works’, marked on the 3rd edition OS map, of 1902. The building to the north remained unchanged, although with an attached building to the south and further extension to the east. The 1921 4th edition map shows the Mill and Mill-house, and further large buildings to the south and west of the site, now demolished.

According to the Townland Valuation of 1836, the mill was owned by Mr Edwin Blow, and was listed as paper manufacturing, with a value of £52.12s.0d. Griffiths Valuation, dated 1859, lists the ‘Townland and Occupier’ as Thomas Wallace and James Blow and the ‘Immediate Lessor’ as John Cunningham, the property is listed as paper mill and yard, with a value of £85.0s.0d.

The buildings were converted to a dwelling in 1965.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/50/1, 1st edition OS Map, Co Antrim, sheet no 50, 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/1/50/2, 2nd edition OS Map, Co Antrim, sheet no 50, 1857
3. PRONI OS/6/1/50/3, 3rd edition OS Map, Co Antrim, sheet no 50, 1902
4. PRONI OS/6/1/50/4, 4th edition OS Map, Co Antrim, sheet no 50, 1921
5. PRONI VAL/1A/1/50, Townland Valuation Map, 1836
6. PRONI VAL/1B/163, Townland Valuation Field book, 1836
7. PRONI VAL/2/A/1/50A, B, C, Griffiths Valuation Map, 1859

Secondary Sources

1. Information from owner
2. Munter referenced by Alison Muir, in publication ‘The eighteenth-century paper-makers of the north of Ireland’, accessed from http://www.ancestryireland.com/data/directory/2004-Familia.pdf (accessed 01/10/08)
3. McCutcheon, W.A. “The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland,” London: HMSO, 1980.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A symmetrical two-storey five-bay former mill building with attached symmetrical mill-house which has been converted to a dwelling. The mill and outbuildings retain some of their original character, and along with the other elements of industry around the site, such as the sluice gate and canted bridge to the south, serve as a reminder of nineteenth-century rural industry in the area.