Mill Cottage

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An attached three-bay two-storey basalt rubble house, built c.1850 as part of a mill complex located north of Craigdarragh Road on the outskirts of Helens Bay. Rectangular main block with additional lower bay to north having single-storey projecting canted bay; two-storey and single-storey returns to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with raised stone verges. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods. Walling is basalt rubble with Flemish bonded red-brick quoins and detailing. Windows are multi-paned timber framed side-hung casements in brick surrounds.

The principal elevation faces NE; main block is three windows wide to each floor. Door is timber multi-paned with two panels to lower section. Right bay set back slightly, with canted bay window to ground floor and flat-roofed wall-head dormer above.

The SE elevation is abutted by adjoining building. (HB23/16/018B)

The SW (rear) elevation has narrow window to first floor and window to ground floor; abutted to left by rear return; exposed section with windows to ground and first floor: ground floor window is replacement uPVC flanked by two timber sheeted doors; gable has single window to first floor and timber sheeted door to ground floor.

The NW elevation is abutted by adjoining building. (HB23/16/018D)

Setting

Mill Cottage is located in a mature site down a private lane north of Craigdarragh road. Garden to front bounded to lane by rubble stone wall and brick gate piers having cast-iron gate. Mature hedgerow and trees to north and south. Paved yard to rear enclosed by tall painted masonry wall and accessed through tall cast-iron gate.

Roof: Natural Slate
Walling: Basalt rubble
Windows: Timber multi-paned
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

This house forms part of a complex that was built as a flax mill between 1834 and 1858 and was later converted for use as domestic dwellings.

The building is first shown, uncaptioned, on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858. The entry in Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) is for a ‘steward’s house, flax mill, offices and land’, part of the estate belonging to Craigdarragh House (HB23/16/017). The occupier, Robert Francis Gordon, is also the occupier of Craigdarragh House and the property is leased from the representatives of Robert S Kennedy and valued at £75 for buildings. Dimensions are given for a house, flax mill and numerous outbuildings including a stable, cow house and two piggeries. Specifications are also given for the ‘steam flax mill’ which has a 10 horse power engine, 12 stocks and 1 set of rollers. It works for four months a year, twelve hours a day and a ‘thrashing machine’ is worked at the same time. The valuer notes that there is also an oil mill but this ‘cannot be worked with the above machinery’.

In 1863 the mill becomes the property of Lord Dufferin and Clandeboye, who had also taken over Craigdarragh House. The flax mill is noted to have ‘burned down’ by 1872 and there is a consequent reduction in the valuation to £40.

In 1882 the steward’s house was deleted from the record and the plot was redeveloped, new buildings being described as ‘in progress’. By 1883, the site was let as three separate properties valued at £45, £11 and £9. The divisions between the different houses in the group seem to have been somewhat fluid at this stage and the valuation records are not completely clear. However it appears that what is now Fairholme House and its neighbour to the south west was, at this stage, a single property valued at £45 and let to Margaret Hill. What is now Mill Cottage was a second property which was let to David Patterson by 1887 and valued at £9. The cottage appears to have been formed from parts of the old mill complex. What is now the ‘Old Mill House’ was valued at £11 and let to the Hartley family, Miss and then Robert M. The properties were leased from Thomas Workman of Craigdarragh House. In 1900, Thomas Workman is listed as the occupier of all three houses and from this point it appears that the houses are let, for the most part, to relatives or associates of the Workman family.

Mill Cottage was subsequently let to Margaret E Workman but by 1907 it was vacant. Valuer’s notes show that it had been improved, with the addition of a bay window to the front and an extension to the rear. The house now comprised five bedrooms and a maid’s bedroom, with three reception rooms and the valuation was raised to £18.10s.

In 1911 all the lessors requested a revision of their valuation and the valuer charged with this task made notes on the building and drew a plan. The present house was occupied by Elliott Hill, an uncle to Robert Workman, and shared a garden with his neighbour to the north. The valuer felt that this house had been improved and also enlarged by adding parts from his neighbour, so the valuation was increased to £19.10s with £1.10s for the additional rooms. A former labourer’s house occupying the ground floor of part of the adjacent property now belongs to this house, together with the upper floor over it.

In 1933 ‘Fairholme Cottage’ was vacant and then occupied by Frederick M Flanagan and leased from Craigdarragh Estates Ltd. It is valued at £19.10s and then at £42. It comprises 6 bedrooms, 2 receptions, a kitchen, scullery, pantry, and bathroom. The water supply comes from Helen’s Bay and the house has electric light. A plan and dimensions are given for the house and motor house.

References:

Primary Sources

1.PRONI OS/6/3/1/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
2.PRONI OS/6/3/1/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-02
3.PRONI OS/6/3/1/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-31
4.PRONI OS/6/3/1/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1938-41
5.PRONI VAL/2/B/3/1 – Griffith’s Valuation Map (1856-64)
6.PRONI VAL/2/B/3/18B – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
7.PRONI VAL/12/A/3/20 – Valuer’s Notebook (1907-11)
8.PRONI VAL/12/B/17/10A-G – Annual Revisions (1867-1930)
9.PRONI VAL/12/B/17/11A-C – Annual Revisions (1888-1930)
10.PRONI VAL/3/D/4/4/F/6 – Valuer’s RV Binder (1933-56)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A three-bay two-storey basalt rubble house, built c.1850 as part of an mill complex. Situated in a mature site accessed by a private lane, the house is part of a complex of buildings on the site of a mill. It is not clear when the mill buildings were converted for a dwelling and the interior was altered further in the early Twentieth century but these changes are a record of its history. Its character survives and it is of interest as an early conversion from a mill building and as part of the group on this site.

General comments

Previous reference was HB23/16/019, new reference is HB23/16/018C.