Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Windmill Stump
Newtownards, Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Record only (not listed)
- Grade
- Record Only
- Type
- Windmill
- Date of construction
- 1720 - 1739
- Address
- Windmill Stump, [off North Road], Newtownards, Co Down, BT23 3A?
- Townland
- Newtownards
- Council
- Ards and North Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.59413, -5.68931
- Date of survey
- 10 June 1998
- HB reference
- HB24/09/011
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 3 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1690 "Scotland below the Tay." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
The Department's description
Exterior description and setting
Ruined remains of an early eighteenth century windmill (set on a hill to the E of the North Road, on the N edge of Newtownards) now surrounded by modern housing developments.
The mill is three storey and measures roughly 10.75m (h) x 5.5m (ext. dia.) and is built of largely flat random rubble. The walls are slightly battered. There is a doorway to the N and to the S both of which have rough sandstone dressings and segmental relieving arches above. Above the relieving arch to the S is a date stone inscribed ‘1729’ with further letters above which are no longer legible. Above the date stone is a small slit window. There is a similar window to the N. The interior has been gutted, though the niches for the ceiling timbers are still visible. The stump is roofless.
To the immediate W of the windmill is a small (grass) covered reservoir.
Historical information
According to the date stone above the south doorway, this windmill was erected in 1729. It is marked on James Williamson’s 1810 map and on the 1834 OS Map, where it is marked as ‘old mill stump’, implying it was no longer in use at that stage, an implication supported by the fact that it is not mentioned in the contemporary OS Memoirs.
The valuation records of c.1836 note that the land around the stump was at that stage in possession of a Thomas Oliver, who also had a house close by.
References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.654/M35/4 Londonderry Papers- Map showing a plot of ground near the windmill, 1793.
2 PRONI D.616 James Williamson’s maps of Co. Down.
3 PRONI OS Maps 1st ed. 1834, Co. Down 6.
4 PRONI VAL 1B/34 p.159 1st valuation, Newtownards parish, Corporation North, c.1836.
5 PRONI OS Maps 1st rev. 1858-60, Co. Down 6.
Secondary sources
1 E.R.R. Green 'The industrial archaeology of Co. Down' (HMSO 1963), p.52.
Criteria for listing: architectural interest
Not listed
Criteria for listing: historic interest
Not listed
Evaluation
.Roofless remains of a rubble-built windmill stump of 1729
Nearby in the register
- 96-98 Frances StreetShopunder 1 mi
- 113-117 Frances StreetDemolishedunder 1 mi
- 121-125 Frances StreetHouse - Terraceunder 1 mi
- 12-18 Victoria AvenueHouse - Terraceunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.