Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Windmill stump,
Ballyrush, Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Record only (not listed)
- Grade
- Record Only
- Type
- Windmill
- Date of construction
- 1840 - 1859
- Address
- Windmill stump,, off Ballygowan Road,, Ballyrush,, Comber,, Co. Down, BT23 5RY
- Townland
- Ballyrush
- Council
- Ards and North Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.52260, -5.78032
- Date of survey
- 20 January 1999
- HB reference
- HB24/16/032
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 1794 "Sheet 55. (Cary's England, Wales, and Scotland)." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
The Department's description
Exterior description and setting
Ruined windmill stump on a hill top to the W of the Ballygowan Road, c.1.5 miles NE of Ballygowan.
The windmill is built in rubble and measures roughly 4.5m in height by 4m in diameter with walls c.0.75m tall. The stump now has two levels.
On the E ‘face’ are two large door openings, one above the other. The are two small window openings one at ground floor level, the other at first floor.
There are some odd sections of timber inside the stump and a ‘roof’ made from corrugated iron
Historical information
This ‘flax mill’ is marked on the OS map of 1858, but not that of 1834. The valuation returns of c.1863 note that it was then in the possession of a John Alexander Gowdy, who leased it from the Marquis of Londonderry, the proprietor of Ballyrush townland.
E.R.R. Green (secondary source No.1) states that the mill was used as a dwelling at some point.
Primary sources
1 PRONI D.654 Londonderry Papers. [This collection contains documents corning the townland of Ballyrush.]
2 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60, Down 10.
3 PRONI 2nd valuation Comber parish c.1863.
4 EHS HB24/16/32 1st survey notes and slide HB24/16/32.
5 EHS OS map 167-1 (1:2500) 1972.
Secondary sources
1 E.R.R. Green The Industrial Archaeology of Co. Down (HMSO 1963), p.54.
Criteria for listing: architectural interest
Not listed
Criteria for listing: historic interest
Not listed
Evaluation
Ruined stump of a flax windmill, built some time between 1833 and 1858.
Nearby in the register
- 97 Old Ballygowan Road,Demolishedunder 1 mi
- Hill Head,Houseunder 1 mi
- Moss Bank,Houseunder 1 mi
- Bridge,Bridgeunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.