Islandreagh Dyeing and Finishing Company, 30 Islandreagh Drive, Muckamore, Co Antrim, BT41 2HB

Islandreagh Beetling Mill is a well-preserved early 19th-century mill complex built around 1810, located on the south side of Islandreagh Drive along the Six Mile Water river in County Antrim. The complex occupies a secluded, sloping site sheltered by mature trees and surrounded by pasture, accessed from a tree-lined avenue that branches toward Islandreagh House and crosses the railway by a rubble stone bridge. The river runs directly to the west. The complex is roughly L-shaped and comprises a two-storey beetling shed (Beetling Shed 1), a long single-storey beetling shed (Beetling Shed 3), a double-height turbine house (Beetling Shed 2), a pair of roofless double-height dye houses, a boiler house with industrial chimney, and a detached mill office to the north-east. The site is of considerable local interest and represents successive phases of industrial use: bleachworks, beetling mill, dye works, and briefly, during the Second World War, a manufacturer of ammunition and machine tools.

BEETLING SHED 1

This is the principal building of the complex — a two-storey, multi-bay structure with attic, rectangular on plan and aligned east to west. The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with brick eaves and half-round cast-iron rainwater goods. Walls are random rubble stone in lime mortar. Windows are timber two-over-two sliding sashes with brick dressings and concrete sills, though some have been replaced with one-over-one sashes and others partially infilled with ventilation louvres.

The principal (north) elevation is ten openings wide at each floor, including a tongue-and-groove sheeted door at the extreme right with a two-light transom. The left end is built into a bank and accessed by an ascending flight of concrete steps. The left gable is single storey and abutted by a lean-to shed of modern concrete construction. To its right is a former door opening infilled with rubble stone; a red brick platband marks the attic level, which is lit by two windows. The south elevation mirrors the north, with the left bay projecting slightly and abutted at ground floor by the machine house; the exposed first floor has a segmental-headed opening infilled with brick. The remainder of this elevation has eight openings at each floor, including a panelled timber door that has been partially sheeted over.

The right gable has several openings at ground floor level, set close to ground level, all with rubble stone voussoirs unless otherwise noted. From left to right: a window with cement reveals; a rubble stone infilled door opening retaining the remains of an axle housing set into a mortice formed in brick; an opening infilled with a six-pane fixed timber window with brick apron infill and crude cement reveals; and a segmental-headed tongue-and-groove sheeted loading door set above ground level, above which a grooved wheel on an axle spans the entry and is fixed with a corresponding wheel on the dye house opposite. At first floor level there is a window to each side and a loading door infilled with fixed four-light windows and a timber-sheeted panel, with a double-header relieving arch over. The attic is lit by two windows. Also fixed to the gable and spanning the entry are a steel I-beam with chains and a timber beam with pulley attachments.

A mill stream flows beneath the south side of the beetling shed by means of a bridged two-span inlet with elliptical-headed arches formed in brick.

According to a 1993 report by Dr Fred Hamond, the ground floor of this building recently housed two rows of beetling engines of wood-framed and cast-iron construction. The wiper beams carry a double series of projecting wipers, and the 11½-inch cloth beams are of wood for linen and metal for cotton. These were driven by two Liffel turbines located at the centre of the building and supplied by the millpond to the south. At the time of the report, all machinery and transmission shafts remained intact with the exception of the turbines and three beetling engines.

The roof is supported on nine wooden trusses of memel pine imported from Latvia, supplied by JP Corry and transported by rail. These trusses are of an unusual composite design, combining elements of both king-post and queen-post construction — neither type alone would have been capable of spanning the 50-plus feet of the building's width.

BEETLING SHED 3

This is a long, single-storey, multi-bay building aligned south-west, with an M-profile artificially slated double-hipped roof throughout, except for the right bay which is gabled with a perpendicular ridge. Ridge and hip tiles are roll-topped. Walling and windows follow the same detailing as the main block, with some casement replacements. The shed is extended to the south by the pair of roofless dye houses.

The east elevation is fifteen openings wide to the hipped section. To the right of centre, four brick piers project from the wall-head supporting a lean-to corrugated metal canopy, with the lower end carried on steel supports. This canopy shelters an elliptical-headed vehicular entrance door with a smaller window to its left; most windows to the right of these openings are infilled with brick. At the extreme left is a single-bay gabled engine room with a double-height opening comprising a double-leaf tongue-and-groove sheeted door surmounted by a round-headed six-light fixed window, all set in brick reveals.

The north elevation is symmetrical and three openings wide, with a central casement to each section and the remainder infilled with brick. The west elevation is similar to the east, though many windows are infilled or have replacement casements. The south elevation is abutted by the roofless block.

DYE HOUSES

The two adjoining dye house blocks are double height and now roofless. A curved profile to the south elevation indicates that they formerly carried a Belfast truss roof structure. Walling and detailing otherwise follow the main block, with vestiges of lime render remaining on the west elevation. Windows are multi-pane timber: nine-pane with a three-light top-opening casement to the east elevation, and twelve-pane and six-pane to the west. Dye House 2 bridges a mill race, which passes beneath it at a skew.

The south elevation is abutted by a variety of corrugated metal structures, including a canopied lean-to dye house extension and a pitched roof structure raised on steel supports over a partially open enclosure bounded by a low concrete wall.

BEETLING SHED 2 (TURBINE HOUSE)

This is a double-height, single-bay, rectangular structure with a corrugated metal roof over a Belfast truss structure, and plastic rainwater goods. Walls are rubble stone laid to courses. Windows are nine-pane without sills, with heads at eaves level. The east elevation has six window openings and several openings at ground level, variously infilled, including a door opening with rubble stone voussoirs and a metal roller door. The south elevation has a segmental-headed door opening with a brick head. The west elevation is abutted by corrugated metal sheds. Entry is from the north, where the walls are corrugated metal and a pair of steel doors provides access. Set parallel to the machine house to the east is a sluice, retaining the remains of a sluice gate at its north end.

BOILER HOUSE

The boiler house is a double-height rectangular block located immediately to the rear (west) of the single-storey range and connected to it by a system of pipes. A square-plan chimney rises to approximately 100 feet in height at the west end; it has a corbelled cap with metal straps fixed to the shaft at regular intervals. The east gable has two vehicular entrance openings: the left has a segmental relieving arch over a timber lintel with remains of tongue-and-groove sheeted doors; the right is fitted with corrugated metal sliding doors. There is a glazed roundel to the apex. All other elevations are blank.

MILL OFFICE

The mill office is a detached, single-storey, three-bay building located to the north-east of the complex, rectangular on plan with a central lean-to projecting porch. The roof is pitched natural slate with angled ridge tiles and cast-iron rainwater goods. Walls are random rubble stone with brick quoins. Windows are timber two-over-two sliding sashes with concrete sills and brick dressings.

The principal elevation has the porch at centre, detailed to match the remainder of the building with quoins and a corrugated metal roof; the doorway is a four-panel timber door with sidelights and transom, accessed by two stone steps. There are two windows to either side of the porch. The gables are blank. The rear elevation was not accessed.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The industrial historian W.A. McCutcheon has noted a remarkable concentration of industrial activity in the valley of the Six Mile Water, largely dependent on water power and an adequate supply of river water for processing. A substantial L-shaped building closely matching the current plan appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833. The Townland Valuation of 1837 records a beetling mill and offices occupied by Robert Benson, with a bleaching concourse and washmen's house attached, valued at £40 4s 2d. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1838 briefly describe "a beetling and bleach mill on the Six Mile Water, townland of Islandreagh, property of Mr Ferguson of Belfast." The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857 marks it as a beetling mill.

Griffith's Valuation records the property as a house, offices, and bleach mill valued at £50, leased by Robert Benson from the representatives of William Ferguson. The valuation was subsequently scored out and replaced with £17, with a note that the greater part of the machinery belonged to the landlord. The valuer's description records: eight engines with beams ten feet long, height of beetles five feet four inches, depth three and a half inches, raised ten inches; the mill worked day and night for six months of the year and ten hours a day for the remainder; and there were two marching mangles, two pairs of wash feet, and one calender.

The valuation revision of 1883 records that the premises had burnt down. The following year they were taken over by Samuel McClure and rebuilt. The 1885 entry notes: "Formerly a bleaching mill. Now only a beetling mill with 8 engines driven by water. Buildings three storeys but no part used except the ground floor." Between 1897 and 1902 the valuation increased substantially from £40 to £100, with a note of new buildings recorded in 1900. The fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1928 identifies the complex as Islandreagh Dye Works.

Dr Hamond's 1993 report records that dyeing operations ceased around 1939. During the Second World War, part of the site was used by James Mackie and Sons for the manufacture of ammunition and machine tools. Beetling continued under the McClure family until the early 1980s.