Mill Cottage, 49 Craigdarragh Road, Helen's Bay, Bangor, Co Down, BT19 1UB

Mill Cottage

Mill Cottage is a three-bay two-storey house built circa 1850 as part of a flax mill complex, located north of Craigdarragh Road on the outskirts of Helen's Bay, County Down. The building is constructed from basalt rubble with Flemish bonded red-brick quoins and detailing. The rectangular main block is accompanied by an additional lower bay to the north containing a single-storey projecting canted bay window, with two-storey and single-storey returns to the rear. The pitched roof is clad in natural slate with raised stone verges and cast-iron half-round rainwater goods.

The principal elevation faces north-east. The main block is three windows wide across each floor, with windows being multi-paned timber-framed side-hung casements set in brick surrounds. The entrance door is timber with multi-paned glazing and two timber panels to the lower section. The right bay is set back slightly and features a canted bay window to the ground floor with a flat-roofed wall-head dormer above. The south-east elevation is abutted by an adjoining building. The south-west rear elevation contains a narrow first-floor window and a ground-floor window; an abutting rear return adjoins to the left. An exposed section of this elevation displays windows to both ground and first floors, with the ground-floor window being a replacement uPVC unit flanked by two timber-sheeted doors. The gable end has a single first-floor window and a timber-sheeted door to the ground floor. The north-west elevation is abutted by an adjoining building.

The cottage stands within a mature site accessed by a private lane north of Craigdarragh Road. The front garden is bounded towards the lane by a rubble stone wall and brick gate piers with a cast-iron gate. Mature hedgerow and trees border the property to north and south. A paved yard to the rear is enclosed by a tall painted masonry wall and accessed through a tall cast-iron gate.

Historical Background

The building forms part of a complex originally built as a flax mill between 1834 and 1858. According to Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64, the complex was designated as a steward's house, flax mill, offices and land, part of the estate belonging to Craigdarragh House. The occupier, Robert Francis Gordon, also occupied Craigdarragh House and leased the property from the representatives of Robert S Kennedy. The buildings were valued at £75. The complex included a house, flax mill, stable, cow house, and two piggeries. The steam flax mill operated with a 10 horse-power engine, 12 stocks and 1 set of rollers, working four months a year for twelve hours daily. A thrashing machine operated simultaneously, though an oil mill on the site could not be worked with the same machinery. The building first appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858.

In 1863 the mill became the property of Lord Dufferin and Clandeboye, who had also acquired Craigdarragh House. By 1872 the flax mill had burned down, resulting in a reduction of the valuation to £40. In 1882 the steward's house was deleted from the record and the site was redeveloped; by 1883 it was let as three separate properties valued at £45, £11 and £9. Mill Cottage appears to have been formed from parts of the old mill complex. By 1887 it was let to David Patterson and valued at £9.

By 1900 Thomas Workman of Craigdarragh House was listed as occupier of all three houses on the site, and thereafter the properties were let principally to relatives or associates of the Workman family. Mill Cottage was subsequently let to Margaret E Workman but was vacant by 1907. Valuer's notes from that period document improvements including the addition of a bay window to the front and an extension to the rear. The house then comprised five bedrooms and a maid's bedroom, with three reception rooms, and its valuation was raised to £18 10s.

In 1911 the valuer noted that the house was occupied by Elliott Hill, uncle to Robert Workman, and shared a garden with his neighbour to the north. The valuer recorded that the house had been improved and enlarged by incorporating parts from the adjacent property. A former labourer's house occupying the ground floor of part of the adjacent building, together with its upper floor, became part of Mill Cottage at this time. The valuation was increased to £19 10s with an additional £1 10s for the new rooms.

The interior was altered further in the early twentieth century, though these changes remain as a record of the building's history. The character of the cottage survives as an example of an early conversion from mill buildings to domestic use and is of interest as part of the historic group on this site.