Former Maxwell Court Corn Mill, 8A Clattering Ford, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 5QH

Former Maxwell Court Corn Mill

This rubble-built corn mill complex originates from before 1833 and was converted to a dwelling house around 1984. Although all internal machinery has been removed, much of the building's external fabric remains intact. The former miller's house to the north was rebuilt around 1885, having replaced an earlier pre-1833 dwelling.

The mill stands on the east side of Clattering Ford road, roughly half a mile southwest of Comber. It comprises three distinct sections built in random basalt rubble with rough-hewn sandstone quoins to the main section.

The main section is two storeys tall with a hipped roof of rough-hewn natural slates and stone parapets. Its west-facing gable features a slightly off-centre semicircular-headed timber-sheeted doorway with a sandstone Gibbs-like 'Ards' surround. Near the gable apex is a small semicircular-headed window with brick dressings. A mill stone, possibly once inscribed, has been mortared into the facade above the doorway. A square moulded concrete notice board stands to the right of the doorway. The rear east gable has a very tall oriel window at first floor level.

To the immediate left (north) of the main gable is a small single-storey store section with a low timber-sheeted door and a hidden hipped roof behind a high parapet. This backs onto a larger two-storey hipped-roof wing fitted with a small timber ventilator tower on its ridge. The west facade of this section has a tall window and a small upper-level window. The north facade has a small first-floor window and a ground-floor doorway now blocked with red brick. The rear has a large set of French doors with windows to either side, including a smaller first-floor window.

The north facade of the main two-storey section displays a very large picture window with a much smaller window above it. The south side of the main section has a single-storey wing with a gabled roof of finer natural slate. The main south facade contains a small ground-floor window and one to the first floor. A surprisingly low timber-sheeted garage doorway with glazing above leads to a low-ceilinged garage, with a small window above it to the left. The single-storey wing has a very tall narrow window to its south gable, a small window to the west, and a glazed door with window-like sidelights to the east, alongside a timber-sheeted doorway.

A modern boiler chimney stands on the south side of the main roof. In front of the main west gable is a short ramp. To the left of the main south facade is a section of low rubble walling. The ground slopes away to the rear, where the former mill race emerges from underground near the main rear gable. Here a random rubble culvert face with a small semicircular arch marks where the watercourse—which flows from the former mill pond on the opposite side of the road—surfaces.

The road immediately west of the mill formerly formed part of the main route from Comber to Ballygowan but was redirected further northwest around 1980, leaving this section stranded. The former mill pond, now a bird sanctuary, occupies the space between the original and new road alignments.

Historical Context

The mill was originally associated with Maxwell Court, a farmhouse a short distance to the northwest, probably built in the latter half of the 18th century by the Wilson family. The mill is recorded in the first valuation of 1833, when it and Maxwell Court were owned by James Kearns. The valuers' dimensions match the present buildings, and the layout corresponds to the 1834 Ordnance Survey map, which also shows a two-storey miller's house, likely situated just north of the mill itself.

The valuers graded the mill's constituent parts as a mixture of 'C' and 'B', indicating they considered the complex old (probably 18th century in origin) but believed it was not all built at the same time, with some sections older than others. The main two-storey section was graded 'B' while the wings were graded 'C', suggesting the wings were considered older.

The mill remained with the owners of Maxwell Court throughout the 19th century until around 1883, when the whole complex was acquired by John Andrews, a member of the family who owned Comber's large flax spinning mill. Shortly after this acquisition, the miller's house was rebuilt. The mill appears to have closed in the 1940s and was derelict when purchased by the present owner in 1983, who subsequently converted it to a dwelling house.