Windmill stump, Old lead mines, Whitespots, Newtownards, Co. Down

Windmill Stump at Whitespots, Newtownards

A derelict windmill tower stands amid unattractive wasteland approximately one mile north of Newtownards, the sole surviving structure from the mining complex that once operated at Whitespots. The tower is four storeys high, approximately 10 metres tall and 7 metres in diameter, constructed of rubble masonry. It is roofless, with parts of the walls patched in brick. The tower features a single door opening at the base, now partly bricked up, with a door-like opening directly above it serving the first floor. Below this upper opening runs a series of small holes stretching around the entire diameter of the tower. A window-sized opening gives access to the second floor.

The windmill existed before 1827, though its original purpose remains unclear. Mining records suggest it was ruinous at that date and required new cloth sails to be fitted. When the Manx company 'Newtownards Mines' began large-scale mining operations in 1827 after leasing Whitespots from the 3rd Marquis of Londonderry, the old windmill was renovated and readapted to power ore crushing machinery and other equipment. An inventory of the mining complex dating from December 1864 describes it as 'a powerful windmill, driving a crusher; iron shafting & fitted with a self-adjusting sail apparatus'.

The site's mining history began in 1780 when the Bangor and Newtownards Mining Company was formed by Robert Ward of Castle Ward, Reverend James Clewlow of Bangor, Sir John Blackwood of Ballyleidy (Clandeboy), James Millar (a mining engineer from Mayo), and Robert Stewart, the future Lord Londonderry, who leased land from his father Alexander. Mining commenced in October 1780 under Millar's supervision but was abandoned in September 1783 after the partners failed to locate sufficiently rich veins.

In 1827, the Manx company recommenced mining on a much larger scale. However, by 1840 the Marquis of Londonderry grew dissatisfied with royalty returns. He commissioned engineer John Taylor to survey the mines. Taylor's March 1842 report criticised the Manx operators' 'smash and grab' extraction methods as wasteful and expensive. When the lease was renewed in 1842, new clauses discouraged haphazard stripping and encouraged more careful mining. The company increased investment substantially, discovered new veins, and constructed additional buildings including a new engine house, counting house with dining room, and a new shaft sunk to the south. In 1850 the company, now known as the Newtownards and Ulster Mining Company, acquired the neighbouring Conlig Mine.

This success proved short-lived. After 1853 yields at Whitespots declined dramatically. Unwilling to invest further as newly discovered veins unexpectedly exhausted, the partners abandoned Conlig in 1853. By March 1865, with yields collapsed, the company auctioned the mining leases and equipment. Frederick Blackwood, Lord Dufferin, purchased the lease primarily to discourage further mining at Conlig, which lay adjacent to his Clandeboy estate and which he regarded as an eyesore. He had little interest in Whitespots. When attempting to surrender the lease to the Marquis of Londonderry, the latter's agent insisted that lease holders must comply with the strict mining terms of 1842. To avoid this obligation, Dufferin purchased the royalty title outright. Attempts to reopen the mine were made in 1879 and again in 1912, both unsuccessful. Today the former mining area remains barren and inhospitable, largely abandoned due to prevalence of waste lead left by mining activities. The windmill tower survives as an industrial archaeological record of the complex's operational phase.