98 Halfway Rd, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 4HB

98 Halfway Road, Banbridge is a mid-19th-century former linen factory comprising two buildings aligned north-south within a farmyard. The complex includes an associated freestanding chimney on the west side of the yard.

Building 1 consists of two connected sections. Section 1A is a three-storey structure at the south end, described by the owner as the factory office. It is a single-bay unit with the east and west elevations four openings wide and the south elevation two openings wide. The roof is hipped natural slate with skylights to both pitches fitted with 3x2-pane metal frames. A chimney formerly stood on the apex of the south gable but has been removed and the roof slated over. Galvanised steel half-round rainwater goods run along advanced brick eaves courses. The ground-floor walls on the south and west elevations incorporate random rubble blackstone from an earlier building with dark red brick quoins. The upper floors and east elevation are of dark red brick, manufactured on site according to the owner. All openings are trimmed with brick and feature flat heads with shallow segmental relieving arches over. Windows have ashlar stone cills where still existing, though most are now infilled with concrete blocks. The principal east elevation faces the adjoining house. The ground floor contains a 6/6 sliding timber sash window with security bars (possibly original) at left, a beaded tongue-and-groove door with slit vents at centre, and a vee tongue-and-groove door within a semi-elliptical brick arched opening at right, partially infilled with brick and topped with a concrete head indicating a later insert. The first floor has a loading door and three 6/6 timber sash windows. The second floor has four 3x4-pane top-opening timber windows aligned with first-floor openings. The south elevation is partly abutted by a small single-storey lean-to contemporary with it. The exposed ground-floor wall at right contains the upper half of a 6/6 sash window. Two windows occupy each upper floor in line with each other. The west elevation has four now-infilled window openings spanning all floors. A steel fuel tank on concrete block piers abuts the right-hand end. The north elevation is largely abutted by Building 1B with blank exposed walling.

The lean-to features a monopitched natural slate roof with no rainwater goods and dark red brick walls with advanced eaves. Its east gable is cement-rendered with a vee tongue-and-groove door. The south elevation is blank and the west gable contains a small infilled window.

Section 1B continues north as a two-storey single-bay section erected at the same time with no wall breaks. Hemstitching works were located here in the late 1800s. A pitched natural slate roof with steel rainwater goods covers the section. The ground-floor west elevation is rubble blackstone, but the first floor and all of the east elevation are dark red brick with advanced eaves. The east elevation has six openings to each floor. The ground floor has four doors (one double-leaf with semi-elliptical relieving arch), and a small 2x2 timber window at the right-hand end. The first floor has four windows (three are 6/6 sliding timber sashes) and two loading doors, one with a beaded tongue-and-groove finish and sandstone footstep. The south gable is abutted by Section 1A and the north gable by Building 2. The west elevation is abutted at both floors on the left by a modern high single-storey lean-to cattle byre with monopitched corrugated metal roof and cement-rendered concrete block walls, erected on the site of a now-demolished steam engine house. An infilled window occupies the ground-floor right. The first floor has six openings, with the two at the left end obscured by the modern lean-to. The exposed section contains a tongue-and-groove door at left (possibly in an enlarged original window opening), two window openings, and a door inserted into a window opening at right. A small galvanised metal ventilation cowl, probably in a later opening, sits immediately right of the left-hand door.

Building 2 is a two-storey two-bay structure abutting the north end of 1B and is slightly higher. A clear wall break indicates it is a later addition. According to the owner, it was formerly and remains used for stabling. The pitched natural slate roof has steel rainwater goods. The ground-floor west elevation and north gable are of rubble blackstone; all other walling is dark red brick with brick quoins. All openings have flat heads with shallow relieving arches over. The east elevation is six openings wide at ground floor. Three are window openings; the right-hand end has a 1x3-pane metal frame and all probably featured shutters originally. All doors are tongue-and-groove sheeted, with the left-hand door sliding. The first floor has five windows and a loading door. One window opening is shuttered and one at right is 1x3-pane metal. The south gable abuts 1B with its exposed section blank. The west elevation is seven openings wide at ground floor. Six are small rectangular openings; the seventh at the right-hand end is now blocked by the modern lean-to. The first floor has three windows (including one at the right-hand end blocked by the modern lean-to) and a half-door sheeted with tongue-and-groove, now accessed by a later vertical steel ladder. The north gable has three narrow slit vents at ground floor but is otherwise blank.

The freestanding chimney on the west side of the farmyard is of dark red brick with square cross-section and tapers slightly. It is probably contemporary with Buildings 1 and 2. An advanced instepping brick crown caps the structure. A small segmental-headed flue from a steam engine boiler is located at ground level on the south side, with a draught flue higher up on the west side. The brickwork has been repointed by the present owner. The chimney is abutted on all sides by corrugated iron farm outbuildings.

The factory complex sits in the middle of a farmyard adjoining the owner's house and is surrounded on all sides by modern corrugated metal agricultural sheds. It is approached by a long avenue from the main Dromore-Banbridge road.