Former Factory, 42 Killysorrell Rd, Dromore, Co Down, BT25 1LB

Former Linen Factory, mid-19th century, with additions dating to around 1900

This is a large mid-19th century linen manufacturer's premises comprising a group of one-, two- and three-storey masonry and brick buildings, with early and mid-19th century additions associated with its conversion to hemstitching around 1900. The complex sits along the north-east side of the Ashfield premises, with a separate two-storey building at its north end. The interiors are largely unaltered, though devoid of machinery. The buildings have group value both within themselves and in relation to the adjacent Ashfield House and its outbuildings. They are a good and increasingly rare example of robust industrial buildings associated with rural industry and outworkings, surviving largely as a whole.

The complex reflects the industrialisation of yarn preparation and handloom weaving that followed the inception of wet spinning in the 1830s and the consequent ready availability of cheap yarn. Competition from power looms undoubtedly caused the decline of its original use and precipitated its conversion to a hemstitching factory around 1900.

Historical Background

Samuel Lewis, writing in 1837, states that a linen factory was established at Ashfield in 1828. However, the 1834 Ordnance Survey Memoir notes that there were no factories as such in the parish of Dromore, and that linen was woven in the homes of the various weavers. David Lindsay was the owner at that time; Ashfield House and several adjoining buildings are shown on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map and cited in the 1835 Valuation under his ownership. He is recorded as employing 950 weavers during 1839. None of the stone buildings under review is depicted, however, until the 1858 edition of the Ordnance Survey map.

The 1861 Valuation notes their owner as Maurice Lindsay, David having died in 1859. The complex is described as a house, offices, and gate lodge, with a combined rateable valuation of £50. The three-storey principal building is noted as one of these offices, with dimensions of 28 yards by 9 yards in plan. There was also a two-storey boiling house measuring 17 yards by 8 yards in plan. A pencilled annotation to the valuation entry suggests that the three-storey building was formerly a warping mill but was by then a weaving shop. In the warping mill, yarn was prepared for distribution to handloom weavers working in their own homes under the piece-rate system of production. Looms were evidently also set up at Ashfield itself, and three further weaving shops are recorded elsewhere within the same townland at this time.

After Maurice Lindsay's death in 1877, Ashfield was taken over by John Moore, whose name first appears in the valuations in 1878. A hemstitching factory — where handkerchiefs were apparently hemmed — is added to the schedule of buildings belonging to Moore in 1901. All the buildings under review, both stone- and brick-built, are cited in the valuation book at this date, though not assigned to specific functions. The premises as a whole are described as "generally old and too extensive." The buildings are captioned "Hemstitching Factory" on the 1903 and 1916 Ordnance Survey maps.

Moore died in 1903 and the premises passed to his daughters, Lucy and Mary, who sold them to A.W. McMurray in 1912. In 1919 the premises were taken over by George and Edward Coey, having been purchased by their father on his sons' return from the First World War. The hemstitching factory continues to be cited in valuations through this period. The present owner of Ashfield — born in 1926, the daughter of George Coey — recalls its operation: a steam engine drove the sewing machines and an animal-feed milling plant through various belts and pulleys. The engine and boiler were housed in the brick building abutting the three-storey one, though there is no recollection of a chimney, nor any documentary or physical evidence for one. Adjoining it was a laundry room where finished handkerchiefs were washed, spun, and ironed. The hemstitching factory disappears from the valuation books in 1935, which accords with the recollection that the sewing machines were sold off by George Coey around 1936. During the Second World War the buildings were used to store cloth for military uniforms. In summary, the buildings were erected in the mid-19th century — sometime between 1835 and 1858 — for the warping of yarn and handloom weaving, converted to a hemstitching factory around 1900, and operated as such until the mid-1930s. The buildings were subsequently sold for redevelopment, ending their connection with Ashfield.

Block 1 — Building 1A

The principal building is a mid-19th century three-storey, single-bay former warping mill and weaving shop, and is of particular interest on account of its scale and utilitarian architecture. It has a pitched natural slate roof with metal roof lights to the north-east slope and a brick chimney to each gable. The walls are of roughcast random rubble blackstone with granite quoins. Although the gables of the south-east face are stone, its side walls are brick; this appears to be contemporary with the lower section rather than a later raising. There are vestiges of half-round metal gutters on advanced brick eaves and cast-iron downpipes. All openings have brick jambs and segmental brick relieving arches, with sandstone cills to the windows where these survive.

All ground-floor openings have been sheeted over for security. A six-by-five-pane cast-iron window in a timber frame is visible at the right-hand end of the south-west elevation, with identical cast-iron windows to the first floor. The south-east face has alternating three-by-three fixed windows and three-over-six top-opening timber windows; the latter may be replacements of original shutters. The south-west elevation is eleven openings wide, all windows as described above.

The north-west gable is abutted by the two-storey brick building (1B). The exposed section is blank except for a brick-infilled doorway at first-floor level, now partly blocked by 1B. The north-east elevation is identical to the south-east except that it has three doorways at ground-floor level and two at first-floor level. One of the first-floor doorways serves as the principal entrance to the upper floors and has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door accessed by an external masonry staircase with brick quoin and tubular metal handrail, with a cantilevered jib over. The south-west gable is partly abutted by a two-storey masonry lean-to (1D) and has two infilled windows to the south-east face.

Block 1 — Building 1B

The north-west gable of Building 1A is abutted by a two-storey brick building, probably added around 1900 when the site was converted to hemstitching. The former owner believes it contained the steam engine and boiler house that powered the factory and laundry, though there is no evidence of any chimney. It has a pitched natural slate roof with vestiges of half-round metal gutters on advanced eaves. The walls are of dark-red handmade brick with flat heads to all openings. The south-west elevation is abutted by the later single-storey brick building (1C), and the north-west gable is abutted by a modern single-storey corrugated-metal shed. There is a vestige of a timber-framed window to the first floor. The north-east elevation has two doors and a window to the ground floor, all sheeted over, and three windows to the first floor, one of which retains vestiges of a three-by-three-pane timber window. Building 1B is of contrasting material to 1A and is associated with the site's later hemstitching use.

Block 1 — Building 1C

This is a single-storey, single-bay lean-to abutting the south-west elevation of 1B. Judging by its lighter, machine-made brickwork, it may be a mid-20th century rebuild of a previous lean-to. It has a monopitched natural slate roof with vestiges of half-round metal gutters, and flat-headed openings to its walls. The south-west elevation has two brick pilasters, seven two-by-three-pane metal windows, a doorway, and a small shaft-bearing housing at the right-hand end. The north-west gable has a wide doorway, now sheeted over, with a segmental brick relieving arch above it.

Block 1 — Building 1D

The south-east gable of Building 1A is partly abutted by a two-storey, three-bay building that wraps around the south-west corner of the main building and is probably contemporary with it. It has pitched and monopitched natural slate roofs and vestiges of half-round metal gutters on advanced brick eaves. The ground floor is predominantly of random rubble blackstone and the first floor mainly brick, all roughcast. The 1901 valuation statistics and window types suggest that much of the upper floor may be a later rebuild, probably in the mid-20th century.

The north-east gable has a flat timber-headed doorway, with a two-by-four-pane metal-framed window to the first floor with concrete head and cill. The south-east elevation has a doorway and two windows to the ground floor, all sheeted over, and three windows to the first floor; two are three-by-three-pane timber windows and the third, at the left, has a three-by-four-pane metal frame and is obviously later. The south-west gable is abutted by Building 1E and has a three-by-three-pane metal window to the first floor. The north-west elevation has an infilled doorway at the left and a sheeted-over window with a granite cill to the middle of the ground floor, and a two-by-four-pane metal window to the first floor with concrete head and cill.

Block 1 — Building 1E

This is a single-storey, single-bay annexe to Building 1D, accessed internally from it. A wall break indicates it is an addition, though it is shown on the 1859 Ordnance Survey map. It has a pitched natural slate roof and no rainwater goods. The walls are of random rubble blackstone and brick with advanced brick eaves and brick quoins. Windows to all elevations are sheeted over, one retaining a sandstone cill.

Block 2

This section comprises a mid-19th century former boiling room, in which yarn would have been prepared for weaving, possibly after bleaching. It is a two-storey, single-bay building with a pitched roof clad in natural slate to its south-east slope and corrugated metal to the north-west. There are vestiges of half-round metal gutters on advanced brick eaves and cast-iron downpipes. The walls are of unrendered random rubble blackstone with brick quoins. All openings are trimmed with brick and have flat heads; there are no cills to window openings.

The south-east elevation has a large doorway to the left; its steel head and modern brick jambs indicate it is an enlargement of a previous opening. Ground-floor openings are buried under rising ground, though an infilled window opening is visible from inside. Two window openings and one loading door are visible at first-floor level. The north-west elevation is heavily overgrown with ivy; three window openings to the ground floor and two to the first floor are visible from inside. The north-east gable is partly hidden by rising ground and is abutted by a modern ruinous corrugated-metal shed; an infilled window and bearing housing are visible from inside.

The south-west gable is abutted by a now-overgrown single-storey, single-bay lean-to that is probably contemporary with the main building. This lean-to has a monopitched natural slate roof and rubble blackstone walls with brick quoins, with a doorway at its south-east end. The remaining elevations of the lean-to could not be accessed due to dense ivy overgrowth. Buildings 1C through 1E and Block 2 have a functional association and group value with the main buildings.

Setting

Blocks 1 and 2 lie at the east and north ends respectively of the Ashfield premises. To the immediate west are one- and two-storey outbuildings, and beyond them to the west is the two-storey house at Ashfield, all formerly in the same ownership. Open fields lie to the north, east, and south.