Flax Mill, Near 35 Lackan Road, Ballyroney, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 5HL

Flax Mill

A two-storey, single-bay flax scutching mill built around 1898, located beside a laneway leading to a farmhouse south of Lackan Road near Ballyroney.

The mill is a substantial structure of random rubble granite brought to courses, with dressed granite quoins and a brick eaves course. It is aligned north-west to south-east with its principal elevation facing north-east. The pitched roof is finished in natural slate with no rainwater goods.

The north-east elevation features a large sliding metal door at its left end, with a metal head and brickwork indicating this is a later insertion into an original opening. The remainder of this elevation has two doorways and six shuttered windows on the ground floor, all with square heads and brick heads unless otherwise stated. Notably, all ground-floor windows lack cills except for the right-hand window, which has a granite cill. The first floor contains five shuttered openings, all with granite cills and aligned above the five ground-floor windows. Both gables are largely blank apart from small square windows in their apexes.

The south-west elevation has a doorway at its left end with a timber head and segmental brick relieving arch. The ground floor of this elevation contains three doorways (one infilled) and one window. Two shuttered windows with granite cills are on the first floor. No traces remain of buildings formerly abutting any elevation.

The mill is set within open fields with a drainage ditch along the north-west end.

Historical Record

The mill first appears in the 1898 Valuation revision book under the ownership of John Kennedy and is identified as a scutch mill on the 1901–02 Ordnance Survey six-inch map. However, it may have ceased working by that date, as the 1901 Valuation book records it as "at rest". The 1914 Valuation note book cites it as a disused flax mill, then owned by Joseph M. Kennedy, and records that "This was an old flax mill – at rest for many years. Part of buildings down. Remainder partially used as farm offices during portion of year". The mill's dimensions are given as 78 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 17 feet high. It was abutted on the north-west gable by another building measuring 20 feet by 8½ feet by 8 feet, and along the south-west side by a third measuring 38 feet by 9 feet by 12 feet high. The 1919 Ordnance Survey map depicts the building uncaptioned, suggesting it remained out of use.

The mill is of particular interest as a late-nineteenth-century example, most flax scutching mills having been built during the 1860s at the time of the flax-growing boom. Its brief working life of only a couple of years reflects the contemporary decline of local scutching as most flax imported into Ulster arrived in an already-scutched state by the turn of the century.

An architectural feature of note is the presence of internal windows and external shutters on the ground floor, likely a fire precaution measure with the space between window and shutter used for candles to light the interior. The absence of a chimney and any mention in Valuations suggests the mill was powered by an oil engine rather than a steam engine.

The removal of the engine and all machinery has significantly diminished the mill's historical and architectural significance.