Milltown House, 136 Lurgan Road, Lenaderg, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 4NL

Milltown House is a symmetrical three-bay, two-storey detached house built around 1825 and remodelled around 1840, possibly to designs by Thomas Jackson — an architect widely sought-after during the linen boom for his ability to transform modest Georgian residences into more imposing mansions befitting the prosperity generated by the linen industry. It stands to the west side of Lurgan Road, north of Banbridge town centre.

The house has a rectangular plan with a two-storey flat-roof extension to the rear. The roof is hipped natural slate with blue/black angled ridge tiles, and two rendered chimneystacks rise from the centre of the ridgeline. Cast-iron rainwater goods run along overhanging eaves, which are supported by paired shaped brackets framing paired soffit panels. The front elevation is finished in V-jointed render, returned to the side elevations as quoins, with a smooth rendered platband dividing the ground and first floors.

Windows throughout are timber sliding sash with projecting painted sills: 6/6 panes to the first floor and 2/2 with horizontal glazing bars to the ground floor, unless otherwise noted. The principal elevation faces southeast and is five openings wide on each floor. At its centre at ground-floor level is a tetrastyle Ionic portico set on a tiled plinth base, with a plain entablature and cornice. The entrance door is a modern half-panelled type with a replacement transom light and sidelights.

The southwest elevation has two multi-pane full-height timber casement windows to both ground and first floor, and a full-width balcony at first-floor level fitted with ornate cast-iron railings supported on five slender cast-iron columns. The northeast elevation mirrors this arrangement.

The northwest (rear) elevation has a 6/6 sash window to the upper left, a round-arched leaded-and-stained-glass stairwell window to the centre with a 3/6 window to the ground floor below, and is abutted to the right by the two-storey flat-roof extension, which is set at an angle to the main block. This extension in turn was abutted by a further two-storey building that has recently been demolished. The extension shows an exposed former internal brick cross wall with its gable removed; former door openings at ground-floor centre, ground-floor left, and first-floor left have all been blocked with concrete blockwork. The left cheek has a square-headed uPVC door and overlight with a uPVC window directly above. The right cheek has a timber casement at ground-floor level with a window opening directly above (not viewed during inspection).

Fine stained glass was installed around 1835 and Italian craftsmen were employed on the plasterwork. Most historic fabric and detailing survives, and the house retains its symmetrical plan with a central stair-hall. The rear return, which originally housed the servants' quarters, is thought to have retained some 18th-century fabric, but has largely been demolished, along with the majority of the outbuildings and a conservatory visible in an early survey photograph. A section of heavily restored double-height outbuilding remains.

The house stands on the site of a former linen mill, and its history is inseparable from the Smyth family and the rise of the linen industry along the River Bann. Milltown was established in 1820 when John Smyth (1798–1890), a descendant of a linen-trading family, purchased a corn mill and surrounding land from the Crawford family and erected an extensive bleaching and finishing works. He built Milltown House around 1825, reputedly as a wedding present for his fiancée Anna McClelland of Belmont House. The cellar was divided into three sections, one of which was used for wine storage — a notable detail given the Smyths' association with the local Temperance movement.

The house is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, captioned "Milltown" and rectangular on plan, with a stable courtyard to the rear. It is surrounded by bleach greens, and a bleach mill is marked nearby. By the second edition of 1860, the bleach works had vastly expanded and the Scarva to Banbridge railway had opened (1859); the map shows a slightly altered plan and a porch to the front, corresponding to the remodelling attributed to Thomas Jackson.

The Townland Valuation lists the property as the home of John Smyth, comprising a house, offices, corn and fulling mills, and a bleaching establishment valued in total at £135 3s. The house is described as "new" in that valuation and appears to have been entered after 1833, the new section measuring 58 by 31 by 25 feet with the old house remaining to the rear. Griffith's Valuation (1856–64) lists Milltown as the home of John Smyth Senior, with house, offices, gate lodge, and land valued at £52, raised from an earlier valuation of £25. It records dimensions for the porch, house, and three two-storey returns, as well as two-storey and single-storey outbuildings including a coach house and stables.

John Smyth & Co became by 1839 the largest bleaching and finishing works on the Bann, with an output of 40,000 pieces of cloth per year. John Smyth was also a partner in the firm of Brice, Smyth and Sons, linen makers of Brookfield, and three of his and Anna's twelve children later formed William Smyth & Co Ltd, a successful firm that went on to employ more than 250 people. In 1857 the Smyths acquired the Bannville Beetling Mill, by which time the firm had customers across the world including the USA, Italy, Russia, and Germany. An iron foundry was established in 1876 for the company's own needs and for local light engineering work. By 1886 the bleach works and bleach greens covered 220 acres; the works were water-powered with steam used as an auxiliary, and there were six iron water wheels.

John Smyth died in 1890, his obituary in the Belfast Newsletter describing him as "one of the earliest manufacturers and bleachers in the linen trade… a most active and diligent merchant." His son John Junior was living at Milltown House and is listed in the 1901 census as a linen merchant and bleacher, a widower, sharing the house with his sister-in-law (wife of his brother James), four nieces and nephews, his own son (a bleacher), and a staff of three: a parlour maid, a housemaid, and a cook. By the 1911 census John Smyth was 81 and the household continued much as before, with his linen merchant brother James now present and a nephew studying at Trinity.

John Smyth Junior died in 1914 and the house briefly passed to his son William Haughton Smyth, who was killed in action during the First World War in 1916, as was his only brother Pierson F. J. Smyth. The house then passed to James Douglas Smyth, son of James. By the 1930s the house contained eight bedrooms, two reception rooms, two bathrooms, a cloakroom, a lavatory, two pantries, a kitchen, and a scullery, and was revalued at £70. Outbuildings at that time included a piggery, garage, greenhouse, and potting house. The valuer recorded that it was in good condition and repair and had been modernised; the house was noted to be hidden from the mill buildings by its position on high ground.

After the Second World War the bleachworks were demolished, leaving Milltown House as a surviving reminder of the once-flourishing industrial complex and of the Smyth family who had owned it for more than a century. James Douglas Smyth was the last of the family to live there; the house was sold in 1953 to Samuel Gilchrist for £2,400. The building was listed in 1977, and repairs and renovations took place during the 1980s and 1990s. Redevelopment of the site and extensions to the house have been proposed but remain unrealised.

The setting has been degraded by new development to the north, where part of the estate has been sold off and is now occupied by a modern housing estate. Nothing of the former mill works remains. The River Bann adjoins the site to the south. To the rear, the return has been partially demolished and there is a large excavated area at the centre of the yard where work on a modern extension was abandoned. A modern two-storey outbuilding with a natural slate roof, cement-rendered walls, and timber sliding sash windows stands to the rear of the yard. The property is bounded to the road by mature trees and accessed via a tarmac driveway with modern electric gates.