Corn Mill, Coolkill Road, Tynan, Armagh, BT60 4RB

Corn Mill, Coolkill Road, Tynan

This imposing four-storey corn mill with loft level was built in 1844. It stands in a rural location west of Coolkill Road, approximately 1 kilometre north of Tynan, set within a slight hollow between the road and the Tynan River and surrounded by flat countryside. The site is contained behind a low stone boundary wall. Access is via a field enclosure to the west, with a bridge spanning the river to reach a level area in front of the west façade, secured by a cast-iron gate set between overgrown square stone pillars.

The original rectangular structure has walls of squared snecked rubble with dressed quoins and brick surrounds to the openings. The gabled roof is partly covered with natural slate and partly with corrugated iron; the gables are topped with stone skews and a circular weather vane ventilator is positioned at the centre of the ridge. Parapet walls rise through the roof, dividing it into three sections. Rainwater goods are cast-iron with ogee guttering and round downpipes.

A now dilapidated two-storey projection is attached to the western gable and houses the remains of a waterwheel. To the north is an early to mid 20th-century corrugated-iron clad extension of two storeys, and adjacent to the south side are two single-storey corrugated-iron sheds, the smaller containing the remains of a steam engine and the larger largely collapsed. The Tynan River and tail-race flow past the western gable. The site is very overgrown and sluice gates, if extant, are not clearly visible.

The symmetrical eastern gable fronts Coolkill Road. At ground floor level there is a George V post box to the left side; otherwise the ground floor is blank. At first and second floors are two evenly spaced window openings with top-opening frames in metal with multiple panes. Set within the gable is a Diocletian-style window opening with a tripartite timber frame, the central light being a sash. All other window openings are flat-headed with radial-brick flat arch lintels and brick dressings; sills are cut stone. A date stone inscribed 1844 is centrally positioned between the second and third floor window openings. A number of tie-rod ends are visible. To the right is the lean-to gable of the two-storey corrugated extension rising from the random rubble boundary wall. Two flat-headed door openings have timber sheeted doors; that to the left is at ground level while that to the right is raised approximately 1 metre off the ground.

The south façade has regularly arranged fenestration. Windows are of the same type as the east façade, though some openings are now bricked-up. The façade is heavily overgrown with ivy. A two-storey gabled addition is attached to the west façade with its pitched roof collapsed; the gable is blank.

The western gable of the main mill matches that to the east, though the Diocletian opening and fourth-floor window openings are now bricked-up. To the left is the lean-to gable of the early 20th-century extension, clad in timber. The ground and first floors of the north façade are obscured by the full-width corrugated extension, which has a number of wide openings at ground floor level and a series of flat-headed window openings at upper level. The upper floors of the main mill on the north side show regularly arranged window openings similar to the south façade, some bricked-up. A timber feature that was attached to the upper part of the wall has fallen and now rests on the corrugated-iron roof.

The building is no longer worked as a mill.