Chimney at former Banford Bleach Works, adjacent to 59 Banbridge Rd, Gilford, Co Down, BT63 6DL

This is a tall, free-standing tapered brick chimney of square cross-section, standing to its full height with a corbelled brick crown, erected around 1865. It forms part of the remaining structures at the former Banford Bleach Works, located on the Banbridge Road at Tullylish, east of Gilford. Metal bracing bands are fixed at regular intervals along the shaft, and vestiges of a lightning conductor survive. The chimney was recorded at 100 feet in height in the 1924–34 Valuation book. It is now extremely overgrown and in very poor condition at the top. The immediate context has been lost through the demolition of the engine house and boiler house with which the chimney was directly associated — the boiler house generated steam for an engine in the nearby engine house. The chimney now stands surrounded by the overgrown demolished remains of miscellaneous mill buildings.

The chimney dates from the period 1860–67 and was built by Thomas Houghton and Daniel Jaffe during a significant phase of expansion of the site. A site plan of 1867 confirms that by that date a chimney, engine house, boiler house, and large beetling shed had been added to the southern end of the complex.

The broader Banford Bleach Works site is of considerable industrial archaeological importance as the location of what was probably the earliest bleach mill on the River Bann. Around 1728, John Nicholson, with grant-aid from the Irish Linen Board, installed bleaching equipment and erected a drying house for processing brown linen. His son Thomas built Banford House in the 1780s and erected two water-powered bleach mills around 1812. Benjamin Haughton acquired the premises in 1815, and the first Valuation book of 1832 records him operating an extensive bleachworks powered by three waterwheels. The first wheel was 14 feet in diameter by 5½ feet wide and drove two beetling engines. The second, 12 feet by 5 feet, powered three beetling engines, three sets of rub boards, a starch mill, and four pumps. The third, 12 feet by 4½ feet, powered two wash mills. The 1833 Ordnance Survey map shows a substantial block of buildings with a pond to the east, three tailraces to the west, and bleach greens to the north and south.

By 1854, the firm of Haughton and Fennell — related by marriage — was engaged in cambric handkerchief bleaching and employed around 70 people on the premises. Around 1860, the Banford Bleach Works Company was established when Daniel Jaffe entered into partnership with Benjamin's son Thomas. The 1860 Ordnance Survey map shows the site had expanded westwards and southwards since the 1830s. The 1861 Valuation itemises 16 buildings within the complex, including a boiling house, three wash mills, a blueing house, and two beetling sheds, with a total rateable valuation of £160. The machinery at that time comprised 15 beetling engines, 8 sets of wash feet, 8 pairs of rubbing boards, two starching machines, and drying and squeezing machines, all driven by two waterwheels and a 16 horsepower high-pressure steam engine. One of the wheels measured 15 feet in diameter by 16 feet wide and was rated at upwards of 40 horsepower; the other was a more conventionally sized 12 feet by 5 feet wheel rated at up to 12 horsepower. An annual payment of £78 was made to the Bann Reservoir Company for the supply of water from Lough Island Reavy.

By 1875, Daniel Jaffe had been succeeded in the partnership by Martin Jaffe, and the premises were then valued at £245 — an increase of half as much again over the 1861 rating, reflecting the various phases of expansion documented in successive Ordnance Survey maps. Writing in 1886, Bassett noted that between 1860 and 1886 some £35,000 had been expended on alterations and additions to the buildings and machinery. By 1886 the buildings covered nearly two acres, with a further 177 acres of bleach green. Power was supplied by a 12 feet by 5 feet breastshot waterwheel and an American Leffel water turbine apparently 7 feet in diameter — their combined output being 100 horsepower — together with three steam engines providing a further 100 horsepower. Around 150 people were employed at that time, only six of whom were female, and the firm owned 32 workers' houses in the locality.

In 1883, John Edgar bought out Martin Jaffe's interest in the company. The 1903–04 Ordnance Survey map and subsequent maps show only minor changes to the site's configuration, and the valuation fell to £200 in 1891 following an appeal for reduction, remaining constant thereafter until at least 1929, suggesting no major expansion took place after the 1860s. Sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century, Messrs Sinton of Tandragee acquired the complex, though it continued to trade as the Banford Bleach Works Company. Two Gordon turbines were installed in 1911 and a 24 horsepower Craig turbine in 1934. The works continued to operate until 1957, when a strike forced closure. Three of the buildings were subsequently converted to a house, a restaurant, and a pottery respectively. Most of the remaining buildings were still standing in a derelict state in 1991, but many have since been demolished.