Watch House, Springvale Road, Tullylish, Banbridge

This is a nineteenth-century rectangular watch house located on the west side of Springvale Road, near Banbridge, within the townland of Tullylish. It is associated with the former Springvale Bleach Works and originally formed part of a cluster of six watch houses that served the bleach works at Springvale and Mill Park. The structure holds significance as a tangible link to the linen industry, a key factor in the historical development of the area. It shares group value with the only other surviving watch house on the site, which is circular in plan.

The building is constructed of random rubble stone with a corbelled vault roof springing from a slate eaves course. A narrow, full-height entrance is situated on the east side and is framed by brick jambs. Small square apertures, also formed in brick, are located to the north and west. The watch house stands on the edge of a large, sloping field, bounded by a hedgerow and native trees. There are no windows, only brick-dressed openings.

The watch house first appeared on the Ordnance Survey map of 1860 and likely dates from the 1830s, coinciding with the acquisition of the Springvale mill by the Uprichard family. While six watch houses were depicted on the 1860 Ordnance Survey map, most have since disappeared. Constructed using similar techniques to those found in round gate pillars of Irish farmhouses, these watch houses provided accommodation for the watchmen responsible for guarding newly woven linen webs spread out on the bleaching greens. These webs were vulnerable to both livestock and theft, a crime that once carried severe penalties. The building’s construction is dated to between 1840 and 1859.