Jennymount Mill, Jennymount Industrial Estate, North Derby Street, Belfast

Jennymount Mill is a group of mid-19th century mill buildings forming part of what was once a major flax spinning complex, located on North Derby Street in Belfast. The complex is of considerable architectural and industrial historical interest, comprising the former spinning mill itself, a former office block in an elaborate Italianate style, a tall octagonal brick chimney, and several ancillary buildings including former stores and a workshops block. Together with the adjoining later seven-storey tower block, these buildings are now uncommon survivors of the great age of the Belfast textile industry.

The buildings are constructed in brick and stucco throughout, with slated hipped roofs. The main mill forms a west range running along an entry or alleyway, and is linked by an entrance gateway to an east range containing the former office block, with its tall octagonal chimney rising from a three-storey rear return. The entrance gateway and street-facing facades, including the main entrance to the office block, all face south onto North Derby Street.

HISTORY

The mill was established around 1852 as a flax spinning mill by James A. McKee. By the late 1850s one- and two-storey buildings had been erected around a yard, with a free-standing chimney immediately to the west. By 1863 the mill had been taken over by Hugh M. Beck and Company. In 1864 the office block was added in the south-east corner facing North Derby Street. By 1870, and possibly earlier — their monogram appears on the 1864 office block — the property had passed to Philip Johnston and Son, who retained ownership into the 20th century. By the early 1870s further extensions had been added to both the north and south ends of the original mill buildings. In 1887 the original mill was raised by two storeys to its present height. Earth closets were added along its west side in 1890. A six-storey tower block was added in 1891 to the designs of John Lanyon, architect, abutting the west side of the old mill on North Derby Street, with a seventh floor added in 1909 by J. K. Sparrow, engineer. A four-storey extension was added to the north end of the main mill block in 1904 to the designs of W. J. W. Roome, architect. The restaurant block to the west is of uncertain date but is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1872. The four-gabled single-storey stores were built in 1900 and the two-storey former Mechanics and Carpenters Shop in 1905, both to the designs of Hugh Hanley, engineer. Further extensions and alterations were carried out by S. Stevenson and Sons between 1933 and 1965. The name of the mill derived from a large house in the vicinity called Jennymount, which had been renamed Castleton by the time of the Ordnance Survey map of 1858.

THE OLD MILL

The old mill is a long four-storey block built in several identifiable stages, aligned on a north-south axis, with a five-storey stair tower projecting from the east side near the rear. It displays the open-plan form and repetitive storeys characteristic of its building type, as well as a structural system typical of its era.

South elevation: four windows wide to the street front. The ground floor is stuccoed with channelled rustication. The upper floors are of red brick with yellow painted sandstone or rendered rusticated quoins to the corners. There is an ornamental frieze of moulded and notched yellow bricks, surmounted by a moulded sandstone cornice. A cast iron gutter is retained but the cast iron downpipe has been mostly replaced with PVC. Windows to the upper floors are rectangular timber four-pane fixed lights with two-pane top lights — replacement units not matching the original pattern — set in plain brick reveals with flat arched heads and projecting stone cills. Ground floor windows are later modern rectangular six-pane fixed lights incorporating a top-hung casement, with steel security bars fitted in the jambs and projecting stone cills.

East elevation: a long four-storey block apparently built in three stages, with the projecting five-storey stair tower. Materials and detailing are similar to the south elevation, except that the ground floor rusticated stucco does not continue to the right of the stair tower. The first fourteen windows from the left represent an extension of around 1864: this section has a PVC downpipe and a modern circular metal flue pipe; ground floor window openings have heads at a lower level than the line of the rustication channel above, and cills are set at ground level at the south end; there are three doorways — one at the third opening from the left containing a modern rectangular timber glazed door with sidelight and fanlight, and two at the last openings to the right containing modern flush doors; first floor windows are blocked up; second and third floor windows are of similar pattern to the previous section but are metal-framed. The rusticated stucco to the ground floor continues flush from the fourteen-bay first block into the second block without a break, but the upper storeys show a junction between the two blocks where the rusticated quoins of the second block project slightly forward.

Beyond the first fourteen bays, the second block from the left is an original structure from the 1850s. Windows to the upper floors are similar to the previous block. The first ground floor opening is a semi-circular archway leading to an entry running through to the west side of the building, with chamfered reveals and rusticated render formed as keystone and voussoirs; the archway contains a timber door screen with arched sidelights, but is now lacking glazing and door. The fifth opening is an enlarged rectangular doorway with a steel shutter door. A cast iron downpipe is present, partly replaced by PVC. To the right of the twelfth window opening of this second block is a rectangular stair tower projecting forward and connecting with a two-storey wing to the east. The stair tower is of similar materials to the main mill block, except with yellow brick quoins and the same ornamental yellow brick frieze and moulded cornice, surmounted by a balustraded parapet similar to that of the office block on North Derby Street. A later red brick addition to house the lift machinery surmounts the north end. The stair tower windows are nine-pane fixed lights with three-pane or six-pane top lights. The south face of the tower is one window wide, while the east face is two windows wide, equivalent to four mill windows. Between the second and third floor windows on the south side is a circular projecting panel, presumably originally containing a clock face. At ground floor level is a semi-circular archway leading into an open lobby containing blocked-up window and door openings and a hoist shaft. The ground floor and part of the first floor of the stair tower are smooth rendered with channelled rustication, with evidence of recent alterations and patching, and a similarly rendered one- and two-storey wing extends to the east. The north side of the stair tower contains a blocked-up opening and narrow ventilation slits.

To the right, or north, of the stair tower, the east elevation of the mill continues for twelve windows: the first six to the right form the northern extent of the original building, with the remainder belonging to the 1904 extension. The junction between these blocks is marked by a slight change in the tone of the brickwork, a dark-coloured portion of the brick frieze, and a rectangular ground floor passageway running through the building with iron-plated jambs and iron girderwork surmounted by an elliptical relieving arch. The jambs bear oval cast iron plaques inscribed "Combe. Belfast. 1904". Some ground floor windows of the original block are closed with concrete blockwork. The 1904 extension has rusticated sandstone quoins to its right-hand corner. The ground floor contains a rectangular doorway, later widened from an original opening. Projecting from the right-hand corner is a two-storey wing enclosing a small cobbled courtyard to the east.

North elevation: this is the end wall of the 1904 extension, three windows wide to the second and third floors, with a later lower two-storey building projecting from it. The end wall is of red brick with rusticated sandstone quoins to the corners and the same frieze and moulded cornice as found elsewhere; the windows are similar to those on the east elevation. The lower two-storey projection has a slated hipped roof; its west elevation has red brick walls to the first floor with plain red brick projecting eaves courses; the ground floor is smooth rendered with channelled rustication; PVC gutter and downpipes; modern rectangular six-pane windows set in widened first floor openings; and a segmental arched entrance containing a modern glazed timber door screen. Its north elevation has a red brick first floor with a lower single-storey block projecting from the ground floor: this single-storey block is flat-roofed with partly rendered red brick walls containing large rectangular metal-framed windows.

West elevation: four storeys high with a hipped slated roof, of similar materials and detailing to the other elevations of the main mill, and built in clearly identifiable phases. From right to left: at the south end, the extension of around 1864, seven windows wide to the left of the 1891 tower block, ending at its left-hand corner in a projecting five-storey red brick toilet stack; next, the original 1850s block in a central position, fifteen windows wide, marked by a greyer tone of yellow brick in the frieze, with a rectangular ground floor passageway at the right-hand corner and a second later projecting five-storey toilet stack at the left-hand corner; then a northern extension of around 1864, seven windows wide, marked by a break in the cornice where a later attic-level doorway gives access to a steel fire escape stairway; and finally, at the north end, the 1904 extension, six windows wide, with a rectangular ground floor passageway at the right-hand corner and a third five-storey toilet stack terminating the mill at its left-hand corner. Detailing is consistent across all sections except that the ground floor windows of the 1904 extension have coved top corners to the openings. Some upper-floor window openings in the other sections have been enlarged into doorways or broken open to floor level and left so.

The southern extension of around 1864 has two later projecting single-storey bays on the ground floor: to the left, a rectangular block with an angled corner, slated hipped roof, smooth rendered painted walls, rectangular timber windows as modern fixed lights and top-hung vents, and PVC gutter and downpipes; to the right, a poor-quality block in the corner with a modern rectangular flush timber door, broken PVC guttering and a loose corrugated perspex roof covering, containing meter boxes. Between the two bays is an external steel open staircase leading to the first floor of the mill. At first floor level are large cast iron ties between windows. To the left of the canted bay the red brick toilet stack is smooth rendered at ground floor level with broad red brick cornicing at the top. Projecting from the south side at each floor is a corrugated iron-clad lobby to the toilet, with a concrete slab floor and a glazed lean-to roof. The other toilet stacks are similar in character.

EAST WING OF THE OLD MILL

The east wing comprises a U-shaped arrangement of two-storey blocks, connected at two points to the main mill block and enclosing a small cobbled courtyard near the north end of the site. It is fronted on the south side by a projecting flat-roofed single-storey section which forms a roof terrace for the storey above.

The south elevation is smooth cement rendered with channelled rustication. The two-storey portion has slated hipped roofs with large rectangular later openings in rusticated surrounds containing modern windows and a doorway. The single-storey portion has a flat roof with parapet, modern rectangular windows and doorway, and a semi-circular arched doorway leading to a stairway to the first floor terrace, with original stone steps; PVC hoppers and downpipes. The east elevation is smooth cement rendered, containing modern rectangular timber windows to two floors; some ground floor openings are now blocked. PVC gutters and downpipes. The north elevation of the north portion has a hipped slated roof with red brick walls and plain red brick projecting eaves courses, and yellow brick quoins to the left-hand corner. The west elevation of the south portion, facing into the alley between it and the mill block, is two storeys of plain red brick with a projecting brick eaves course and rectangular timber fixed-light windows in flat-arched openings. Within the cobbled courtyard the elevations are of plain red brickwork with some later smooth cement render lined to give channelled rustications, rectangular windows of similar character to those elsewhere, and rectangular and elliptically arched doorways containing modern glazed timber door screens. Metal rainwater goods. The central courtyard area is cobbled, bordered by raised pavements with concrete kerbstones. Roofs are hipped and slated.

THE OFFICE BLOCK

The office block, forming the east range, consists of an ornamentally treated two-storey entrance block — the most architecturally distinctive part of the whole complex — with a three-storey return of plainer character, linked by a long two-storey rear block to a large-windowed tower-like end block. The entrance block is particularly notable for its series of sculpted sandstone keystone heads depicting historical and literary figures.

South elevation of the entrance block: two storeys, comprising a hipped block five windows wide to each floor, to the right of a taller end bay two windows wide to the first floor; string courses and cills are at a lower level in the end bay. The hipped portion has a roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses with dark-toned ridge tiles. Behind the ridge rises a small chimney of red brick with a stuccoed finish and moulded stucco cornice and cap, and beyond that rises the very tall octagonal tapering chimney, which flares out at the top above a projecting string course; it is built of red brick with blue brick dressings to the angles.

The first floor has walls of red brick with painted panelled sandstone quoining to the right-hand corner, painted moulded sandstone string courses and plain eaves course, and a painted moulded brick cornice. The ground floor is finished with painted stucco — smooth rendered, lined and blocked originally but mostly covered by successive layers of paintwork now peeling — with painted moulded sandstone string course and cill. PVC guttering.

First floor windows are modern rectangular timber fixed lights with small rectangular vents above, filling the arched openings, set in moulded segmental painted sandstone arches with sculpted sandstone keystones; segmental brick relieving arches; chamfered brick jambs painted to resemble stone dressings.

Ground floor windows are set in semi-circular arched openings, the second from the right-hand end being narrower and of stilted type. All ground floor windows have been altered to varying degrees: originally each comprised a two-light timber arrangement with semi-circular arched heads springing from circular wooden colonnettes with floriated capitals, surmounted by a plain semi-circular arched spandrel light, and presumably incorporating some opening lights originally, but all have since been altered to fixed lights. The two openings at the right-hand end retain the inset coupled arches, but the rest have had this feature replaced by later timber transoms. The narrow window second from the end incorporates a continuation of the string course running across it and dividing it into lower and upper lights, the string course being of moulded timber replicating the form of the main sandstone string course. Each ground floor window has a spiked iron bar incorporated in the cill.

The ground floor keystones are linked by a barley-twist string course, and are carved with human heads depicting various historical personages. Those readily identifiable on the five-window-wide main block are, on the first floor from left to right: Milton, Scott, Shakespeare, Burns, and Byron; and on the ground floor from left to right: Wordsworth (possibly), Burke (possibly), Peel (possibly), Galileo, and Columbus.

The taller end bay to the left is of similar materials, but without quoining apart from paintwork at the left-hand corner to resemble quoins; the ground floor string course here is a plain torus moulding rather than barley-twist. There is a projecting platband to the first floor of yellow and red brick diapering, later painted uniformly to resemble a painted rendered platband. There is a moulded brick frieze as found on the hipped portion, with a moulded sandstone cornice surmounted by a painted sandstone parapet with turned baluster balustrading; a pitched slated roof lies behind the parapets. First floor windows are segmental arched timber sliding sash, vertically hung, two-over-two with horns, set in segmental arched moulded sandstone surrounds with sculpted keystones, all painted. The keystones here are carved with human heads which may represent, from left to right, Johnson and Goldsmith.

The ground floor keystones of the taller end bay are carved with foliated details, and are further embellished as follows, from right to left: the date 1864; a monogram of entwined letters appearing to be P, J and S, representing Philip Johnston and Son, the mill-owners who followed on from the first two owners; and a third keystone over the doorway to the left, which appears to depict a sprig of shamrock. The entrance doorway to the left of the ground floor windows comprises a modern rectangular flush timber door recessed between panelled sandstone pilasters with floriated capitals, surmounted by a segmental arched fanlight within a moulded segmental sandstone arch.

West elevation of the entrance block: the side of the balustraded end bay, two windows wide to the first floor with a wide segmental arched entrance below; materials and detailing as to the front, except that the detailing around the doorway has a continuous rounded reveal incorporating a sculpted keystone, and a circular cast iron wall tie above the keystone. The doorway contains a pair of later rectangular timber glazed doors with rectangular sidelights and a plain arched fanlight, and a modern tiled step. The keystone to the ground floor entrance represents Cobden; the keystone to the first floor window to the left represents Arkwright (possibly).

Set back slightly to the left of the entrance block is the first section of the return, three storeys in height, of red brick with yellow brick eaves courses. Its roof is double-pile, running north-south at right angles to the entrance block, hipped, with Bangor blue slates in regular courses but in poor condition; original flush rooflights are present in the west pitch, two to each side of the later hoist tower. The octagonal factory chimney is located on the hip on the east side. There is a central projecting modern plain red brick hoist shaft on the west wall, with two windows to the first and second floors to the right of it and two openings to the same floors to the left. Windows are rectangular timber four-pane fixed lights with two-pane vents above, set in plain brick reveals with flat arches and projecting painted stone cills. The ground floor wall to the right of the shaft contains a later rectangular door, a modern up-and-over garage door, and a two-light window; the garage door has a cast iron protective plate to the base of the left-hand jamb, inscribed on both faces "J and J McKeown. Belfast". The ground floor to the left of the hoist shaft is occupied by a red brick lean-to with a two-light window in a timber surround; to its left is a narrow two-pane fixed light with a top vent set in a moulded timber surround with wooden cill; and to the left of that is a circular cast iron spiral staircase, complete except for one baluster at the bottom. The spiral stairway is tied back to the main wall with an angle iron at the seventh step and by a short iron connector at the eleventh step to a partly derelict brick nib wall on the left. The stairway gives access to a rectangular doorway on each floor above, with glazed and ledged doors with a wavy head to the glazing of Edwardian appearance. Windows on each floor to the right of the doors are similar to those on the other side of the shaft. Cast iron gutters and downpipes are present but in poor condition.

The second section of the rear return is two storeys, of red brick with yellow brick quoins to the right-hand corner: six windows wide to the first floor, windows of similar character to the previous section except that four have later been altered to incorporate rectangular fanlights. The ground floor contains a wide set of sheeted double doors and a smaller glazed and sheeted door to the right; the wall is mostly smooth cement rendered with evidence of a lean-to roof having been removed; four large rectangular cast iron ties are present at floor level above. Three roofs run transversely from east to west, of hipped form with slated surfaces and conical metal ventilators on the ridges, but many slates are missing and part of the roof has collapsed.

Projecting slightly forward to the left is the taller end block: two storeys with a pair of very large and tall arched windows to the first floor. Built of red brick with a moulded and notched yellow brick frieze and deep moulded sandstone cornice, surmounted by a panelled iron water trough with iron railings. The windows are semi-circular arched multi-paned timber fixed lights incorporating some pivoting opening lights: the one to the left is traceried with coupled semi-circular arches containing paired Gothic lancets surmounted by a circular tracery light; the one to the right is composed entirely of transoms and mullions. The ground floor wall is painted and rendered, with evidence of a lean-to roof having been removed and partly derelict nib walls remaining at each corner; two rectangular doorways contain sheeted timber doors. The end block has a flat roof with what appears to be an open iron water trough on top, surrounded by iron rails. The south side of the end block above the rear block roof is smooth cement rendered.

North elevation of the rear block: red brick with ornamental yellow brick frieze and sandstone cornice as found elsewhere; contains a large semi-circular arched window to the first floor on the right-hand side, traceried as previously described, surmounting a rectangular six-pane fixed light and glazed and panelled door. These are reached by a flight of lateral projecting concrete steps on red brick base walling, partly smooth rendered; the base of the exterior steps is open on the east side, the chamber is barrel vaulted and contains a semi-circular arched recess in the south side, the function of which is unknown. The left-hand portion of the main north elevation is partly painted and partly rendered, showing evidence of the removal of a gabled two-storey building that formerly abutted it.

East elevation: smooth cement rendered, lined and blocked, with some cast iron ties; yellow brick eaves courses and frieze as elsewhere. Rectangular windows of similar character and pattern to the west elevation, but with some openings blocked with render. Cast iron rainwater goods in poor condition. At the left-hand corner is a canted bay to the ground floor: smooth rendered finish with windows now blocked and rendered over; PVC gutter and downpipe; in the first floor above the bay is a segmental arched window containing a pair of coupled arched lights surmounted by a spandrel light, of timber, with a central circular colonnette and floriated capital.

THE GATEWAY

The entrance gateway comprises a pair of bulky square piers mounted with a pair of later 20th century iron gates. The piers are stuccoed to give the appearance of rusticated blocks, but damage to the corners reveals a red brick core; there is a moulded sandstone frieze and cornice with curved brackets. The flat sandstone capstones are now displaced, presumably having been struck by lorries, and the corners of the cornice are broken off.

ANCILLARY BUILDINGS WITHIN THE SITE

Restaurant block: a long two-storey red brick building facing the modern front entrance gateway, now converted from what were probably mill stores to use as a restaurant and offices, though much remodelled and modernised. Windows to the first floor at the front and to both storeys at the rear are semi-circular arched; the roof is of modern mono-pitch form with PVC downpipes. The main entrance has protective cast iron plates to the jambs inscribed "The Millfield Foundry Belfast 1907", with curved cast iron brackets to a glazed canopy. At the rear corner, a protective cast iron plate is inscribed "J and J McKeown, Belfast", and at a now bricked-up rear doorway, the plates are inscribed "James Moore, Millfield Foundry, Belfast".

Former stores block: a four-gabled single-storey building in red brick, to the north of the restaurant and office block, formerly mill stores now converted to modern warehouse accommodation; slated pitched roofs; large original elliptically arched openings to the east side containing modern glazed timber door screens; PVC downpipes; rectangular doorways to the west elevation containing flush timber doors and steel shutter doors; modern rectangular timber windows to the north elevation.

Former workshop block: a twin-gabled two-storey red brick building to the east of the stores, originally built as a Mechanics and Carpenters Shop and now converted to office or industrial use; slated pitched roofs; segmental arched openings with circular attic windows in the apex of each gable; ground floor windows on the east side later bricked up; PVC rainwater goods; the entrance to the right-hand side of the south elevation has a modern projecting gabled porch, timber panelled and sheeted, on rolled steel corner joists.

SETTING

The buildings stand in an urban area in a cul-de-sac, facing directly onto the street. The mill is abutted on the west side by the tall seven-storey tower block. The boundary to the office wing to the east is formed by wire mesh fencing with a railway shunting yard beyond. The buildings overlook an industrial works on the opposite side of the street.