Mill House, 64 Baranailt Road, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 9HN

Mill House, Dromore Mill Complex

Dromore Mill House is a linear, two-storey vernacular dwelling forming part of the Dromore Mill complex, situated approximately 5km west of Limavady town centre, off a laneway on the south-east side of Baranailt Road. The house sits on the northern side of the complex, immediately west of the mill pond. It is likely pre-1830 in origin, with extensions and alterations carried out probably in the mid to later 19th century and again in the 20th century. It is considered a rare intact example of its type in Northern Ireland, retaining its linear form, proportions, and much of its original historic fabric. The house has group value with the associated Lower Mill complex and Upper Mill complex, and the entire site carries social and economic importance as it has been owned by the same family since the 1840s.

Architectural Description

The house is a long, linear two-storey block composed of three distinct sections that reflect its gradual evolution: an exposed rubblestone section with a coach arch to the south; a more formally finished harled central section; and an attached former byre to the north, now used for storage. The roof is natural slate with a pitched profile. Three harled chimney stacks are positioned to the left, centre and right of the roofline, each with stone coping and clay pots. A single-storey outbuilding with a corrugated tin roof abuts the north end of the east elevation and runs eastward; a further single-storey outbuilding with a corrugated tin roof and two large openings abuts the south gable of the main block.

West Elevation (Main Entrance Front)

The principal entrance elevation faces west onto a paved path and stone-surfaced parking area, with pebble-dashed walls. At the far left is the two-storey former byre, which has a lower ridge level than the main block. Its ground floor centre has a door opening with an arched brick surround, and vegetation obscures the first floor.

Reading left to right along the ground floor of the main block: two window openings fitted with 6-over-6 timber sliding sash windows; a breakfront lean-to entrance porch with a slate roof and painted timber front door; two large window openings with tripartite timber sliding sash frames (2-over-2, 6-over-6, 2-over-2); a coach arch with a shallow red brick arched opening and a sheeted timber door; and a set of stone steps with metal railing leading up to an upper patio area.

At first floor level, reading left to right: three window openings with 6-over-6 timber sliding sash windows; one large window opening centred above the coach arch with tripartite timber sliding sash frames (2-over-2, 6-over-6, 2-over-2); a short 20th-century timber glazed door raised off a landing; and a sun room with a lower ridge and eaves than the main house, featuring a timber and glazed door with a side panel. A small paved patio sits at the top of the steps, with a millstone displayed on a stone pier.

East Elevation (Rear)

At the far left of the east elevation is a single-storey outbuilding with a pitched corrugated metal roof, brick walls, and two large openings fitted with replacement garage-type timber doors. To its right is a two-storey section with a lower ridge and eaves than the main block, incorporating a first-floor sun room with a 20th-century metal railing and cantilevered timber balcony, a timber and glazed door with glazed side panels, and exposed rubblestone walls covered in vegetation.

Reading left to right along the ground floor: a door opening with a shallow arched brick surround and a timber sheeted door; the coach arch with a shallow arched brick surround and a large timber sheeted door; then the more formal central portion, which has harled walls with toothed stone quoins at each end and a plain stone plinth. This section has two window openings spaced wide apart and a door opening with a painted timber sheeted door, followed by two further window openings. Of this ground floor run, only the window immediately to the left of the back door is original; all others are replacements incorporating re-used original glazing. All ground floor windows are 6-over-6 timber sliding sash on stone cills with rendered surrounds.

At first floor level: two window openings on the left with brick surrounds and 2-over-2 timber sliding sash windows; then in the more formal central portion, five window openings aligning with those below, of the same style and design. At the north end, the lower-ridged two-storey former byre has a harled surface, a brick-surround archway with a replacement timber sheeted door at ground floor centre, and two first-floor window openings with brick surrounds — the left boarded up with timber, the right fitted with a 2-over-2 timber sliding sash window. This byre has a replacement corrugated tin roof. Running eastward from the north-east end of the block is a single-storey outbuilding with a replacement barrelled timber truss roof sheeted in corrugated iron, and walls of rubble and brick masonry.

Materials

Walls: exposed rubblestone, harling, pebble dash, with red brick opening surrounds. Windows: single-glazed timber sliding sash windows, mostly replicated by the current owner with original glazing re-used, on stone cills; plain timber glazing panels to the sun room. Rainwater goods: painted metal.

Historical Development

A long narrow range of similar plan and location to the present house is shown on the 1830 Ordnance Survey map, just west of a small corn mill. Neither the first valuation of 1831 nor that of 1856 provides dimensions for the house or associated mill structures, but it appears likely that at least part of the range was already a dwelling at an early date, as one is mentioned in a sale advertisement of 1838.

The house has clearly evolved in typical linear vernacular fashion. The section between the northern and middle chimney stacks is thought to constitute the original dwelling, which — judging from the position of the doorways — appears to have been of direct-entry plan. The southern portion as far as the coach arch was probably incorporated at a later stage; the section beyond the arch followed subsequently; and the lower southernmost end incorporating the sun room is a relatively recent addition or adaptation by the current owner.

In the 1831 valuation the entire property — comprising a corn mill, kiln, dwelling and flax mill — was rated at only £2 12s 0d, suggesting a modest concern and a small house at that date, possibly consisting only of the original core section, which may have been lower than at present and possibly thatched, with the rest of the range comprising outbuildings.

From at least 1831 until at least 1838 the house and mills were in the possession of John Morrison. The property had passed to John Gilfillan some time between 1838 and 1843, the year he was recorded as having been imprisoned for having illicit malt in his dwelling and on his mill premises. Gilfillan was the first of five generations of that family to own the house and mill, and the first of three to operate the mill itself.

The 1848–52 Ordnance Survey map shows an arrangement similar to that of 1830, with a new mill to the east of the range added by that time. By the 1856 valuation the whole complex was rated at £4 15s 0d, but the printed valuation of 1858 gives the rateable value of the house and offices alone as £3, the corn mill at £9, and the flax mill at £8. This significant increase suggests that the buildings were either substantially refurbished or rebuilt in the intervening period, or that a reassessment was made on the basis of the property's financial viability. It is possible that the house was enlarged between these dates — perhaps with the wall height raised to provide a more spacious upper storey, or indeed an upper storey added for the first time — with the attached outbuildings upgraded at the same time, though this cannot be confirmed.

By 1874 the valuation for the whole complex had risen a further £3 to £15. As no work appears to have been carried out to the mill at that time, this may again reflect some improvement to the dwelling or outbuildings, possibly including the addition of a shed built at a right angle to the north end of the range, which appears to date from the later 19th century.

The rateable value remained at £15 until at least the 1950s, with no indication in the sources of any major alterations during this period. The 1905 Ordnance Survey map at 1:2500 scale shows the range divided into four main sections, corresponding to the lower outbuilding at the north end, the core of the present dwelling house between the northern chimneystack and the coach arch, the portion of equal height to the south of the arch, and the lower outbuilding at the southern end. A plan in the 1934 valuation notebook clarifies that at that date the house, described as a "fair type house", comprised only the aforementioned core section, with everything else classed as outbuildings. Everything now forming part of the house from the arch southwards was therefore incorporated after 1934, with the present owner having added the sun room.

The 1901 census records the house as a first-class dwelling with six rooms in use, occupied by John Gilfillan (the second of that name associated with the site), his wife Eliza, their six mainly teenage children, and a single domestic servant. By the 1911 census, the third John Gilfillan had succeeded to the property, living there with his wife Martha Jane, their young son, and a domestic servant. This third John Gilfillan continued to work the mill into the 1960s.