White House Mill, At rear of 44 Glendun Road, Cushendun, Co. Antrim, BT44 0PY

White House Mill

A two-storey plus attic, two-bay water-powered corn mill of 1847, complete with waterwheel and milling equipment. It is abutted by a roofless single-storey, single-bay flax scutching mill of around 1915, also containing all its machinery.

Corn Mill

The corn mill is cut into a south-facing slope overlooking the Glendun River, aligned east-west with its principal elevation facing south. It has a pitched natural slate roof with overlapping ridge tiles and dressed stone verges, with no rainwater goods. The walls are of random rubble brought to courses and embellished with dressed sandstone quoins. All openings have flat hand-made brick heads and stone jambs, with slate cills now mostly missing.

The south elevation has five openings to its ground floor. At the right is the entrance doorway, now missing its door, and at the left is a small window opening which illuminates the waterwheel in this bay. Between them are three further window openings, of which only vestiges of frames survive. Several dressed sandstone blocks mark the west end of the east bay and suggest that the waterwheel was originally intended to be external. A second bay was instead added to enclose the wheel and create additional storage space above.

There are five window openings to the first floor—two to the west bay and three to the east bay. The top halves of 8/8 sliding sash windows survive in two of them. Two cast-iron tie plates run through to the north elevation at eaves level.

The west gable has a narrow doorway into the waterwheel bay and a small light in its apex. A structural crack runs vertically up the left side of the gable but has remained stable for many years according to the owner. The north elevation is visible at first floor level only, devoid of openings save for a doorway into the west bay, which has a flat voussoired stone head and is missing its door.

The east gable is visible only at first floor level. At its right is a double-leaf sheeted timber door, above which is a dressed sandstone plaque reading "A.D. 1847". A small apex opening lights the attic. The roof is of natural slate; walls are of random rubble stone; windows are 8/8 timber sliding sash, surviving only in vestiges.

Flax Mill

The flax mill is also aligned east-west and has been added to the west gable of the corn mill, with its principal elevation facing south. Although the roof is now missing, its profile is discernible as a line of cement flashing on the gable; historical records indicate it was of corrugated iron. There are no rainwater goods. The walls are of rubble masonry.

The entrance doorway is at the extreme right-hand end of the south elevation, its door missing. There are also five window openings to this elevation, the one next the door having collapsed. None of their frames survive; they may have been simple timber shutters rather than glazed windows. All openings have machine-brick jambs, reflecting the building's later construction date. The heads of all openings are missing but probably comprised the timber wall plate originally.

Only a small vestige of the west gable survives at its north end. Most of it was probably corrugated iron over a timber frame, all of which has long since disappeared. The north elevation doubles as the south wall of the headrace and has no openings. The roof is missing, formerly corrugated iron; rainwater goods are absent; windows are missing.

Waterworks

Water for the mill was diverted from the river at a weir upstream from Knocknacarry Bridge and carried along a 450-metre-long headrace to the mill. The first section as far as the bridge has been infilled by a neighbouring landowner, but the remainder is clearly evident as an overgrown channel along the field boundary. Just after a dogleg in the race, approximately 80 metres west of the mill, is an overspill channel which originally returned excess water back to the river; it now acts as a drain carrying off field seepage.

From that point to the mill, the race forms a deep channel with its north side lined with rubble stone. Just above the mill, the race is crossed by a segmental-arched bridge on the access route. Having passed through the internal waterwheel, the water passed along a segmental-arched culvert for approximately 5 metres underneath the strip of ground in front of the mill and then emerged in a stone-lined tailrace. A short distance further on, the race makes a right-angle turn and runs parallel with the river, entering it approximately 110 metres further along. The spoil from the excavated channel was evidently heaped up on the river side of the race to prevent flooding and backwatering of the waterwheel. The race is now open and dry for the most part.

Setting

The mills are located behind 44 Glendun Road and are approached along a sloping grassy track from the concrete yard in front of the house. To the corn mill's immediate north is a long slated two-storey, four-bay building which was the original store and grain drying kiln, contemporary with the corn mill. It has a pitched natural slate roof, dressed stone verges and vestiges of half-round plastic gutters. It has random rubble walls and all openings have brick heads. Like the mill, it is cut into the slope such that only its first floor is visible on its north side. The kiln was at the east end of the building but its fire hole and drying floor have been removed; only a few 2-foot-square perforated cast-iron tiles survive.

On higher ground to the east of the store and kiln is a modern two-storey dwelling on the site of the earlier mill house. The areas east, south and west of the mill comprise the grassy floodplain of the Glendun River.