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

White House Mill is a water-powered corn mill of 1847, complete with its waterwheel and all its milling equipment, built into a south-facing slope overlooking the Glendun River. Attached to its west gable is a roofless single-storey flax scutching mill of around 1915, which also retains all of its machinery. Together they form a remarkably intact rural industrial complex of considerable local and regional significance.

ARCHITECTURAL INTEREST

The two buildings present a clear contrast in their construction and date. The corn mill is two storeys plus attic and two bays wide, built of random rubble stone brought to courses with dressed sandstone quoins and flat hand-made brick heads to all its openings. Stone jambs and slate cills (now mostly missing) complete the window surrounds. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with overlapping ridge tiles and dressed stone verges; there are no rainwater goods. The principal south elevation has five openings at ground floor level: the entrance doorway (door missing) at the right, a small window opening that illuminates the waterwheel bay at the left, and three window openings between them, of which only vestiges of the frames survive. The upper floor has five window openings — two to the west bay and three to the east — with the top halves of eight-over-eight sliding sash windows surviving in two of them. Two cast-iron tie plates pass through to the north elevation at eaves level.

An interesting detail on the south elevation is a group of dressed sandstone blocks at the west end of the east bay, suggesting that the waterwheel was originally intended to be external to the gable. In the event, a second bay was added to enclose the wheel and create additional storage space above — an arrangement that is somewhat unusual, as waterwheels more commonly sit outside the mill building. 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 this gable but is reported by the owner to have been stable for many years. The north elevation is visible only at first floor level and has a single doorway (with a flat voussoired stone head, its door missing) into the west bay. The east gable, also visible only at first floor level, has a double-leaf sheeted timber door over which is a dressed sandstone plaque inscribed "A.D. 1847", and a small apex opening to light the attic.

The flax mill is single-storey and single-bay, aligned east–west and abutting the corn mill's west gable, with its principal elevation also facing south. Its roof is entirely missing, though its former profile is still legible as a line of cement flashing on the corn mill's gable; historical records indicate it was of corrugated iron. The walls are of rubble masonry. The entrance doorway is at the far right of the south elevation (door missing), and there are five window openings along this elevation, one of which has collapsed. None of the window frames survive; they may originally have been simple timber shutters rather than glazed openings. In contrast to the corn mill, all surviving openings have machine-made brick jambs, reflecting the building's later construction date. The heads to all the openings are missing, though they were probably formed by the timber wall plate. Only a small fragment of the west gable survives at its north end; the remainder was most likely corrugated iron over a timber frame, which has long since disappeared. The north elevation doubles as the south wall of the headrace and has no openings.

MACHINERY AND TECHNICAL INTEREST

The functional arrangement of the corn mill follows the standard pattern for the period: grain storage on the top floor, millstones on the middle floor, and power transmission on the ground floor. However, the power transmission system itself is of particular note. Rather than the more traditional great spurwheel arrangement, the mill uses a segmental wheel and bull nut, lineshaft, and bevel gear configuration that is typical of later 19th century water-powered corn mills — yet this appears to be an early example of such an arrangement. There are also some unusual technical details, including the tentering mechanism for adjusting the millstones and the angle adjusters on the meal sieves. The mill contains three pairs of millstones. Notably absent, however, are grain elevators — a surprising omission given the mill's otherwise high level of technical sophistication; the sack hoist alone was relied upon for lifting sacks between floors.

All the plant and machinery in both mills is preserved in excellent condition, which is remarkable given that both have been disused for over half a century. The fabric of both buildings is entirely original, with no additions or removals, except for the loss of the flax mill's roof.

WATERWORKS

Water was diverted from the river at a weir upstream from Knocknacarry Bridge and carried along a 450-metre headrace to the mill. The first section of the race as far as the bridge has been infilled by a neighbouring landowner, but the remainder is clearly visible as an overgrown channel running along a field boundary. Approximately 80 metres west of the mill, shortly after a dogleg in the race, is an overspill channel that returned surplus water to the river; this now functions as a field drain. From that point to the mill the race forms a deep channel, its north side lined with rubble stone. Just above the mill, the race is crossed by a segmental-arched bridge on the access route to the buildings.

Water entered the mill through the internal waterwheel, then passed along a segmental-arched culvert for approximately 5 metres underneath the ground in front of the mill before emerging into a stone-lined tailrace. The tailrace makes a right-angle turn and runs parallel to the river before entering it approximately 110 metres further along. The spoil excavated from the channel was heaped up on the river side of the race to prevent river water from flooding back into it and causing backwatering of the wheel. The race is now open and dry for the most part. The survival of both the headrace and tailrace, and the close relationship of the whole complex to the river, add considerably to the interest of the setting.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The datestone on the east gable confirms that the corn mill was built in 1847, two years into the Great Famine, which lasted until 1852. It was almost certainly erected by the local landowner, James R. White. The 1857 Ordnance Survey map captions the building as a corn mill, with the kiln, store, and mill house to the north and east not separately captioned.

The 1859 valuation records the complex as comprising a house, offices, corn mill, and land, all leased by William McGregor from Mr White. The mill was given as 16 yards by 8 yards, the kiln as 14 yards by 6 yards, the store as 12 yards by 6 yards — all two storeys high — along with a one-and-a-half-storey house of 7 yards by 6 yards and a single-storey outbuilding of 4 yards by 5 yards. The valuation also records that White's tenants were bound under their lease terms to bring their corn to this mill for grinding, underlining its economic importance to both landlord and tenantry during the later 19th and earlier 20th centuries.

By 1893 the valuation revision records the corn mill as "at rest", and the 1904 Ordnance Survey map captions it as a disused corn mill, also showing a small extension of unknown function on its west gable. By 1918 the complex had changed hands — now belonging to Robert John Carey, father of the present owner — and the valuation records it as comprising a corn mill and kiln (both at rest), offices, and a new flax mill with four stocks, noted as "now worked". The flax mill had evidently been built since 1904, most probably during the First World War in response to increased demand for flax and linen. Most flax mills in Ulster date from the 1860s and the period of the American Civil War, making this a relatively unusual example of a later mill built in wartime conditions.

The 1922 Ordnance Survey map shows both mills captioned together as "corn & flax mill", suggesting the corn mill had resumed operation after the war. A valuation survey of February 1933 records the corn mill as containing three pairs of stones said to be worked for two months each year, and the waterwheel as 15 feet in diameter and 7 feet wide. The flax mill at that date contained three stocks but was very little used. Both mills continued to be recorded in use through 1936–38, and it is highly likely they continued operating through the Second World War given the increased emphasis on self-sufficiency and the resurgence in flax cultivation. Robert John Carey died in June 1954, and a valuation entry from October of that year describes both mills as "now at rest" and used for agricultural purposes only, though they may have ceased active milling as early as 1945.

SETTING

The mills are situated behind 44 Glendun Road and are approached along a sloping grassy track from the concrete yard in front of the house. Immediately to the north of the corn mill is a long, two-storey, four-bay building contemporary with the corn mill, which served as the original grain store and drying kiln. It has a pitched natural slate roof with dressed stone verges and vestiges of half-round plastic gutters, random rubble walls, and brick-headed openings. Like the corn mill itself, it is cut into the slope so that only its first floor is visible from the north side. The kiln was at the east end of the building, though its fire hole and drying floor have been removed; a few 2-foot-square perforated cast-iron tiles survive. On higher ground to the east of the store and kiln stands a modern two-storey dwelling on the site of the earlier mill house. The areas to the east, south, and west of the mill complex form the grassy floodplain of the Glendun River.