Glenavy Mill, Glenavy, Crumlin, Co. Antrim, BT29

Glenavy Mill is a medium-sized rural milling complex with origins stretching back almost 230 years, situated at the north-eastern end of Glenavy village on the eastern side of the road, in County Antrim. The complex comprises a former late 19th century mill owner's house with an 18th century annex, a corn mill, a grain drying kiln, associated outbuildings, and the remains of a mill pond, head race and tail race. Several related buildings that formerly stood along the north side of the complex have been demolished to make way for a recent housing development. The premises are now vacant and were recently acquired by a building contractor.

The complex is of particular note as an example of industrial archaeological interest. Most significantly, the substantial corn mill — built between 1835 and 1859, most probably in 1859, and seemingly refurbished in the earlier 20th century — is believed to be the only known Irish example, outside of spade mills, to house two waterwheels within a single building. A surprising amount of the internal machinery survives. The configuration of the power transmission gearing documents a technical evolution from the traditional great spurwheel arrangement (as seen at most mills, for example at Annalong) to a lineshaft arrangement. The fact that one of the waterwheels carries an attested local manufacturer's name — Kane Bros of Ballymena — is also of note. The two-storey, two-bay dwelling at the west end of the site reflects the prosperity of the enterprise during the later 19th century.

MILL OWNER'S HOUSE, ANNEX AND YARD OUTBUILDING

The main house is a symmetrical, two-storey, three-bay polychrome building of the later 19th century, aligned north to south at the south-western corner of the complex, with full-height canted bays to either side. Its principal façade faces west. The pitched natural slate roof has hipped cants over the two bays. Each gable has a two-stage yellow brick chimney with moulded copings and a dentil course. Cast iron ogee rainwater goods to the front are supported on a corbelled yellow brick eaves course over a brick dentil course; half-round gutters to the rear are supported on an advanced rendered eaves course.

The principal façade is of unrendered machined red brick in English Garden Wall bond, with stepped yellow brick quoins and similar dressings to the openings. The canted bays are yellow brick with red brick panels to each cant face between ground and first floor. A chamfered yellow brick base course runs around the building, and a continuous painted concrete sill course runs at first floor level. The remainder of the main block, its return, and the annex have lined and rendered brick walls.

All windows are one-over-one sliding sashes with horns unless otherwise noted. The entrance to the principal elevation is set centrally, accessed by a broad tiled step and framed within a segmental-headed moulded brick reveal. The door has four raised and bolection-moulded panels with a beaded muntin to the centre; the top pair of panels are semi-circular headed with a cast iron door knocker set between them, and between the top and bottom panels is a large brass door pull. Above the door is a segmental-headed transom. Directly above at first floor is a segmental-headed window in a moulded reveal. To either side of the entrance bay are the canted bays, each of whose three principal cheeks has a window to each floor, all set in moulded brick stop-end chamfered reveals. The ground floor windows in each bay share a continuous painted concrete sill. The central window in each bay is wider than its flanking windows, and the first floor windows are slightly reduced in height. The left gable has two windows — one to the extreme left at ground floor and one set slightly to its right at first floor. The right gable is similar but its windows are aligned vertically and set to the right-hand side.

The rear elevation is abutted to the left and centre by a one-and-a-half-storey return with a catslide roof, erected at the same time as the main block and not a later addition. The left-hand section of this return projects beyond the right-hand section; the left contains the bathroom and toilet, and the right the stairwell. The right-hand section of the main block is abutted by the gable of the one-and-a-half-storey T-plan annex described below. The left cheek of the projecting section of the return has a timber door with a glazed top panel to the left and a top-hung one-over-one timber casement window to its right. Its right cheek is abutted by a modern flat-roofed single-storey link block, which also abuts the front face of the right-hand section of the return; the upper floor of this cheek has a top-hung one-over-one timber window at the left. The right-hand section of the return has, to the front, a margin-paned two-over-two sliding sash at upper floor level lighting the stairwell.

The T-plan annex, which was the original mill house, is aligned east to west. Its right side is flush with the gable of the main block, and its tail projects southward parallel with the axis of the main house. The main section measures 14.5 metres east to west by 5.92 metres north to south; the tail measures 6.55 metres north to south by 4.47 metres east to west. It has a pitched natural slate roof with three rendered brick chimneys — one to each gable and a taller one to the south gable of the tail. Rainwater goods are half-round over a slightly advanced eaves course. Unless otherwise noted, all remaining windows are top-hung timber casements with concrete sills. The north elevation has five such openings. The east gable has a window set to the right of centre at the apex. The south face is abutted at the far left by the house return and link block, and to the left of centre by the tail. The exposed section to the right of the tail has a window at the left and a large two-pane vertically divided window at the right. The east-facing elevation of the tail has a large side-hung timber casement window to the left and a timber entrance door with a glazed upper panel to the right. The south gable of the tail is blank. The west face of the tail is abutted by the house return and the link block.

In the south-eastern corner of the rear yard is a small single-storey, single-bay outhouse aligned east to west, measuring 5.74 metres east to west by 3.99 metres north to south, with a pitched natural slate roof and no rainwater goods. There is a machined red brick chimney to its east gable. Walls are of random rubble — unrendered to the south face, lined and cement rendered to the west gable, and wet-dashed on the remaining elevations — with advanced brick eaves. The west gable has a doorway; the north and east elevations are blank. The south elevation has two infilled window openings. A low random rubble wall connects the south-west corner of this building to the south-east corner of the annex tail.

Between the front of the house and the public road is a large tree-lined lawn, with a driveway along the north side from the road. This drive continues along the north side of the annex to the outbuildings and mill at the rear. To the south-east of the yard is a large grassed area.

OUTBUILDING 1

A two-storey, two-bay building to the north of the house, aligned east to west, measuring 18.54 metres east to west by 6.27 metres north to south, and standing 4.09 metres high at the south-east and 4.57 metres at the south-west. It has a pitched natural slate roof, wet-dashed random rubble walls of rounded field stones, advanced brick eaves, and plastic gutters. The main elevation faces south onto the access lane and is slightly bowed in plan. The left bay has a central tongue-and-groove sheeted door with small flanking windows — a six-over-six sliding sash to the left and a two-over-two metal frame to the right. The right bay has a central two-leaf tongue-and-groove door with a timber lintel, also flanked by small window openings — both of which are shuttered (though one shutter has fallen in). The left west gable has a louvred and glazed window opening set at the centre of the first floor. The rear north elevation is exposed to first floor only due to the bank slope; it has a three-by-three fixed window to the left bay (formerly a doorway) and a two-leaf tongue-and-groove door to the right bay. The right gable is accessed through a semi-circular headed opening from the front yard; it has a door at the left and a shuttered opening with metal bars at the right, with a tall narrow loading door to the centre of the first floor.

OUTBUILDING 3

A two-storey, three-bay building aligned north to south, immediately east of Outbuilding 1, measuring 13.77 metres north to south by 6.02 metres east to west, and standing 4.57 metres high at the south-east and 4.88 metres at the south-west. It has a pitched natural slate roof, plastic gutters, wet-dashed random rubble walls of rounded field stones, advanced brick eaves, and brick trim to all openings unless otherwise noted. The principal elevation faces east. At the left end of the ground floor is a pair of large modern metal doors with concrete block jambs and a reinforced concrete head — it is uncertain whether this is a modern insertion or an enlargement of an original opening. To the right of this opening is a boarded-up window opening; the ground slopes upward to the right end of the façade. The first floor has four openings from left: a two-by-two fixed window, a one-by-three fixed window, a segmental-headed loading door boarded over (with evidence of a former pitched-roof porch which formerly connected with a similar doorway on the adjacent building to the south), and an infilled window opening with a shallow segmental head. The south gable has a window opening to the centre of the first floor. The rear west elevation has two door openings — one to the left bay and one to the middle bay — both with masonry rather than brick jambs. A projecting masonry string course runs just below the present wall head across the left and middle bays, which may represent a former wall head with a subsequent raising of the wall above. At the right end of the first floor is a loading door with machined red brick jambs, with small window openings to either side. The right gable is exposed to first floor only and has a door opening at its left end.

FORMER GRAIN DRYING KILN

A two-storey, two-bay building aligned east to west, situated east of Outbuilding 3, measuring 14.5 metres east to west by 8.59 metres north to south, and standing 2.69 metres high at the south-east and 3.81 metres at the south-west. It has a pitched natural slate roof with half-round rain gutters now missing. All walls are unrendered random rubble retaining traces of former lime render, with advanced stone eaves; all openings are trimmed in brick. The west gable is wet-dashed cement. The principal elevation faces south onto the yard. The ground floor has a modern roller shutter door at the left end of the right-hand bay and a small window opening to its right. The left bay has an infilled window opening with no other apparent openings. At the right end of the first floor is a three-by-two-pane window. The west gable has a semi-circular headed window at first floor level to the left, now infilled, with evidence of a former porch to its front (which formerly connected with the adjacent building). The gable apex has an infilled window opening at the centre. The rear north elevation is exposed to first floor only; it has two door openings, both set back from the wall face. The left door is a tongue-and-groove sheeted door in an opening with cement-rendered jambs, accessed by three concrete steps with a platform in front. To the right is a pair of tongue-and-groove sheeted doors, the right jamb of which is of concrete block, indicating a widening of the original opening. The right gable has a metal-framed window to the apex.

CORN MILL

The corn mill is a three-storey building (including basement but excluding attic), single bay, aligned east to west at the south-eastern end of the complex, measuring 19.89 metres by 6.86 metres. It has a pitched natural slate roof with no rainwater goods, random rubble walls with advanced stone eaves. The east and south elevations are unrendered; the west and north elevations are wet cement-dashed, though they were probably lime rendered originally.

The yard-facing north elevation is almost entirely abutted at ground floor level by a single-storey, three-bay return measuring 16.0 metres by 2.62 metres in plan, with a monopitched slate roof and walls matching the main block; brick quoins are visible beneath the wet dash. The exposed left end of the main block has a large pair of timber doors at ground floor and a loading door at first floor (now sheeted over). Along the first floor of the main block to the right are four regularly spaced three-over-six sliding sash windows with concrete sills. The north face of the return has a three-over-six sash window to the left bay, another to the middle bay, and two contiguous semi-elliptical entrance arches to the right bay; both windows have concrete sills. The left and right cheeks of the return are blank. The left east gable of the main block has a sill-less three-over-six sash to the apex.

The rear south elevation has a skylight to the roof pitch. Two waterwheels occupy the left-hand half of the basement. The ground floor has four window openings from the left: a three-over-six sliding sash, a six-over-four sliding sash, a boarded opening, and a two-over-two side-hung metal casement. At the extreme right is a stone-infilled window opening from which rises a shallow brick pilaster of unknown function to eaves level. The first floor has five equally spaced windows, all boarded except the two at the left — the first being a three-over-six sash and the second a six-over-four sash.

The right gable has an exposed basement level; it is abutted at the right end by a single-storey seed house. The exposed section has, at external ground level, a tongue-and-groove sheeted door with a large timber lintel, and immediately to its right, sharing the same head, a three-by-three-pane window. The ground floor and first floor of this gable are blank, with a window opening to the apex.

The seed house has been refurbished in the relatively recent past. It measures 3.35 metres east to west by 3.51 metres north to south, standing 2.74 metres at its south-west corner. It has a pitched natural slate roof (possibly originally hipped — the apex is now of concrete blocks) with no rainwater goods, and unrendered random rubble walls with advanced brick eaves. The west gable has a modern partly-glazed timber door to the centre and a modern two-by-three-pane window with concrete sill to the apex. The left cheek has a modern three-by-two-pane window with concrete sill; the right cheek is blank. A random rubble wall runs from the south-west corner of the seed house to the south-east corner of the yard outbuilding described under the house. An opening gives access to a small modern footbridge over the tailrace.

WATERWHEELS AND WATERWORKS

Unusually, the corn mill has two waterwheels, both on the south-facing elevation. Both are pitchback wheels — that is, fed from the one o'clock position and rotating anti-clockwise when viewed from the south.

The left wheel measures 4.57 metres in diameter by 1.25 metres wide. Its circular axle, hubs, and 30-centimetre-deep (12-inch) rim are all of cast iron. Its two sets of eight arms, forty angled buckets, and soleing are of timber. The metal components are sound, but the timber is in very poor condition. Rotative power was transmitted through the axle.

The right-hand wheel is set out from the sidewall of the mill and measures 4.72 metres in diameter by 1.25 metres wide. Its circular axle, hubs, and 34-centimetre-deep (13.5-inch) rim are all of cast iron. Each of the eight rim segments carries the maker's name: "Kane Bros Ballymena". The wheel's two sets of eight arms, forty angled buckets, and soleing are all of timber; the metalwork is sound but the timber has rotted. Power was transmitted into the mill through an iron segmental spurwheel affixed to the inner arms, driving a small iron pinion (bull nut) at the three o'clock position, from which a shaft runs into the basement.

Both wheels are fed from a launder running in from the east. The first half of this trough has concrete blockwork side walls and a cast concrete floor resting on two concrete piers; the remainder of the trough as far as the right-hand wheel is of timber, resting on a rubble stone wall at one end and a cantilevered metal beam at the other. Its cross-sectional width is 94 centimetres (37 inches). Water was directed into the first wheel by a flap in the floor of the trough, activated by a shaft and connecting link from inside the mill; this orifice has been infilled with concrete, presumably to allow all the water to be used by the second wheel in later years. The trough continues and then makes a dogleg towards the second wheel; this section of troughing is now missing.

Immediately east of the complex is a small millpond, now infilled and gravelled over to create a hardstanding. Two concrete pipes under the main road on its eastern boundary remain open. A random rubble wall runs around its northern and southern sides, though it has been removed at the north-west corner and the west side. At the south-west corner, just before the intake to the launder, is an inclined pitched rubble spillway; at the bottom of the spillway is an underground pipe returning water to the adjoining stream. The tailraces to each wheel merge into a single channel returning the spent water to the stream.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

No mill is shown in this townland on a large-scale map of the Hertford Estate of 1729. A mill is attested from 1766 by two entries in the Belfast News Letter. The first, dated 25 November 1766, advertises that farmers with wheat or barley could sell it at the flour mills near Glenavy, with flour, bran, French barley, and peelygrass for sale on Mondays and Thursdays, with the same goods also available from Robert Sym, merchant in Belfast. The second entry of 30 December 1766 adds that coarse wheatmeal or pollard was available at five shillings per hundredweight, flour bran at two shillings per hundredweight, and first, second and third flour at sixpence per hundredweight cheaper than at market. A third entry from October 1774 advertises the Glenavy Mills to let for one life, noting that they paid Lord Hertford a chief rent of £43 per year, that a large tract of good corn country was bound to them at a one-sixteenth toll, and that their condition was sufficient for several years. A datestone of 1772 probably signifies the erection of a mill in that year by one D.G. The significance of an 1800 datestone is as yet unclear; it may signify the acquisition of the mill by Andrew Lorimer.

The complex appears on the 1832–33 Ordnance Survey six-inch map together with an explicitly captioned mill race and mill dam half a mile to the east, and a smaller uncaptioned dam just above one of the mill buildings. Greater detail is shown on the large-scale Valuation map of circa 1834. The 1836 Ordnance Survey Memoir for Glenavy Parish describes a corn mill whose machinery was propelled by a breastwater wheel 14 feet in diameter and two feet broad. The 1835 Valuation book records the premises as belonging to Andrew Larmour and comprising a house, offices, and corn mill, all valued at £25 11s 0d — the second highest valuation in Glenavy townland, after John Howe's cotton and flax mills at the south end of the village (valued at £27 10s 0d). The corn mill at that time had two pairs of stones — one for grinding and one for shelling — apparently a third pair for wheat, and a bolting cloth for sieving wholemeal. For valuation purposes it was considered to work for eight months a year at twelve hours a day. The buildings recorded in the 1835 Valuation (with dimensions in feet and roofing noted as thatched or slated) were: (1) House (thatched) 69 × 17 × 7.5; (2) Return (thatched) 20.5 × 11 × 5; (3) Office (thatched) 60 × 20.5 × 12.5; (4) Kiln (thatched) 21.5 × 20 × 7; (5) Store room (thatched) 22.5 × 20 × 9; (6) Shed to stores (slated) 20 × 7 × 8; (7) Kiln (thatched) 47 × 28 × 11; (8) Potato house and stable (thatched) 57 × 21.5 × 7; (9) Turf house (thatched) 55 × 20.5 × 7; (10) Corn mill (thatched) 45 × 21.5 × 14.5; (11) Workshop to ditto (thatched) 20.5 × 19.5 × 7; (12) Porch (slated) 11 × 11.5 × 8.

Comparison of these dimensions with the buildings on the 1834 map and those standing today suggests that only three of the present structures existed at that time: today's Outbuilding 1 equates with the office (entry 3), the former grain drying kiln equates with the larger kiln (entry 7), and the seed house equates with the porch (entry 12) to the corn mill. Although the depth of the present corn mill broadly corresponds with that recorded in the Valuation (21 feet 6 inches then, 22 feet 6 inches now), the length and height do not correspond. There is no visible structural evidence in the form of wall breaks or internal party walls to suggest that the present mill incorporates an earlier, smaller structure. The balance of evidence therefore suggests that the 1772 and 1800 datestones are not in situ, but were salvaged from buildings now demolished when the present mill was erected.

The 1858 Ordnance Survey map shows a similar configuration of buildings to that of 1833 and captions the complex as a corn mill and kiln; a second millpond appears immediately east of the buildings just north of the earlier one, suggesting two mills may then have been in operation. The 1859 Valuation book records the complex as belonging to John Lorimer — probably the same family as the earlier Larmour with a different spelling — and an 1859 datestone names him as the builder. The site was leased from the Marquis of Hertford and the house, offices, corn mills, and kilns were valued together at £70. The buildings recorded at that time (dimensions converted from yards to feet, thatched or slated as noted) were: (1) House (thatched) 72 × 21 × 1 storey; (2) House (slated) 21 × 15 × 1 storey; (3) No.1 Mill (slated) 66 × 21 × 3 storeys; (4) Seed house (slated) 24 × 12 × 1 storey; (5) No.2 Mill (slated) 51 × 24 × 2 storeys; (6) Basement 21 × 24 × 1 storey; (7) Office (slated) 81 × 21 × 2 storeys; (8) No.1 and No.2 Kiln (thatched) 45 × 27 × 2 storeys; (9) Office (slated) 30 × 9 × 1 storey; (10) Office (slated) 24 × 21 × 2 storeys; (11) Office (thatched) 24 × 21 × 2 storeys; (12) Stables (thatched) 60 × 21 × 2 storeys.

By this date there were clearly two mills, both for grinding grain. No.1 Mill, which corresponds closely in dimensions to today's surviving mill building and can therefore be dated to between 1835 and 1859, had two waterwheels: the first measured 14 feet in diameter by 3 feet 9 inches wide with 14-inch deep buckets, driving two pairs of grinding stones; the second measured 12 feet by 3 feet with 12-inch buckets, powering a pair of shelling stones together with fans, sifters, and two sets of elevators. The supply launder to both wheels was 3 feet 6 inches wide with a 2-foot depth of water, and the fall of water was 18 feet, indicating both wheels were overshot or pitchback. The mill worked for a notional six months at twenty-two hours per day and six months at eleven hours per day, and its machinery was classed as Class A, indicating it was fairly up to date and in good condition. The present waterwheels are larger than those cited in this Valuation, indicating replacement at a later date; the lineshaft configuration of the power transmission gearing also points to a later replacement, as opposed to the earlier great spurwheel arrangement. No.2 Mill had one waterwheel of 16 feet by 4 feet with 12-inch buckets and an 18-foot fall of water; it contained a pair of shelling and a pair of grinding stones, sifters and elevators, and worked for a notional six months at twenty hours per day and six months at ten hours per day, also with Class A machinery. This second mill no longer survives. The thatched house recorded in 1859 corresponds with what is now the annex, though it appears subsequently to have been shortened from 72 feet to its present length of 47 feet 7 inches; its tail projection also existed at that time. The stables correspond with today's Outbuilding 1, and the two kilns correspond with the former grain drying kiln. It is also possible that the two offices each measuring 24 × 21 feet correspond with today's Outbuilding 3. In summary, with the exception of the seed house, the yard outbuilding, and the brick dwelling at the west, all of today's buildings existed by 1859.

From 1869 onwards, when the Valuation revision books begin, the rateable value remained constant at £66. James Lorimer succeeded John Lorimer in 1893, followed by Archibald Lorimer in 1902. The Lorimers appear to have relinquished control in 1921, when Edward T. Green took over; this is presumably the same E.T. Green who owned extensive dockside mills in Belfast at that time, and who was the father of Rodney Green, author of The Industrial Archaeology of County Down. It may have been Green who refurbished the mill in the early 20th century — the cement sills and cement render are all characteristic of the inter-war period. David McCullough took over in 1924 and held the premises until at least 1929, when the run of Valuation revision books consulted ends.

The Ordnance Survey 1:1056 map of 1901 captions the site as corn and beetling mills. This change of function is not recorded in the Valuation revision books, so the precise date of the transition is uncertain; it is probable that beetling was carried out in the corn mill which is now gone. The 1901 map also shows the polychromatic house at the west end having been added to the original house. The exact date of this addition is uncertain, as there is no corresponding change in the site's rateable valuation. The nearby Protestant Hall is built in a similar style of brickwork and is dated to 1870. The west section of the house is therefore probably late 19th century in date.