Loughry Mill group of buildings, Loughry Agricultural College, Cookstown, BT 80 8AD

Loughry Mill Complex, Loughry Agricultural College, Cookstown

This is a mill complex built around 1790 in the grounds of what was formerly the country estate of the Lindesay family, now Loughry College of Agriculture and Food Technology. The complex is currently vacant. It shares group value with the adjacent Loughry House, and sits within a Grade A Historic Park, affording it protection under policy BH6. Although a number of alterations have been made — most notably the rebuilding of the powerhouse — the complex retains much of its original character and setting. Its plain detailing has been substantially preserved, though it is not considered to be of the same special interest as the other listed structures on the site. The complex is of industrial archaeological interest.

The complex comprises a stone mill building set within a series of connected farm buildings, a single-storey stone powerhouse, and the associated river, millrace, and sluice gates. It occupies an enclosed farmyard to the west of Loughry House, on the northern bank of the fast-flowing Killymoon River.

The Mill Building

The principal element is a long rectangular block running east–west along the southern edge of the complex, parallel with the river and millrace. It is two storeys in height with a pitched, slate-covered roof and plastic rainwater goods. The block is gable-ended. The south elevation is in coursed rubble with flush cut-stone quoins, and is divided into two halves: the eastern half is single storey and the western half is two storeys. Window openings are square-headed with red-brick surrounds and cut-stone sills. A number of small, irregular openings in the wall indicate the former positions of machinery connecting the powerhouse to the mill. A long lintel at first-floor level in this area may have provided additional support for machinery, or may mark a larger opening that has since been closed up. Some openings retain timber window frames, though all appear to be boarded up from the inside.

The west gable elevation is painted stone. It has a tall square-headed window opening to the attic level with a timber window and cut-stone sill, two smaller similar openings at the lower level, and numerous vents. The roof has a flush finish at the eaves. The north elevation is also painted stone. At ground-floor level there are two large square-headed door openings and three smaller square-headed openings, irregularly spaced and of varying sizes, fitted with timber sliding doors and painted metal skirts over the rails at the heads. There are also square-headed window openings at ground-floor level and five at upper-floor level, some of which may have been added or altered at a later date. Numerous small vents are present throughout this wall. The single-storey section has long rectangular skylights and three painted roof monitors with timber louvres and pitched slate roofs.

At the eastern end of the south block, a smaller single-storey block runs perpendicular to the main block without meeting it at the corner. At the northern end of this perpendicular block, a two-storey square-plan block projects forward. Both eastern blocks lean against a taller party wall belonging to an adjoining building, into which the south block also runs.

The East Block

The single-storey block to the east is flat-roofed and its walls are a mixture of painted brick and stone. It appears to be of a later date than the south block. It consists of a row of four similar sheds or workshops, each with a square-headed door opening fitted with a timber tongue-and-groove door, and one or two square-headed windows with timber frames of eight panes and cut-stone sills. Each doorway has two cut-stone steps. Rainwater goods are cast-iron; the roof covering is not visible from the exterior.

The Powerhouse

The powerhouse is positioned between the south block and the river, roughly midway along the length of the southern block. It sits directly over the millrace and is open through its floor into it. The waterwheel machinery remains in position. The powerhouse appears to be more recent than the rest of the mill buildings and is possibly a replacement for an earlier structure.

It is square in plan with coursed, partially dressed stone walls and cut-stone quoins to all four corners. It has a pavilion (pyramidal) roof of slate with a decorative cast-iron ball finial to the apex. Rainwater goods are cast-iron, with gutters carried on scroll brackets, and a cast-iron downpipe descends on the left side of the north elevation.

The south elevation faces the river and has a segmental-headed door opening to the right with a cut-stone surround, quoins to the edges, and voussoirs above. The door is a replacement tongue-and-groove type with modern ironmongery. To the left is a segmental-headed window opening with a matching cut-stone surround and sill, fitted with a nine-pane timber-framed window and a metal grille on the outside. The east elevation has a single central segmental-headed window with surround and sill as described, twice the size of the front window and containing eighteen panes. The north elevation has no openings. The west elevation has a single large central segmental-headed opening with a matching surround; this opening gives access over the millrace and is fitted with a modern steel grille bridge with simple steel guarding.

The River, Millrace, and Sluice Gates

The millrace diverges from the main river to the west, at the point where the river changes direction from flowing south to flowing east. A sluice gate controls the flow of water into the millrace. At this same point a large stepped weir — built in four steps — crosses the river, with a second sluice gate positioned alongside it. This second gate, when opened, would allow the river to bypass the weir entirely. The sluice gate next to the weir is timber with twin lifting gears; its ratchets and rollers remain in place. The gate to the millrace has been replaced or augmented with galvanised steel but retains the same type of lifting mechanism. Both the weir and the gates are in fairly good repair.

The northern bank of the river and both banks of the millrace are retained by stone walls in partially dressed coursed rubble, with raised pointing to some sections. A footbridge crosses the river in front of the mill, with a gate to the bridge on the southern bank. The southern riverside bank is quite overgrown.

Historical Notes

The buildings first appear on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of around 1905. They are almost certainly identifiable as the sawmill and offices recorded by valuers as having been added to the Loughry estate by its then owner Frederick Lindesay in 1863. Further new offices (meaning outbuildings) are recorded as having been added by a later owner, John Wilson Fleming, in 1902, though their precise location is uncertain. Loughry Demesne was subsequently sold to the Irish Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction and became the Ulster Dairy School, later Loughry College of Agriculture and Food Technology. The subsequent use of the mill complex under this ownership is not known, though the buildings appear latterly to have been used as stores.