Saw Mill at Killymoon Castle, 60 Castle Road, Cookstown, BT80 8TN, ** See General Comments

The Saw Mill at Killymoor Castle is a two-storey, three-bay gabled and slate-roofed stone building of mid-18th century date, built between 1740 and 1759. It stands within the demesne of Killymoon Castle beside a stream against a backdrop of mature trees, and forms an important part of the estate development by the Stewart family during the 18th century, predating the construction of the present castle.

The building is nicely proportioned in a simple classical style with characteristic dressed stone features. It is partly built into a slope to provide a ramp leading to a first-floor doorway at the west end. The walling is rubble stone with ashlar sandstone detailing and quoins. The roof is laid in Bangor blue slates in regular courses, with cast-iron rainwater goods.

The south-facing main elevation is symmetrical, comprising two storeys with one window to each side of a central entrance. The ground floor features ashlar sandstone detailing to the entrance arch and windows, with a platband at window-head level and a moulded eaves course. The windows are modern replacement rectangular timber fixed lights with top-hung vents; no original frames survive. The first-floor windows sit in smooth rendered reveals. The entrance is a rectangular opening surmounted by a semi-circular arch with blocky voussoirs and keystone.

The west elevation presents only the upper storey of the gable, the lower storey being embedded in the hillside or earth ramp. It contains a pair of rectangular timber doors beneath a semi-circular wooden trellis-work tympanum, all set in ashlar surrounds with a semi-circular red brick arch above. The doors are partly blocked with corrugated iron sheeting. Red brickwork appears at the gable apex, with ashlar sandstone quoins carrying short returns of the moulded sandstone cornices. Timber barge boards are present.

The north or rear elevation is two-storeys of stonework with slating and rainwater goods as the front, though damaged. The east elevation is two-storeys with an attic storey, extending from the right side. Rubble stonework rises to eaves level with sandstone quoins to the left; the attic gable is of exposed brickwork with rough cement rendered copings. A buttress of rubble stonework extends from the right side, incorporating a segmental arch at its base to span a small stream running along the rear. An unglazed rectangular opening exists in the gable apex; closed rectangular window openings appear on both main floors; and evidence of other rectangular openings, now walled up, is visible on the ground floor.

The area immediately in front of the building is hardstanding, with a similarly compacted driveway ascending the ramp to the west doorway. To the rear, ground is overgrown with shrubs and trees.

The building appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833–4, though its exact construction date is not formally recorded. It was built as part of the 18th-century development of the Killymoon estate and is of particular interest as a classically composed element of the estate and an integral part of its important demesne. Together with Killymoon Castle, its 18th-century outbuildings, and various other estate structures, it forms a significant group of buildings associated with a substantial family from an early date until the first part of the twentieth century. The building is of special industrial archaeological interest.