Former Mill Building, Miller's House, Wellbrook Road, Cookstown, Co Tyrone, BT80 9NE

Former Mill Building, Wellbrook, Cookstown, County Tyrone

This is a detached single-storey former mill building, constructed in the later part of the 19th century, most probably between 1860 and 1879. It is a well-preserved and increasingly rare example of a utilitarian industrial building, notable above all for its early Belfast Truss roof — a barrel-vaulted timber bowstring structure that gives the building considerably more architectural presence than most buildings of this type. Although the original roof coverings and window frames have been replaced, they have been replaced in keeping with the character of the building, and it is otherwise in largely original condition.

The building is long and rectangular in plan. Its distinctive curved roof is covered in corrugated metal, and the eaves are finished with timber barge boards that terminate in a simple flat scroll at each end. Rainwater goods are replacement uPVC. The external walls are rubble stone with brick dressings to all openings.

The front (west) elevation is gable-ended and faces onto a yard. It features two round-headed windows, which are currently boarded up, and a roundel set at high level in the centre of the gable. All openings have brick surrounds. The side (south) elevation is four bays wide and contains, from left to right: a square-headed window opening, a large square-headed door opening, a further square-headed window, and a large square-headed door. The windows are fitted with louvred vent coverings, and the door openings have painted corrugated metal doors. A grain silo is located to the far right of the south elevation, raised on a brick base with concrete block steps. The rear (east) and side (north) elevations are obscured by foliage growing to the boundary and are not visible.

The Belfast Truss

The Belfast truss was developed in the mid-19th century in response to the industrial revolution's demand for efficient, lightweight, long-span roof structures. The first known reference to a curved wooden felted roof structure supported by bowstring girders appears in an advertisement in the Dublin Builder of 1866, placed by the Belfast felt-making firm McTear & Co., who continued producing trusses until they went out of business in 1908. A second Belfast felt supplier, Anderson & Co., began producing trusses to a slightly different design in 1886, and in 1896 launched their Mark II version, promoted as maximising long spans while maintaining light weight. This model was subsequently adopted by other companies. The term "Belfast truss" is used broadly to refer to all timber bowstring trusses in which the internal bracing members meet not on the bottom chord of the truss, as was conventional, but on the top curved member. The truss was a somewhat short-lived but elegant and economical structural solution.

Historical Context

The history of the Wellbrook site begins in 1764–65, when Hugh and Samuel Faulkner acquired land in the area and established a bleach yard. Samuel Faulkner initiated the construction of a dwelling house on the site in 1767, though it was not completed until 1779. The Faulkners did not prosper at Wellbrook and vacated the house in 1794, moving to Castletown in County Carlow.

The Ordnance Survey map of 1833–34 shows the house much as it survives today, along with a large L-shaped outbuilding to its immediate west (which at that date extended further to the south), a shorter block to the north-west bearing a datestone of 1764, the mill itself set to the south on the edge of a large bleach green, and a small gate lodge to the north at the head of the drive. Contemporary valuation records describe various structures including the house, a bleach office, and other outbuildings, some of them thatched. The bleach mill is recorded as a bleaching mill concern with constant water power driving three wheels valued at £3 each. The gate house is also noted, together with a thatched outbuilding, and the rateable value of the whole site is recorded as £43 6s 0d.

By 1858 the house had fallen into a bad state, with the bleach mill and offices going to ruin. In 1860 the site was leased to a Samuel Bryson, who appears to have repaired and reopened the mill — the rateable valuation rising to £50, an increase of £30 on the figure recorded two years previously. In 1864 the lease was sold to James Leeper, head of the Cookstown weaving firm of John Gunning & Co. Leeper likely added new structures and converted existing ones around this time: by 1864 the valuers record two beetling mills and two scutch mills, rated at £45 between them. Evidence from later maps and on-site investigation indicates that one of the beetling mills was contained within the outbuildings to the rear of the house, while one of the new structures was located to the south-east of the original mill.

In 1877 Leeper let the mills to Hugh Adair of Greenvale. By the following year they had reverted directly to Leeper, at which point only two beetling mills are recorded, each rated at £12. James Leeper was succeeded by William Leeper, who later acquired the freehold from the Drum Manor estate. It is probable that William Leeper added the Belfast Truss-roofed outbuilding within a few years of taking up residence, though the valuation records appear to make no reference to it. By 1947 a saw mill is noted by the valuers, and one of the beetling mills to the south-east appears to have remained in use until at least 1956. In 1959 the house and mills were sold to Mr Samuel John Henderson of Coleraine, and a J. A. Magee is recorded as owner in 1971.

Setting

The former mill building is situated approximately 100 metres to the south-east of the Miller's House. A large concrete yard lies to the south, and a number of outbuildings and sheds surround the former mill. To the rear east of the building runs a deep drainage channel known locally as a shuck, which runs south to join the Mill Race and the Ballinderry River. The building forms part of the wider Wellbrook Mill cluster and is reached via a long lane leading off Orritor Road to the north. This access lane leads to a curved double entrance drive with a round garden at its centre, from the south of which a short lane leads to the former mill. The surroundings are extensively landscaped with mature trees.