Former flax mill complex, Shrigley Road, Shrigley, Tullveery, Killyleagh, Co. Down, BT30 9SR

A large industrial complex set within the small village of Shrigley, less than a mile north-west of Killyleagh in County Down. Now derelict and in an advanced state of decay, this site began as a cotton spinning factory before being converted to flax milling and later to leather tanning.

History

The site was originally home to a cotton spinning mill built in 1824 by John Martin of Belfast. At the time, the mill was considered one of the largest in both Ireland and Scotland, consisting of a six-storey building measuring 132 feet by 46 feet with machinery driven partly by water and partly by steam. By 1836 factory inspectors reported that the mill had the largest number of power looms in Ireland. The enterprise generated considerable employment: in 1837 the Ordnance Survey memoir writers noted that 350 people were employed by Martin, and that it was "probably owing to the number of persons that find employment at the factory that there are so few vagrants about Killyleagh". By the late 1830s this thriving settlement had grown into the small village of Shrigley, a name reflecting close trading connections with Manchester, the centre of the British cotton industry.

In 1845 an accidental fire destroyed most of the mill. Martin responded by building a new factory on the site, this time for the spinning of flax, an industry which had begun to replace cotton throughout Ireland. Like its predecessor, this mill also thrived. In 1871 a grateful workforce erected a monument to Martin just to the north of the mill gates. Martin himself died in 1876. The flax spinning mill closed in 1930, and the complex lay idle until 1939 when it was taken over by a group of refugees from mainland Europe who converted it to a leather tanning and dyeing factory. The United Chrometanners remained in business at Shrigley until the 1970s.

Architecture

The most prominent surviving element is a large five-storey rectangular block positioned towards the north-east of the site, with its roof hidden behind a parapet. This building has various offshoots and is attached to smaller two-storey structures on all sides, with a five-storey extension at the north corner. Its cement-rendered façade features multiple windows to each floor, many of which are now badly dilapidated with modern frames or lack frames entirely.

Attached to the south-west façade of this main building is a smaller two-storey L-shaped structure with a flat roof and rubble façade, featuring brick dressings to openings, rendered brick quoins and rendered parapet. Window openings at both floors display a mixture of badly dilapidated sash windows and more modern frames, whilst others have been filled in with breeze block or lost their frames altogether.

To the north of the main five-storey building stands a three-storey block whose cement-rendered façade largely replicates the larger building. Attached to the north-west is a two-storey structure with a rubble façade and brick dressings to openings, facing into a narrow courtyard formed between it and the five-storey building. At the south-west end of the courtyard is a gateway in rubble with an elliptical arch dressed with rendered brick.

Set on a hill to the north of the complex stands a tall square-plan brick chimney with a rendered base.

Later Alterations and Current State

During the period of tanning factory use from 1939 onwards, the face of the complex was greatly altered, with older buildings modernised and adapted and new extensions added. Some older structures, including gate lodges and house groupings clustered around the original entrance to the north (some of which may have dated from the 1820s), were demolished. The main entrance was shifted to the west, opening onto Shrigley Road. Large modern warehouses and offices, mainly single-storey, have been added to the site.

Between 1968 and 1972 all of the former mill workers' houses were demolished and a new modern estate built further to the west. Many of the buildings on the site are now merely shells. Some modern buildings to the west of the former mill remain occupied by several businesses, but much of the complex lies abandoned and derelict. All surviving buildings were completely renovated and extended in the mid-20th century and now appear largely bland and modern.