Drumlough Corn Mill, opp. 9 Longstone Hill, Rathfriland, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5BT

Drumlough Corn Mill

A substantial mid-19th century complex comprising a water-powered corn mill, drying kiln, workers' houses, and a 20th century engine house, now derelict and devoid of machinery.

The corn mill is the main structure, a three-storey building of a single bay internally with a natural slate roof hipped to the east and half-hipped to the west. It is constructed of coursed and roughly squared rubble granite walls with projecting brick eaves and brick dressings to the openings. The main entrance is at ground floor level towards the west end of the north (road) elevation, with a loading door directly above. The building is cut into the slope so that the first floor is accessible from ground level at the east end.

To the left half of the north elevation at ground and first floor level is a one-storey shed with a monopitched corrugated asbestos roof and rendered concrete block walls, formerly containing a diesel engine. A slit opening in its left cheek carried a belt drive to the hammer mill. At the east gable, a one-storey building abutts the mill at first floor level, also with a pitched corrugated metal roof and rendered concrete block walls, which formerly contained a hammer mill with a large entrance door in its east gable. At the west end of the south elevation is an external waterwheel pit in which a turbine was subsequently installed. The west gable is abutted at ground floor level by a one-storey lean-to seed house with random rubble walls and no roof.

Immediately east of the mill is a block containing the kiln to the west and two one-storey dwellings to the east. The kiln is two storeys and two bays with a pitched natural slate roof and random rubble walls brought to courses, with advanced brick eaves and brick chimneys at both ends. The north (road) elevation is accessed at first floor level by an earthen ramp on the left, with two small windows at first floor level on the right serving the drying floor. The east gable is abutted at first floor level by a range containing two very ruinous single-storey, two-bay workers' houses, now roofless. The south (rear) elevation of the kiln has a large entrance door at ground floor level on the right and two small windows at first floor level on the left serving the drying floor. The west gable is abutted by a single-storey lean-to with a ruinous monopitch natural slate roof, accessed by an entrance on the west face and small windows in each cheek, leading through a segmental brick-headed opening in the kiln gable to the firehole.

Additional workers' accommodation comprises a small single-storey, two-bay dwelling on the river bank to the south of the mill and a pair of semi-detached dwellings to the north of the road, all now derelict.

Historical Context

A corn mill is recorded at Drumlough in leases dated 1711 and 1762. The 1833 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map shows both a corn mill and kiln at this location. According to the first valuation book of 1835, they were owned by Walter Woods, with dimensions recorded as: corn mill 36 feet 6 inches by 22 feet 6 inches by 7 feet; kiln 38 feet by 20 feet 6 inches by 7 feet (both described as one storey). The second valuation book of circa 1862 states that the mill was rebuilt in 1851. A plaque reportedly set into the front wall reads "Drumlough Mill. W. Woods, owner, 1854" (though 1851 may have been mistaken for 1854). The mill then contained three pairs of stones, of which only two worked simultaneously, as well as fans, sifters, and elevators. The second valuation book records William Woods as the owner, with revised dimensions: corn mill 34 feet by 22 feet by 3 storeys; kiln 39 feet by 21 feet by 1 storey. The similarity of footprint dimensions suggests that the original buildings were incorporated into the new, taller structures.

William Woods also owned the nearby flax mill. Operations passed to B.B. Meek around 1877 and to Alexander McCauley about 1906, from whose family the mill derives its present name. The engine house was probably added in the 1940s.