1B Upper Edward Street, Newry, Co Down, BT35 6AX

1B Upper Edward Street, Newry

An imposing later 19th century flax spinning mill with high streetscape value and industrial heritage interest. Its construction is typical of later 19th century steam-powered spinning mills, particularly its partly-braced jack arch ceilings.

The building is a two-storey industrial structure, 24 bays wide and 4 bays deep, fronting the north side of Upper Edward Street. It has a flat reinforced concrete roof with a shallow coped parapet. The walls are of random rubble granite, snecked and brought to courses, with stepped quoins and parapet copings of finely dressed granite blocks. All openings have stepped red brick jambs and shallow segmental brick heads unless otherwise stated.

The principal south-facing façade contains 24 openings, each corresponding to an internal bay. The wall is slightly heightened on the first two bays at the left. There are five doors: in the third bay a painted metal sliding door with a small brick-trimmed opening over it (now infilled) lighting a half-landing of the internal stairway, with jambs partly rendered in cement; in the fifth bay a painted plywood door with infilled transom light and cement-rendered surround, possibly originally a window, leading to ground floor only; filling the seventh and eighth bays a modern roller shutter door with what appears to be an original concrete head; in the thirteenth bay a metal-sheeted door leading to a stairway to the first floor with a small light over to the stairwell half-landing now obscured by a modern sign; and in the fourteenth and fifteenth bays a door as in the third bay. The remaining openings are timber-framed windows with painted granite cills, externally fitted with modern metal grilles and internally fitted with older security bars. Most windows have eight panes (2x4), with the four upper ones opening; in some cases the top section has been replaced with a two-paned opener. First floor openings contain identical windows in line with those at ground floor but with unpainted cills. Two strips of metal across the frontage mark where a fascia board was formerly attached. Electric street lights are cantilevered from the wall head between bays two and three, and between bays 13 and 14. A metal sign is positioned over the door on bay 13, with a projecting sign above and to its right. An Ordnance Survey benchmark is marked at the extreme bottom right.

The right gable is four openings wide (two per internal bay). Four windows at ground floor have unpainted cills. At first floor right is a painted sheeted double-leaf loading door with rendered jambs and head. To its left are three windows in line with those below, all matching the front façade pattern. Between the heads of the middle two windows is a brick-trimmed circular window. Most of the parapet coping has disappeared on this side. A circular plastic or metal rainwater pipe runs down the wall immediately to the left of this opening.

The rear façade is abutted from much of its length at the left by a one-storey extension. A brick stairwell on the sixth bay from the left is enveloped by this extension. At first floor there is a loading door approximately central and a second near the right-hand end. Metal wall washers are positioned between the first floor window heads. Those sections of wall not abutted have windows as on the front. The extension has a monopitch roof on its left section and a flat roof to the right, with cement-rendered walls without openings.

The left gable is abutted by a single-storey extension. There are four windows to the first floor matching the main façade pattern. The extension has a corrugated asbestos-cement monopitch roof and rendered walls, with a painted façade and parapet at street frontage in line with the main block. A modern metal sign is positioned at first floor right. Behind the mill is an office block, now entirely refurbished both outside and in.

The building first appears in the 1865 valuation revision book as a "spinning mill (unfinished)" belonging to Abraham Wilson, valued at £130. The 1872 valuation entry notes that the building contract was for £1700 with £200 worth of extras. At that time it contained 20 old spinning frames and 8 new frames, and the entry records "one storey added to the building". Although its valuation increased by only £9 during this year, it rose to £212 in 1875, possibly reflecting completion of the additional storey. The 1873 valuation map captions the site as "flax spinning factory" and shows a long range of buildings bounding the north and east sides of the premises and a chimney on the west side, all now gone, indicating that the mill was steam-powered.

By 1887, building work appears to have been completed, and the valuation increased from £212 to £270. An additional office block in the yard behind the mill is also shown on the valuation map at this time. The complex is described in the 1887 valuation as "hackling mill and lofts", measuring 30 yards by 13 yards by 3 storeys, suggesting that only the initial processing of scutched flax was carried out here, perhaps as far as the roving stage, rather than production of the finished yarn. The valuation increased to £278 10s 0d in 1898, reflecting completion of a new felt-roofed store. Although the 1903 Ordnance Survey map cites the complex as a "weaving mill", it is still noted as a spinning mill in the valuation books. The complex was reduced in value to £212 in 1927, possibly reflecting the loss of the mill's top floor.