Rathturret farmyard, Rath Road, Warrenpoint, Newry, Co Down, BT34 3RX

Rathturret Farmyard

A 19th-century corn mill of well-constructed dressed granite with brick specials along eaves and roof and wall joins. The mill was erected by W.S. Richards in 1883, as confirmed by a datestone on the gable and first cited as a threshing mill under his name in the Valuation revision book entry of 1884. The farmyard is situated at the end of a lane south of Rath Road. The complex originally comprised several buildings, of which two remain: a medium-sized later 19th-century corn mill formerly known as Thompson's Mill, consisting of two sections connected by a short link block.

Building 1 is a two-storey, two-bay structure, slightly lower than Building 2. Walls are constructed of random rubble granite brought to courses, with stepped rock-faced granite quoins with tooled arrises and brick trim to all openings, also stepped. The pitched roof of natural slate features tiled verges and advanced chamfered brick eaves. A brick chimney formerly stood on the right gable but has been dismantled. The principal elevation faces west and contains four ground-floor openings: a beaded tongue-and-groove sheeted door into a single room; a fixed 4x2-paned window with granite cill; a door leading through to the mill proper; and a tongue-and-groove sheeted door into an infill room between the buildings. The first floor has a 1/1 sliding sash window. A single-storey monopitch canopy with natural slate roof extends the full width of this elevation, supported at each end by granite walls with tooled quoins and at centre by a cast-iron column. Half-round plastic gutters run beneath. The left (north) gable has a first-floor window at centre. Ground level rises from right to left. The rear (east) elevation has artificially raised ground, so only the first floor is visible; a beaded tongue-and-groove door and small 1/1 sash window are present. The right (south) gable is abutted by a short passage connecting the two buildings, which has skylights to each roof pitch and a raised louvred ventilator to its front pitch.

Building 2 formerly contained corn threshing and crushing equipment. It is of similar construction to Building 1 but features contemporary one-storey extensions to east and south. The main elevation faces west with five ground-floor openings: a segmental-headed window; a wide segmental-headed door with two tongue-and-groove sheeted leaves; a segmental-headed 7x4-pane window; a transomed two-leaf door; and another segmental-headed window with the top 7x2 panel replaced by a single pane. The first floor has a square window aligned with the third opening below and a loading door with the upper half now glazed in line with the fourth opening. The left (north) gable has been artificially raised so that the first floor is directly accessible from outside, meaning the ground floor is buried. A tall and wide double-leaf tongue-and-groove barn door leads into the threshing section; a segmental brick relieving arch over a flat timber lintel has a keystone inscribed "WSR/ 1883", the initials of W.S. Richards. The rear (east) elevation, not cut into the slope, is abutted by a one-storey extension with a roof continuing from the two-storey section. Four openings are present: a beaded tongue-and-groove door; a louvred opening; another door; and another louvred opening. The right (south) gable is abutted by a one-storey extension to its middle and right. The exposed section of the main block at left has two small rectangular openings with rusticated granite lintels and a sheeted timber door to their right. The extension has doorways and large window openings at each end. At first-floor left on the main block is a loading door with a finely dressed granite cill that also forms the head of the ground-floor door directly below. Above the extension is a segmental-headed opening with granite cill.

The mill was served by a millpond to the north on the west side of the approach lane. A feed pipe remains visible at the base of the middle of the dam, with an overspill channel at the east end. The mill building is now in use as kennels and is of industrial archaeological interest. The detailed construction and dating inscriptions remain well-preserved, though the site as a whole has been substantially altered by ground level changes and building demolition.