Flax mill, Beside 50 Leitrim Rd, Castlewellan, Co Down, BT31 9BD

This steam-powered scutching mill was erected in the early 1870s during the flax growing boom in Ulster triggered by the American Civil War. Although locally significant and representative of infrastructure development in the district, insufficient fabric and architectural detail survive to merit listing.

The Complex

The mill complex comprises four main structures: the flax mill, engine and boiler house, flax store, and chimney. The site is accessed down a lane off McCartan's Road and is now used for agricultural purposes, surrounded by fields with modern outbuildings to the west and north and the owner's modern bungalow to the east.

Flax Mill

The main mill is a two-storey, single-bay building aligned northeast to southwest at the west end of the site. It has a replacement corrugated metal roof with metal rainwater goods. The walls are cement-rendered random rubble and brick with square-headed window openings and shallow concrete cills. The principal northwest elevation features two doors on the ground floor and three windows on the first floor. The northeast gable is blank, and a concrete buttress has been added for stability. The southeast elevation has two doors on the ground floor and two windows on the first floor. For most of its length the building is abutted by a modern single-storey annex. The southwest gable is abutted by the engine and boiler house, with a ground floor doorway in the party wall.

Engine and Boiler House

This two-storey, single-bay building abuts the southwest gable of the mill at right angles. It has a monopitched replacement corrugated metal roof without rainwater goods. The walls are rendered random rubble with three infilled first floor windows on the southwest elevation, a large doorway on the southeast gable, and a first floor doorway on the northeast elevation.

Flax Store

A large detached two-storey, single-bay building aligned northwest to southeast at the south end of the complex. It has a pitched replacement corrugated metal roof with raised cement verges and metal rainwater goods. The walls are unrendered random rubble with granite quoins. The southeast gable features a large sliding metal door. The southwest elevation is devoid of openings. The northeast elevation is blank except for a ground floor doorway, now infilled. A small monopitched building formerly abutted the northwest gable but is now gone.

Chimney

A detached chimney stands just beyond the southwest side of the flax store. It has a square rubble granite base with dressed quoins and cornice. An opening at the base of the northwest elevation is infilled. The chimney was formerly surmounted by a tapered brick flue, of which only one course now survives.

Historical Record

The mill is first cited in the 1872 Valuation book under the ownership of Michael McCartan, not appearing on the 1859 map. The 1901 Ordnance Survey map identifies it as a flax mill. Ownership passed to Owen McCartan in 1901, then successively to Richard McCartan (1914), Brendan McAnulty (1915), and Mary McAnulty (1916). The 1913 Valuation note book describes the premises as a scutch mill and stores with dimensions of 73 feet by 23 feet by 18 feet. It was driven by a 36 horsepower engine and worked an average of six months per year, though the number of scutching stocks is not documented. The 1919 Ordnance Survey map also cites it as a flax mill. Operations had ceased by 1935.