Former mill complex, near 27 Bannfield Rd, Rathfriland, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5HG

Former Mill Complex near Bannfield Road, Rathfriland

A substantial mill complex on the north side of Bannfield Road, comprising four distinct elements arranged around a working yard. Although the tapered octagonal brick chimney survives to its full height of approximately 15 to 20 metres and forms a distinctive local landmark, the remaining buildings are judged to be of insufficient architectural or technical interest to warrant listing.

The main block is a two-storey structure aligned east-west parallel with the road, with a pitched roof of natural slate punctuated by five skylights on the front elevation, and pressed metal roofing to the rear (missing at the right-hand end). Semicircular plastic gutters run around the eaves. The walls are constructed of random rubble granite brought to courses with a projecting brick eaves course. The road facade has been substantially altered, with tall modern door openings at each end (built with concrete heads and concrete block jambs), three small doors, and five infilled windows at ground floor level. A photograph from 1972 records that the insertion of these large doors destroyed eight original windows. The first floor contains two loading doors and two windows. The west gable preserves a large original doorway with a semi-elliptical head. The rear elevation, partly obscured where it is abutted by the return block to the right, shows traces of two infilled doors and two infilled windows. The right gable has a loading door at first floor level.

A one-storey return block projects at the rear left of the main building, with walls and roof of similar construction, although this section is finished entirely in natural slate. The junction between the main block and return suggests that the return may have been added later or tied in during a subsequent phase of work. A large entrance opens from the south end of the west facade, whilst the north gable has a smaller entrance with a window above. Two ventilation slits run along the base of the east facade, which is abutted towards its left by the secondary block.

Behind and parallel to the main block stands a one-storey secondary block, roof covered in pitched natural slate over common rafters, though mostly deteriorated. The walls are random rubble brought to courses, with part of the structure showing collapse. Four door openings and one window occupy the north wall. The east gable contains two bearing housings, indicating the presence of internal machinery. The south facade has various infilled openings giving onto a passage behind the main block.

The chimney is a tapered octagonal structure of brick, rising to full height, with quoins of engineering brick. It stands on a masonry octagonal pedestal above a square base, and is finished with a projecting cornice.

The mill does not appear on the Ordnance Survey map of 1859 or in the second Valuation of approximately 1861. It first appears in the Valuation Revision Book of 1868, when it belonged to Robert Waterson and was valued at £39 10s. 0d. The valuation records that it comprised two sections measuring 27 yards by 6 yards by 1.25 storeys and 15 yards by 4 yards to the first storey, and was designed for 14 stocks, although only 13 were then operational. The machinery was driven by a 15 horsepower steam engine. The mill passed to David Waterson in 1879. By the 1893 valuation it was recorded as vacant, at which time it contained 14 stocks and a set of rollers. The establishment of this mill reflects the upsurge in flax scutching during the 1860s consequent upon the American Civil War, making it of industrial archaeological interest despite the limited architectural merit of its surviving structures.