Corn Mill, Ballymagart Mill, Ballyardle Road, Kilkeel, Newry, Co. Down, BT34 4JX

Corn and Threshing Mill Complex at Ballymagart

This corn and threshing mill complex stands to the north of a kiln and is associated with other industrial buildings on the site. The ensemble comprises a three-storey single-bay corn mill on the left, a two-storey single-bay threshing mill on the right, and between them a large waterwheel.

Corn Mill

The corn mill has a pitched natural slate roof without rainwater goods. All walls are constructed of roughly squared granite rubble brought to courses, with ragged edges to the left and right gables. The edging to the left suggests an additional bay was planned but never commenced.

The principal elevation features a wide sliding corrugated metal door with a long one-piece granite lintel at ground floor centre. To its left and right are cast-iron framed windows set in openings formed by granite posts and lintels, with original wrought-iron security bars across them. Three openings to each upper floor are aligned with those at ground level. At first floor left is a single tongue-and-groove sheeted door with iron straps hanging below (for a wooden chute, now gone). The remaining openings are windows, each comprising 2x4 steel-framed casements with granite cills and brick dressings. Second floor windows follow the same pattern, with three examples. Four cast-iron wall plates are positioned between ground and first floor.

The left gable stonework matches the façade but incorporates brick stretcher courses between each floor. An infilled door opening exists at the centre of each floor. The rear wall has two openings to each floor (one at either end), with those at ground floor and first floor right infilled. The remaining openings feature metal framing as on the principal façade. The right gable contains only a hole for the axle and is otherwise blank.

Threshing Mill

The threshing mill has a pitched natural slate roof, though the rear portion has been replaced with corrugated iron. Walls are constructed of uncoursed granite rubble with a brick eaves course.

The principal elevation contains four brick-dressed openings to each floor. At ground floor, doorways occupy the left and right positions with two windows between them, each fitted with a cast-iron 4x3 pane fixed window. A loading door is positioned at first floor right, with three window openings above the ground floor windows to the left. The left gable is blank except for an opening to take the waterwheel axle, which has a relieving arch over it and a bull-nut axle. The rear elevation is entirely blank. The right gable has a single window at first floor centre. Ground level rises toward the rear.

Mill Wheel

The wheel is set between the gables of the two buildings, with a rubble wall to the rear but no front wall or roof. The rear wall is rubble and two storeys high, with earth banked up to first floor level externally. A doorway and a segmental-headed opening with a pipe from the millpond are located at first floor.

This is a high breastshot wheel measuring 7.38 metres (24 feet 3 inches) in diameter by 1.87 metres (6 feet 2 inches) wide. It features a cast-iron axle resting on granite blocks measuring 2 x 0.5 x 0.5 metres, cast-iron hubs, and 12 timber arms with diagonal wrought-iron braces. The cast-iron rim contains 48 curved iron buckets. A cast-iron segment wheel is affixed to the arms on the left (as viewed from the front), connecting to a small cast-iron bull-nut and axle serving the corn mill. A small section of curtain wall provides an opening into this gear area.

Water is taken from the Whitewater River at a sloping masonry weir erected just below the bridge on Newry Road. It is conveyed along a race to the mill pond immediately above the mill. The hub bears the inscription "Alexander McDonell 1837".