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

Belgian Flax Mill

Ballymagart Mill is a two-storey, four-bay Belgian flax mill aligned north to south, located west of an earlier complex of mill buildings. The building was erected by the Nicholson family in the 1940s to augment the nearby water-powered flax mill, and comes at the end of an evolutionary sequence of industrial buildings commencing in the late 18th century. This design was specified by the government as part of the war effort. The mill closed in the 1950s. Only a handful of this type were ever constructed, making this a rare surviving example of considerable industrial archaeological interest.

The pitched corrugated asbestos roof is in two sections, with the roof over the left bay (occupying half the building) raised slightly higher. Both sections feature single asbestos ventilation flues in the ridge. All walls are smooth rendered over concrete block or brickwork.

The west-facing front elevation has the left bay advanced slightly, with three 2x6 paned metal casement windows to each floor and rendered cills. The advanced right cheek of this bay contains a 2x5 paned metal casement at first floor level. The remaining bays diminish in width from left to right. The second bay from left has a tongue-and-groove sheeted painted timber door to the centre with a 5x2 paned transom above, and windows to either side on both floors. The third bay has a painted timber tongue-and-groove sheeted door to ground floor with a 3x5 paned casement window at first floor. The fourth bay has a pair of tongue-and-groove sheeted doors with a 5x2 paned transom and a tongue-and-groove sheeted door to first floor. A free-standing concrete stair rises from the right of the door on the second bay to the first floor of the fourth bay, forming a porch over the door on the third bay, with the fourth bay door set into its outer cheek. The left gable features a large pair of tongue-and-groove sheeted shed doors to ground floor centre, with a 3x3 paned metal casement window above.

The rear elevation shows the left bay with a 3x7 paned metal casement to ground floor left and a 3x5 paned casement in line above. The second bay from left has a narrow single-storey return with flat rendered roof and blank walls, with a sheet metal vent on the left cheek obscuring a 2x7 paned casement 1.5 metres above ground. The third bay has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door with a 5x2 paned casement over to the left and a single 3x5 window in line above. The fourth bay has three 2x6 paned metal casements with rendered cills to ground floor and two similar windows to left and right above, with a loading doorway (door missing) between the latter and a metal ladder attached to the wall at the right-hand side. The right gable contains a 3x7 paned metal casement to ground floor left and a 3x5 paned casement to first floor centre.

A few metres from the south-east corner stands a single-storey toilet building with an overhanging concrete roof and screen walls to the front. It has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door and a small metal casement to the left cheek, with a painted metal water tank mounted on the roof.

Although the general condition is deteriorating with some broken windows and much rust to frames, the mill forms part of a larger complex of industrial buildings in an attractive rural setting.