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

Ballymagart Mill is a substantial vernacular house of late 18th century date, probably erected by 1789 or shortly thereafter, with mid-19th century additions. It stands in an attractive rural setting as part of a significant group of industrial buildings.

The main house is two storeys with three bays, aligned north-south, with a two-storey annexe to the right. It has a pitched natural slate roof with brick chimneys to both gables. The walls are wet-dashed and painted with projecting eaves course, and the building is fitted with half-round cast iron rainwater goods and downpipe to the right.

The west elevation is the principal front. The main entrance is in the second bay from the left, consisting of a vertical tongued-and-grooved sheeted door, diagonally sheeted internally and apparently original, with a cast iron knocker. It sits within a gabled timber porch with pitched slated roof, turned finial and decorative bargeboard. The porch opening is flanked by diagonal tongued-and-grooved sheeting to dado level and timber latticework above, with a pair of fretted timber corbels rising from the opening reveals to support the timber lintel. The left bay has a single window and the right has two; all are 6/6 exposed box sliding sash windows with painted granite cills. Four similar windows light the first floor in line with the ground floor openings. The left gable has a ground-floor door abutted by a single-storey stained timber lean-to conservatory with a door on its left cheek. At first-floor left is a 2/2 sliding sash window.

The rear elevation has a single-storey porch at centre. To its left are two 2/2 sash windows serving the kitchen, and to its right are two similar windows serving the rear corridor. A 6/6 sash half-landing light sits to the right of the porch. The first floor has three 2/2 sash windows positioned above the ground floor left window, above the porch, and above the right window. The porch has a pitched natural slate roof and painted dashed walls, with a 1/1 sliding sash on its right cheek and a multi-paned painted modern timber door on its left cheek.

The right gable is abutted by the lower annexe, whose exposed wall is rendered and blank. The annexe has a pitched natural slate roof with two cast iron skylights on its rear pitch. Its walls match the main house but feature three courses of painted brick at eaves level, with the middle course set skew. Small four-paned casements light the front and rear walls, and a tongued-and-grooved sheeted door opens to the rear. The right gable has a pair of vertical sheeted timber top-hung sliding doors with French windows inset behind. Centred above is a pair of four-paned French windows opening onto a cantilevered balconette with modern wrought metal rail.

To the rear are outhouses enclosing a yard on two sides, all with natural slated roofs and painted dashed walls. The east block is single storey with an open central section. The north block comprises a two-storey barn to the right and single-storey stores to the left.

To the south and south-east of the house are small vernacular dwellings, both single storey with pitched natural roofs and painted dashed walls. The southern dwelling is two bays with single sliding sash windows to each bay and a tongued-and-grooved sheeted door to the right of centre. The south-eastern dwelling is three bays with a tongued-and-grooved sheeted door in the right bay and top-hung casements following the glazing pattern of original sashes. The fields surrounding the site have traditional flat-iron gates between circular stone piers with conical pebble-topped copings.

The site was leased in 1789 to James and Christopher Marmion, linen drapers, and the house was probably extant by or shortly after this time. According to legend, Wolfe Tone visited in 1798, though investigation has revealed this claim to be without foundation. The house and associated paper mill are depicted on the 1834 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map. The 1834 Valuation records it as belonging to Alexander McDonald, a Newry merchant, leased to George Nesbitt, with dimensions of 20 feet by 22 feet 6 inches by 16 feet. Alexander had married the daughter of the son of one of the Marmions. The house was substantially enlarged lengthways in the mid-19th century; by the 1861 Valuation its dimensions were recorded as 40 feet by 22 feet, two storeys, with a store of similar size. By this date the paper mill had ceased operation and been superseded by corn and flax mills. The other houses in the vicinity were then occupied by the miller and flax scutchers.