Flax Mill, opp 15 Turnavall Road, Rathfriland, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1LZ

Flax Mill, Turnavall Road, Rathfriland (formerly McMinn's Mill)

This is a mid-19th century former flax scutching mill, formerly known as McMinn's Mill, situated on the north side of the Turnavall Road opposite number 15. Although earlier buildings were present on the site before 1834, the majority of the surviving complex appears to have been erected between 1834 and 1860. The mill is of somewhat unusual design for a scutch mill and is of particular interest for the presence of a boiler house and chimney, which demonstrate the adoption of steam power as a more reliable prime mover alongside the original water power. The buildings are now derelict and contain no surviving machinery, though one section has recently been converted into a dwelling. The complex is of industrial archaeological interest.

The principal part of the complex is a one- and two-storey block aligned east to west along the north side of the road. In total, the site comprises eight distinct sections, described here from west to east.

Section 1: Two-storey, two-bay former water mill

This building has a hipped natural slate roof, though all slates are now gone. The walls are of squared rubble granite brought to courses. The principal elevation faces south and is three openings wide. At ground-floor level there is a central doorway into the right-hand bay with a loading door directly above it at first-floor level. There is a ground-floor window to the left bay and two ground-floor windows to the right bay, with corresponding windows at first-floor level; the window at upper right is a circular opening with brick trim. The west gable has an infilled window at ground-floor right. The rear (north) elevation is abutted at its right-hand half by a one-and-a-half-storey return, which is probably a later addition as suggested by wall breaks. The exposed left bay of the north elevation has a pedestrian entrance at ground-floor left and a wider door approached by an earthen ramp at first-floor right. The lean-to return has two infilled doors in its north face and an infilled first-floor window in its right cheek. Internally, a wide semi-elliptical brick archway passes through the party wall between the right-hand bay and its return. Directly below the first-floor door is the vestige of a former headrace channel that once served a waterwheel located in the right-hand (east) bay. The east gable has a doorway through to Section 2.

Section 2: One-storey, one-bay infill section

This section has a pitched natural slate roof, now sagging. Walls are of coursed and snecked granite blocks. Wall breaks in the south elevation confirm that this is a later addition inserted between Sections 1 and 3. The south elevation has a door at left. There are no other openings in any elevation apart from the opening in the party wall shared with Section 1.

Section 3: One-storey, one-bay former water mill

This section has a pitched natural slate roof and walls of coursed and snecked granite blocks. The absence of a wall break indicates that it is contemporary with Section 4 but earlier than Section 2. The south elevation has a door at right, and to the right of this is an infilled semi-elliptical brick archway. Neither gable has any openings. The rear (north) elevation is abutted by a one-storey block with a pitched natural slate roof aligned parallel to the main block, with no wall surviving at the junction between the two. The right cheek of this addition has been built up with concrete blockwork and may originally have been open. At the extreme left, a raised embankment of random rubble and earth carries an open water channel to the former internal waterwheel. A wrought-iron pipe has been laid in this channel and runs steeply through the back wall down into an internal turbine beneath the floor of this section.

Section 4: Two-storey, one-bay block associated with Section 3

This block is of similar design to Section 1 but narrower, with a pyramidal natural slate roof. The walls are harled over coursed and squared granite rubble. The south elevation has a central door and a wall window to each side, the heads of which extend part-way into the first-floor level but have been infilled with concrete blockwork. At first-floor level there is a central loading door flanked by a circular brick-trimmed opening on each side. The exposed section of the left (west) elevation is blank; there may formerly have been an opening in the party wall with Section 3, but this has been infilled. The rear (north) elevation is abutted by a one-and-a-half-storey lean-to. The north face of this addition has a door at ground-floor centre with an infilled window to each side, and a window at first-floor level in its left cheek. In the party wall between this addition and the main section is a wide semi-elliptical brick opening similar to that in Section 1. The right (east) side was formerly abutted by a later one-storey lean-to whose monopitched roof is now gone, and there is an infilled semi-elliptical arch in the party wall between them.

Section 5: One-storey, one-bay former boiler house

This late 19th century boiler house is situated at the east end of the complex and is aligned north to south. It has a natural slate roof, hipped at its north end, and random rubble granite walls, in part of squared blocks. The only openings are a wide doorway in the south gable and ventilation slits at wall-head height along the east side. Immediately to the east is an enclosed yard where large stone slabs suggest that a steam engine may have been mounted.

Section 6: Chimney

Just north of the boiler house stands a tapered, square-section brick chimney on a 2.2-metre-high square granite base with a projecting coping. The chimney survives to its full height, estimated at between 13.5 and 14 metres, and is finished with an oversailing stone coping. Each face of the shaft has a slender semicircular-headed recessed panel. A brick flue connects the base of the pedestal to the north gable of the boiler room.

Section 7: One-storey shed

Towards the south-west side of the complex is a one-storey random rubble shed aligned parallel to the road. It has no features of special interest.

Section 8: Scutcher's dwelling

This one-storey, two-bay house has a pitched natural slate roof, random rubble walls, and a brick chimney to each gable. It has no features of special interest.

Water infrastructure

Only a vestige of the former mill pond survives to the north. Both the headrace and tailrace have been infilled.

Historical background

The 1834 Ordnance Survey six-inch map records an 'old bleach mill' on this site, though the absence of a valuation entry and a note in the 1834 Ordnance Survey Memoir for Newry Parish that it had been "many years out of employment" confirm it was long disused by that date. By the 1860 map the site is captioned as a 'flax mill' and two water channels are shown, corresponding with those surviving today. The 1862 Valuation records the mill as operated by John Glenny with a relatively high valuation of £30. At that time the buildings comprised: (1) a flax mill measuring 24 by 30 feet, one storey, driven by an 18-foot-diameter by 4-foot-wide breast-shot waterwheel and containing eight stocks, corresponding to present Section 3; (2) a store measuring 24 by 36 feet, one storey, corresponding to Section 2; (3) a rolling house measuring 27 by 21 feet, one storey; (4) a foreman scutcher's house measuring 27 by 15 feet, one storey, corresponding to Section 8; (5) an old mill — probably the former bleach mill — measuring 48 by 21 feet, two storeys, containing a 14-foot-diameter by 2-foot-10-inch-wide overshot waterwheel and six stocks, corresponding to Section 1; and (6) a shed measuring 24 by 12 feet, one storey. A valuation entry dated 1864 notes that "12 stocks worked this season and would work the 14 stocks if he could get men."

Operations passed to Joseph and Andrew McMinn in 1886. By 1889 only six stocks were at work, and in the same year a steam mill makes its first recorded appearance, though it was vacant and appears to have remained so until 1906 when it was occupied by David Gamble. In that year Andrew McMinn is also listed as the sole operator of the water-powered flax mill. A chimney is shown on the 1903 Ordnance Survey map. A valuation entry of 1905 notes that the water mill had been idle for eight years but was once again in operation. The steam mill fell vacant again from 1911 before being put back to work by Andrew McMinn in 1918. The site is still captioned as a flax mill on the 1930 Ordnance Survey map, implying it remained in use at that date.