The Flax Mill, Mary Brook, 11 Raleagh Road, Drummaconagher, Crossgar, Downpatrick, Co. Down, BT30 9JG

The Flax Mill, Mary Brook

The Flax Mill forms part of an extensive and largely complete small-scale rural milling complex in the Georgian vernacular tradition, dating from the 18th and early 19th centuries. The complex as a whole includes water-powered two-storey corn and flax mills and a single-storey stable block — all probably mid to late 18th century in origin — together with a two-storey miller's house of 1837 and subsidiary structures including a small cottage and storehouse of around the 1840s. The whole grouping is picturesquely set at the end of a lane to the west of Raleagh Road, roughly two and a half miles east of Ballynahinch, with the Ballynahinch River immediately to the west and a mill pond to the south.

The entire complex presents a uniform, semi-vernacular appearance: harled and whitewashed facades, slated roofs, Georgian-paned sash windows, and timber sheeted doors, complemented by an abundance of traditional wrought iron farm gates, stone walling, and simple gate pillars. To the rear of the house are large two-storey and single-storey wings, a section of which appears to have originally served as a barn. The grouping was abandoned in the 1950s and lay largely derelict until the early 1970s, when it was acquired and restored, with the corn mill operating until the late 1990s.

The Flax Mill

The flax mill occupies the north-west corner of the complex. It is a long, two-storey gabled building set on a slope, so that when viewed from the south it appears largely single storey. The facade is partly harled and partly unrendered rubble, but the whole is whitewashed. The gabled roof is slated. There are two timber ventilation turrets on the south side of the roof and cast iron rainwater goods throughout. The mill race flows under the east end of the building.

The mill is entered from the single-storey south elevation. To the right of this elevation there is a large vehicle doorway with timber sheeted double doors, partly set within a gable. The gable contains a semicircular fanlight with petal tracery, which appears somewhat out of place in an industrial building. To the far left the ground level drops, where the mill race runs through the side of the building. Immediately to the left of the mill race opening — set at a lower level than the other openings on this facade — there is a doorway without a door, and directly above it at upper level a small timber sheeted window opening. Immediately to the right of the mill race opening the ground rises sharply and the facade returns to single storey. At this point there is a butter churning device sitting beneath a large lean-to-style hood, powered by the water wheel. Immediately to the left of this device is a timber sheeted door, with a small timber sheeted window opening immediately to its right.

On the east gable there is a six-over-six sash window.

To the north the ground level is much lower, so that much of the facade reads as two storey. To the far left, where the ground is higher and the facade is single storey, there is a large timber sheeted double door set within a gable, similar to that on the right of the south facade. At the centre of the north facade at ground level there is a large segmental archway with brick dressings to the arch head. Directly above this at upper level are three timber sheeted loft doors and three smaller timber sheeted openings. To the right of the large archway at ground level there are two timber sheeted doors followed by two windows with metal sheeting over; the first of these windows is considerably larger than the second. At first floor level to the right there is a small window with a four-pane frame and louvering below. The west gable of the flax mill, which faces onto the Ballynahinch River, appears to be blank.

Historical Background

The corn mill (excluding a smaller later projection to the north), the flax mill, and the stable are all shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and recorded in the valuation returns of 1836. The valuers graded these buildings at between B+ and B-, indicating that most were believed to be at least twenty years old at that point — consistent with a mid to late 18th century date of construction. At that time the miller's residence was a long single-storey dwelling on the site of the present house, which the valuers considered possibly the oldest structure on the site, perhaps dating from the early to mid 18th century. In 1837 the present two-storey dwelling was built, possibly incorporating some fabric from the earlier house. The storehouse to the north of the flax mill and several other buildings were added around the same time, all of which appear on the revised Ordnance Survey map of 1858.

The valuation of 1861 records the house and mill as being in the possession of Christiana Silcock, who leased them from Alexander John and Robert Stewart Esquire. The buildings recorded at that time include: the house measuring 14½ yards by 5 by 2 storeys with a return of 6 by 5 by 2 storeys; offices of various dimensions; a slated store; a slated shed; a second scutch mill (slated); a shed store wing; and a pig house. The house was graded 'A' with all other buildings graded 'B', suggesting these were largely the same structures listed in the 1836 valuation. The valuers also noted a barn on loft; a flax mill on basement containing three stocks with rollers; a breast water wheel of 14 feet with buckets of 4 feet, which worked briskly four months in the year; and four stocks and a set of rollers. For the corn mill, they recorded three pairs of stones — for shelling, grinding, and hard corn — and one stone for dressing pearl barley, powered by an 18-foot breast shot wheel with 5-foot buckets, likewise working briskly four months in the year.

The Silcock family are believed to have acquired Mary Brook around 1790 to 1800 from a family named Traill. The Traill connection with the area dates to 1647, when James Traill, an officer in the Parliamentary army, was granted the townland of Drumnaconagher. His grandson, also named James, is believed to have been the first to settle within the townland, building a house there in 1721. Walter Harris, writing in his Ancient and Present State of the County of Down in 1744, refers to this house — then occupied by James's son, Hamilton Traill — as "Marybrook, seated on a rising ground near a small lake… two miles SSE of Ballynahinch." This description appears puzzling at first, since the present Mary Brook does not sit on obviously rising ground, is not near a small lake, and lies closer to three miles east of Ballynahinch rather than south-south-east. However, the considerable drop in ground level to the north of the flax mill — which may have been more pronounced in the mid 18th century — could account for the reference to rising ground, and the small lake may simply refer to a mill pond or flood plain associated with the nearby river. The discrepancy in mileage is likely explained by Harris's use of the longer Irish mile, then in common use, while the anomalous compass direction is consistent with the inaccurate mapping of the period: a contemporary map entitled A New and Correct Map of Ye County of Down, apparently produced to accompany Harris's book, places locations that are almost directly east of Ballynahinch, such as Kilmore, considerably further south.

At its height in the late 19th century, the Mary Brook complex employed around 150 people, engaged not only in corn and flax milling but also in a small hemstitching factory. The hemstitching factory closed around 1900, with the flax mill ceasing production shortly afterwards. The corn mill continued in full-time use until after the First World War, with production coming to a halt by the 1930s. The Silcock family continued to reside at Mary Brook until the early 1950s, after which the site was abandoned and fell into decay. In the early 1970s the complex was acquired by Mr Lewis-Crosby, a senior figure within the National Trust, who restored the buildings and brought the corn mill back into working use. The present owner acquired the complex in 1998.

The flax mill is considered of special interest both as an important constituent part of this complex and in its own right as a very well-preserved example of this building type. The preservation and character of the group as a whole is considered to be of national interest, and the rarity of such an intact grouping is also particularly noteworthy.