Country House Tour in Northern Ireland

On Sunday we had planned to visit the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra, a mere 20 minute train ride.  The morning was wet so we spent that in the excellent Transport Museum before taking the shuttle bus to the Folk Museum.  Like open-air museums such as Weald & Downland, this is composed of relocated buildings from all over Northern Ireland and has a “village” and rural exhibits, three of which are mills.

Straid Corn Mill:  The site map describes this mill as “currently closed” – it looked like it had been neglected for some years.  The large wheel and leat were covered in vegetation so we didn’t bother trying to take any photos.  The mill, consisting of several stone, slated, single, and 2-storey buildings, comes from Straid near Ballymena in Co Tyrone.  It was part of a large farm complex which also had two scutch mills.  A mill had been on the site since 1785 but was rebuilt in 1852.  It ceased production after WW2 following a reduction in operation due to competition from larger mills.  It was dismantled and moved to the museum in the 1980s.

Gorticashel Flax Mill:  Like Straid Mill, this single 2-storey building has also seen better days, with the wheel very overgrown.  It had been a scutch mill from Co Tyrone, but the website gives no details of its history and there is no guide book available.  Scutching is the process of extracting linen fibres from flax stems by being passed through cogged rollers.  It was a highly dangerous occupation as workers were at risk from machinery that could not be stopped quickly, the air was thick with dust, and there was an ever-present danger of fire.  On at least two occasions this mill had been severely damaged by fire.

Coalisland Spade Mill:  Although in a good state of repair, this mill was not manned so we were unable to visit it and the adjoining building which once housed 4 finishing shops.  The mill, from Derry in Co Tyrone, was built in the 1850s and moved to the museum in 1960.

The Tour

On Monday we met up with the group after lunch.  We were led by Bill Barksfield and Prof Marilyn Palmer and there were 18 other participants.  The afternoon’s visit was to Mount Stewart which only re-opened 3 years ago and parts are currently still undergoing major restoration.  As I was unable to glean much information about the mills and so on seen on the tour, I am grateful to Marilyn for giving permission to use her tour notes for some mills.

Myra Castle Farm (south end of Strangford Lough):  Tuesday morning saw us making a private visit to Myra Castle Farm, owned by David Good who guided us around.  The main house was built about 1844 and the model farm complex was linked to the house by a meandering “cut-and-cover” tunnel built for the servants, top-lit by ships’ portholes, though it was mostly in darkness.  Apart from the water wheel, the site also has a small lime kiln, weighbridge and almost complete estate acetylene gas works.

Our very knowledgeable guide, Martin Gibson, told us that tide mills are rare in Ireland, although several were constructed around Strangford Lough during the 1800s.  He said that the earliest tide mill was thought to be at Nedrum, further north on the lough on a monastic site, dating to around 700AD, and had a “vertical axis propeller”.

Unlike other mills seen on this tour, there are a number of useful descriptive panels with text and diagrams in the barn adjacent to the mill which I have drawn on for this section.

A 1744 description of the operation by Walter Harris says: “On the bay that opens to the garden is a singular contrivance for supplying a mill with water. A dead wall is carried across the gut in which are two arches and in them two flood gates fixed, the one to admit the tide, the other to keep it in or let it out, as occasion serves. By this means a corn-mill is perpetually supplied with water which can never fail as long as the tide flows here.”

A corn-drying kiln was built in 1800.  During the 1830s the corn mill was enlarged and a threshing mill added.  New grinding machinery and a replacement waterwheel were incorporated, powered exclusively from the Temple Water without tidal assistance.  The machinery was again renewed in the 1870s but, by the early 1900s, the mill had ceased operation.  It lay dormant, gradually falling into disrepair, until 1991 when the National Trust began to restore the mill to full working order again. 

There is also a Bark House where bark stripped from the wood was crushed to extract tannin.  The drive for the saw bench comes from a cog wheel off the pit wheel.  The saw bench was converted to electricity after mains power arrived about 1951.  There is a small electric motor in a recess in the wall which probably drove a small free-standing saw bench.

The Argory:  There were at least three different sources of water for the house.  Outside the east garden pavilion is a submerged water pump (by W Davis, Navan) presumably raising water from a well, driven by a horse gin which is missing its swivelling drive arm.  The west garden pavilion is closer to the river and contains a manually-cranked water pump, presumably for pumping up river water.  There was also a rainwater collection tank which may have been the source of water for a manual pump in the middle of the garden south-west of the laundry.

All in all, a very interesting visit to many properties with some mills thrown in for good measure!