Balnamore Mill

15/03/2026

Document No. 466799 (Registry of Deeds) is a memorial registered on 8 August 1814 of an assignment dated 7 August 1814, in which Josiah [William] Bryan of Balnamore transfers property and associated assets to his brother-in-law, Samuel Smith of Woodville. This document provides useful evidence for confirming Bryan’s correct name and for demonstrating his direct involvement with the Balnamore property and mills. I have highlighted Josiah’s name in the document for ease of reference, as he was not called Joseph; and while I cannot share every document that records his name (and there are several), this should help provide clear grounding for my argument.

Summary of the 1814 assignment, and some information on the 1811 mortgage for context:

The attached document No. 466799 is a Registry of Deeds memorial registered on 8 August 1814 of an assignment dated 7 August 1814. It records Josiah [William] Bryan of Balnamore (linen manufacturer) transferring his interest in the Balnamore property and associated assets to his brother-in-law, Samuel Smith of Woodville (linen draper). The ex*****on was witnessed in Belfast and is supported by an affidavit sworn on 28 August 1814.

The memorial explicitly lists the property and works being assigned: the quarterland of Ballynacreekane (also called Harmony Hill) together with the bleaching works (described as a bleach mill) and associated buildings and machinery; the corn mill known as “Harveys Mill” with its usual toll/grist (mulcture) rights; and land with turbary at Drumlee in Finvoy parish (given as 20½ acres, Cunningham measure, with a map referenced). It also includes moveable assets such as stock of trade, machinery, cattle, farming utensils, and crops then standing.

An earlier memorial dated 21 December 1811 provides useful background: it is a mortgage in which Bryan borrows £2323 3s. 8d. from Smith and grants Smith a secured interest over essentially the same property and industrial assets (including machinery used for spinning flax). That 1811 record shows Smith’s financial leverage through security, but does not, by itself, prove outright ownership at that date. The 1814 assignment is therefore the clearer record of a later transfer of Bryan’s interest, and together the two documents give strong, dated, primary evidence for Josiah William Bryan’s connection to Balnamore property (including the bleaching works, the Flax Spinning Mill and Harveys Corn Mill).

I have highlighted Josiah's name in the document in red:

14/03/2026

The bleach works at Ballynacree Skein’s did not replace Harvey’s corn mill — it grew up alongside it!

In the 1760s–1770s, John Caldwell (c.1742–1803) used leases, mortgages and loans to fund an expanding linen‑finishing operation beside the working corn mill.

A key boost was Widow Mary McMaster’s £500 loan (1769), followed by further borrowing in 1774 and 1777 to expand and proto Industrialise the site.

By the early 1780s the bleach works was fully up and running — and this mixed site of corn milling and linen finishing helped set the scene for later industry in the area, including Balnamore’s early Flax and Tow Dry Spinning Mill built by Josiah William Bryan (1768–1837) and his investors (one of the earliest of its kind in 18th‑century Ireland).

For more information, please follow this link:

14/03/2026

People often say the townland of Ballynacree‑Skein was bought in 1764 by John Caldwell. The deeds to this location tell a different story.

This wasn’t one clean purchase—it was a decades‑long legal transfer (1727–1782) built through:

• A 21 year lease (1747)
• A perpetual / fee farm lease (made 1764, starting 1 May 1768, at £60/year)
• A mortgage style “release” for £200 (with a right of redemption)
• and later trustee conveyances (naming a trustee, but stating Caldwell was the beneficial owner).

The crucial point: by 1782, John Caldwell’s rent roll still says the premises “are mortgaged to me”—and the rent is being used to pay the Hamilton debt.

So if we say “it was bought in 1764,” we erase the bigger picture:

the land didn’t change hands by a simple sale, but by an unredeemed security that stayed in force for years. In fact, there is no evidence to suggest it was ever repaid, or to confirm when or if the money every changed hands.

In that context, Caldwell’s perpetual holding is best understood as the outcome of an unredeemed security, a debt, rather than a straightforward purchase completed in a single transaction in 1764.

For more details on what I have found please click on the link.

13/03/2026

Between 17 and 29 November 1827, Samuel Smith (1766–1830) advertised the Balnamore Flax and Tow Dry Spinning Mill on three occasions and in two different newspapers: the Belfast Chronicle (17 and 24 November 1827) and the Leeds Intelligencer (29 November 1827). These advertisements make it clear that Smith was seeking to let the entire Balnamore operation as a going concern.

Crucially, the notices confirm that Smith had followed through on the plans recorded in August 1819, when Inspector William Po***ck noted that Smith had converted his former bleaching concern at Ballynacree‑Skein—[the beetling mill]—into the intended site for a new scutching mill. Although Po***ck reported that Smith had misunderstood the grant scheme and still needed to install the machinery before receiving the £100 Linen Board grant, the 1827 advertisements show that the scutching mill was indeed completed and operational, because Smith now offered it as a going concern alongside the spinning mill etc.

13/03/2026

This information comes from The Proceedings of the Trustees of the Linen and Hempen Manufactures of Ireland for the year ending 5 January 1820. In the entries for August 1819, Inspector William Po***ck visited Samuel Smith (1766–1830) at the Balnamore Flax and Tow Dry Spinning Mill to assess his progress on the scutching mill for which he was seeking a £100 government grant.

Po***ck recorded that Smith had converted his former bleaching concern at Ballynacree‑Skein—[the beetling mill]—into a space prepared to receive the works of a scutching mill. However, Po***ck also noted that Smith had misunderstood the terms of the scheme. The Board required the scutching machinery to be fully installed first, and only after the installation had been inspected and approved would the £100 grant be issued to cover the cost.

In other words, by August 1819 the bleaching concern (of which the beetling mill was part of) at Ballynacree‑Skein, had already been repurposed as the intended site for Smith’s new scutching mill, but the machinery itself still needed to be fitted before any government funding could be released.

13/03/2026

It is possible to pinpoint the location of Harvey’s Mill by combining historical sources with the physical evidence preserved in early maps. Harvey’s Mill is the oldest identifiable structure in the townland of Ballynacree Skein, with documentary references confirming its existence on 20 July 1637—the same year engraved on the date stone of the Old Church of Ireland tower in Ballymoney.

On the first map—the Down Survey map (1656–1658)—plots 49 and 49:2 are labelled Ballinecrebeg and Mill Ballinecrebegg. Those plot-names make it clear that the mill—later known as Harvey’s Mill—originally lay within the townland of Mill Ballinecrebegg. Historical sources repeatedly confirm this point. In other words, Harvey’s Mill originally belonged to the neighbouring townland of Ballynacree Begg (now the Cramsie Estate), before later becoming lawfully part of Ballynacree-Skein. I have marked the area of land that once belonged to Ballynacree Begg on the second map (the white section), which corresponds with that earlier boundary. That is where Harvey’s Mill had stood.

On the next Ordnance Survey map of 17 April 1832, supported by the surveyors’ field books, the Corn Mill (Harvey’s Mill) is clearly recorded at position 2. I have highlighted this on the map, and it aligns perfectly with the location shown on the earlier Down Survey Map. The following second edition Ordnance Survey map (1838 to 1862) reinforces this identification: it labels a Flour Mill in the locality of this location, and the map clearly shows the separation between it and the Flax Mill. Harvey Corn Mill and the Flax Spinning Mills at Balnamore were always separate and distinct buildings, and the mapping evidence confirms that distinction.

Using this fixed point on the maps, we can trace the site of Harvey's Mill through successive maps right up to the present day to determine the location of Harvey’s Mill. Contemporary descriptions emphasise that Harvey's Mill was a very long structure:

• In 1833, it measured 64 ft. in length.
• By 1857, this had increased to 83 ft.
• In 1857, it also had an adjoining grain store measuring 113 ft.

This means we are looking for the footprint—or surviving remains—of a substantial building: between 19 and 36 feet wide, three storeys high, and extending well over 83 feet, with an even longer grain store attached. In theory, a structure of that scale should make the mill’s location unmistakable in the historical record.

However, within this area there were three large buildings, so two must be ruled out by a process of elimination supported by documentary evidence. I have done this, and I can support my findings using valuation data from the period. The large L shaped building beside the “Flour Mill” label was housing built by James Thomson and James Thomson Bryan, and the adjacent building was also housing. That leaves one remaining structure, which I have identified on the fifth map. I have also highlighted the same building on the third edition Ordnance Survey map (1900–1932) and the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map (1916–1957). The structure is still shown in the same position on the seventh edition Ordnance Survey map (1957–1987). Bringing that location forward to the present day, the next two maps pinpoint the modern site—and, as you can see, there are still building ruins at that location.

The historical record also notes that a sawmill once stood near this location. Harvey’s Mill had pit wheels driving it. The presence of pit wheels suggests they were set at a low level—likely in a pit or basement—meaning the associated water races could also have been positioned low or perhaps underground. Likewise the water wheels could have been positioned low and partially underground. If that is the case, we should expect to find traces of these low level water races along with other water‑management features and that evidence does appear on other maps and on site. The next map in the series was produced and published between 1864 and 1871 by James Thomson Bryan (1809–1871) and Dr. David Reynolds (1793–1878). On that map, I have marked Harvey’s Corn Mill with its adjoining grain store, as well as the nearby location of the sawmill. I have also identified the respective tail races running from the waterwheels and flowing away from the mill dam. On the next image, the two features inside the black circles were marked by me on a copy of an 1886 plan of Balnamore Mill village; the lines indicate the mill races. I visited the river to investigate the outflow of the two lines when they reach the river. At those two points I found blocked tunnels, which I have also photographed and shared. These are the outlets, the tail races for what was once Harvey’s Mill and the sawmill at the old village of Balnamore.

12/03/2026

This Belfast Newsletter report dated 14 September 1804 makes it clear that John Caldwell had “lately built” the bleach works, complete with machinery, on the site formerly known as Harmony Hill.

The notice also states that the corn mill (Harvey’s Mill) stood on the same premises, along with several farms and dwelling houses. This strongly indicates that all of these elements formed part of a single, larger estate holding - Ballynacreee-Skein, rather than a series of property joined to one another.

Importantly, the advertisement also names Josiah Bryan (full name Josiah William Bryan), and not Joseph, as is often repeated—as the proprietor in 1804.

12/03/2026

This document (No. 150315), sworn on oath on 20 April 1764, records an agreement made between John Hamilton of Hamilton’s Grove, part of the Ballynagravey estate in the County of Antrim, Esq., of the one part, and John Caldwell the younger of Ballymoney in the said county, Merchant, of the other part. John Caldwell the younger was the son of John Caldwell primus, who on 9 June 1747 secured a lease of the townland of Ballynacree‑Skein for a term of twenty‑one years. A lease commencing in 1747 for twenty‑one years would fall due for renewal in 1768.

The 1764 agreement anticipates this expiry and grants to John Caldwell the younger a perpetual lease of the Quarterland of Ballynacreeskean and Harvey’s Mill, to commence on 1 May 1768, at a yearly rent of £60 sterling. This memorial therefore records, at least on paper, the formal securing of the Caldwell family’s long‑term interest in the property.

However, when this nominal £60 annual rent is compared with the rent roll for John Caldwell the younger’s estate at Ballynacree‑Skein in 1782, it becomes clear that no payment was in fact made to James Hamilton. The rent was absorbed by, or offset against, a debt owed by Hamilton to Caldwell. This demonstrates that the Caldwells did not acquire Ballynacree‑Skein through a straightforward cash‑in‑hand transaction, as is often assumed, but rather through Hamilton’s indebtedness — a very different mechanism of transfer, and one that explains why the estate effectively passed into Caldwell hands without money changing hands in the conventional sense.

12/03/2026

This document [No: 86756], sworn on oath on 9 June 1747, records an agreement made between John Hamilton of Mount Hamilton—also known as Hamilton Grove, part of the Ballynagravy estate in the County of Antrim, Esq.—of the one part, and John Caldwell primus of Ballymoney in the said county, Merchant, of the other part.

By this agreement, John Hamilton, in consideration of the sum of £160 sterling together with an annual rent of £30, did grant, demise, and set to farm unto the said John Caldwell primus, his heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, for the full term of 21 years from the 1 May 1746, all that quarterland [townland] of Ballynacreeskean [Ballynacree-Skein], together with the mills known by the name of Harvey’s Mills.

This document confirms beyond any doubt that the Caldwell family where present in Ballynacree-Skein long before 1764.

11/03/2026

I was out for a walk today and noticed a new sign on the fence at Balnamore Mill. It’s great to see the site being promoted, but I was very disappointed by the accuracy of the information on the sign when I read it.

I’ve put a great deal of work into researching and sharing Balnamore Mill history on this page, and it’s frustrating to see yet another piece of inaccurate information being published —adding to the growing list of inaccuracies already in circulation.

Firstly, the Corn Mill was called Harvey’s Mill. The Caldwell family did not buy it in 1764. John Caldwell primus first leased it on 1 May 1746. Later, between 1764 and 1767, John Caldwell senior (c.1742–1803) acquired the freehold lease to the townland of Ballynacree-Skein, and Harvey’s Mill was included in that property. He acquired it through a debt owed to him by the Hamilton’s of Ballynagarvey, Finvoy. The Hamilton's were cousins to the Caldwell’s, and John Caldwell senior acquired a lease to Ballynagarvey estate because of that same debt.

Secondly, Harvey’s Corn Mill is not and has never been part of the structure of Balnamore Spinning Mill, as the information on the sign implies. Nor did it become a Beetling Mill. Between 27 July 1769 and 1781, John Caldwell senior secured at least £1864 13s. 6d. in finance (equivalent to between £278,690.41 and £296,670.44 today) from investors in Londonderry, Dublin, and Manchester. That is the money he used to build the Beetling Mill. John Caldwell seniors Beetling Mill was built as a separate structure in Ballynacree-Skein.

Thirdly, it was not Joseph Bryan (as the information on the sign suggests), who introduced water-powered spindles and manufactured yarn for canvas and sailcloth at Balnamore. It was Josiah William Bryan (1768–1837) and his investors who, between 1806 and 1809, built an adjoining spinning mill complex beside the existing Beetling Mill. By that time, the Beetling Mill had a double beetling engine capable of producing 15,000 pieces of beetled linen cloth.

The Beetling Mill that the information on the sign claims was converted into Balnamore Spinning Mill by the so called Joseph Bryan was, in fact, first converted into a Scutching Mill by Samuel Smith (1766–1830), who purchased Ballynacree-Skein and its industry between 1811 and 1814. That conversion took place between 1819 and 1827. The Scutching Mill was later integrated into Balnamore Spinning Mill by James Thomson (1799–1866), the next proprietor, between 1835 and 1849. James Thomson combined John Caldwell senior’s beetling mill (which had become Samuel Smith’s scutching mill) with Josiah William Bryan’s spinning mill, and then extended the building by a further two storeys plus attic space—creating what most people in Balnamore now lovingly refer to as The Old Mill. The contractor's were the Cameron's of Ballymoney. It was James Thomson (1799 - 1866) who first introduced wet linen yarn spinning technology to Balnamore Spinning Mill.

As for Harvey’s Corn Mill, it was decommissioned between 1858 and 1859 by James Thomson Bryan (1809–1871), son of Josiah William Bryan and the next proprietor of Ballynacree-Skein and its industries, following James Thomson (1799-1866) and his ownership. James Thomson Bryan was born at Balnamore in 1809, the same year his father introduced William Booth’s dry-spinning technology into the newly constructed spinning mill at Balnamore. James Thomson Bryan was most likely born at the location were Millburn Cottage was established, which he later converted into Balnamore House in 1863. I suspect he built Balnamore House there in memory of his father. The ruins of Harvey’s Corn Mill still stand in Balnamore today. I contacted the Department of Heritage in Belfast to alert them to these structures, which had been mistakenly believed to have been demolished in 2006.
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Conclusion

Balnamore’s industrial history is rich, complex, and significant — not just to the village, but to the wider industrial story of this region. That is why accuracy matters. When inaccurate information (like that on this sign) is displayed publicly, even with the best intentions, it can inadvertently mislead visitors, undermine local heritage, and erase the real achievements of the people who built and shaped this place. My hope is that those responsible for producing this sign will take the time to correct it, ensuring that Balnamore’s story is told accurately, and with the care it deserves.

04/02/2026

I came across a lovely poem about Balnamore Village today in Rhymes of the times by Bobbie Dunlop. The book came out in 1991, but the poem itself was written back in 1984. When he talks about the “new bungalows,” he was almost certainly referring to the ones in Burnside Park.

‘The Village of Balnamore By Bobbie Dunlop, written 6th August 1984. There's a picturesque village I'm delighted to know, Concealed from the vale of the River Bann's flow, Where a kind friendly people sincerely implore That all will feel welcome in sweet Balnamore. Surrounded by farmland so ...