(SOS! It's not too late to save...)
Jackson Clark's 1740s Beetling Mill
"When wolves came down from the snow clad mountains..."
'Linen on the Green' recounts the day in May 1740 when "Jackson Clark started to build his 20 feet square, two storey (mill) house tucked into the hillside at the end of the new lade" (On St. Patrick's Day that year, it is recorded that "wolves came down from the snow clad mountains to raid the flocks.)
The new beetling 'engine' took a bit of tinkering but when up and working, it transformed the speed and quantity of high quality beetled linen being produced.
Its financial success would prove to be essential in the first expansions of linen processing
on The Clady River at Upperlands.
Official Northern Ireland Heritage Listing:
Official Link: HB08/02/001 A
“A unique stone-built mill building with thatched roof covering in reed, complete with large water wheel powering a beetling engine on the ground floor of the two-storey structure.
The building dates from the mid-17th century and is the oldest … part of the historic William Clark & Sons mill complex.”
We are justifiably proud that Ireland is home to some of the most outstanding and unique archaeological and architectural gems on Earth which are cherished and protected:
*The Giant’s Causeway *New Grange *Trinity Old Library *The Cliffs of Moher *Belfast City Hall
*St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh *Birr Castle Wooden Telescope *Dunluce Castle
*The Titanic Slipway *Gracehill Moravian Settlement. *Derry’s Walls *Scrabo Tower
Statistics also show that in Northern Ireland protections have been afforded to:
+ 403 Listed Bridges. + 920 approx. Listed Churches
FACT: there is ONLY ONE 18th Century Thatched Beetling Mill IN THE WORLD:
Jackson Clark’s Little Thatched Beetling Mill by the Clady River in Upperlands.
Its current state leaves it vulnerable to the elements, vandalism, trophy-taking and further neglect.
A coming together of all involved to create a plan is essential if we are to facilitate its protection, survival and eventual restoration / use by our community and visitors who come here.
This small gallery of recently taken photographs shows the little thatched mill tucked away in the shadow of a much later and larger beetling mill which, as you can see, has suffered severely from vandalism.
A good indication that swift action is needed to save this International Gem.
The Clady River, here in full flood, provided the power.
