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Report - - Herdmans Flax Mill - Sion Mills - September 2018 | Industrial Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Herdmans Flax Mill - Sion Mills - September 2018

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Krypton

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Hardpans Mill was founded in 1835 and is a large complex of now listed buildings, the most prominent of which was built in 1853 by William Henry Lynn of Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon, Belfast. This is a very large and handsome five-storey mill built in Italianate style of greyashlar stone quarried locally, with yellow brick extensions added in 1884 to 1900. There had been a series of corn mills on the site, (the earliest recorded in 1640), with the latest one rebuilt in 1828 which the three Herdman brothers from Belfast, and their partners, the Mulhollands, purchased from the Marquis of Abercorn, and this became part of the 1835 tow mill next to the river, now the three-storey "Old Mill". The immense water-power of the River Mourne provided 1000 water horsepower. The water-power and its history are still very much a feature of the Mill with the modern turbines, the newly developed river walks and picnic areas overlooking the huge weir and the 35 ft wide mill lade which flows on to run between the two main buildings of the Mill. There is also a complicated system of sluices and a suspension bridge ("the swinging bridge").

The owners of the mill went into administration in 2011, and the site was later sold to a local lottery winner for £1m in 2015. Unfortunately since that point there have been a series of devastating fires which have destroyed a lot of the site. This is a stunning building so hopefully something can be done to save it.

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Krypton :)
 

dweeb

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Great report, we'll covered.

Not much coverage of one of the best preserved mills in the UK, so good to see more.

Can't beat a good flax tube!
 

TheGhostTrail

28DL Member
28DL Member
Stupid question. What security is there on this site?
I was there a couple of weeks ago and there was no security at all! There has been a lot of fire damage since this report though. Many of the buildings are completely gutted now. Still, makes for a lovely visit. I read that a juice company called Mulrines are in final negotiations to restore some of the buildings and use it as a new base so I’d get over there soonish!
 

Seffy

SWC
Staff member
Moderator
I was there a couple of weeks ago and there was no security at all! There has been a lot of fire damage since this report though. Many of the buildings are completely gutted now. Still, makes for a lovely visit. I read that a juice company called Mulrines are in final negotiations to restore some of the buildings and use it as a new base so I’d get over there soonish!

Always good to have an update - cheers.
 

DarkMode13

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
I can confirm, that even though there is a security camera outside the building of the main gate. I think its de-bunked and non working.
And I was down about a month ago.
 
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