Herdman's Old Flax Spinning Mill, Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone, 28 Jan 2017, DSC_0874-2
Herdman Flax Mill - Sion Mills
The name Sion comes from the townland of Seein, which lies to the south of the village. It is an anglicisation of an Irish place name: either Suidhe Fhinn (meaning "seat of Finn") or Sidheán (also spelt Síodhán and Sián, meaning "fairy mound").
In the Civil Survey of 1640 a Corn Mill on this site at Shean, Liggartown is mentioned as part of the Abercorn Estate. Galbraith Hamilton became the tenant in about 1729 and, on the adjoining lands, established a Bleach Green which was abandoned around 1779.
In the 1750s, the Mill was in need of rebuilding, and Galbraith Hamilton was advised to add a Wheat Mill to it, for which he was loaned £100 by James Hamilton (b.1838 d.1913), 2nd Marquess of Abercorn. Galbraith Hamilton also petitioned the Irish House of Commons in November 1765 for financial assistance in building the Mill. However, this venture did not prove successful. In the 1780s, Abercorn intervened personally by laying out more than £1,000 on improving the Seein Mill. This included £39 for two French millstones and £36 for a stove for drying wheat. Abercorn acquired the services of mason and clerk of works, Alexander Stewart (b.? d.1808?) to design and build it.
In 1828, this mill was rebuilt by Abercorn, but shortly afterwards became incorporated in the flax spinning mill as it stands today.
The first of the Herdman family to arrive in Ulster in 1688 was Captain Jack Herdman, of Herdmanston, Ayrshire (b.1876 d. 1964) he fought for King William III at the Battle of the Boyne before settling at Glenavy, County Antrim. Further members of the family arrived from Ayrshire in 1699 and established themselves as farmers.
By the 1830s the three Herdman brothers, James, John and George were involved in businesses within Belfast. James Herdman (b.1809 d.1901), the eldest brother, inherited Millfield Tannery from his father (James b.1781 d.1817), and John (b.1811 d,1862) went into partnership with the Mulhollands who owned the York Street Spinning Mill. In 1835 all three brothers including George (b.1810 d1856) in partnership with brothers Andrew Mulholland (b.1791 d.1866) and Sinclair (St'Clair) Kelburn Mulholland (b.1798 d.1872) and Robert Lyons purchased a flour mill located in Seein, near Strabane, County Tyrone, from the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn.
Sion (or Seein, meaning a ‘Fairy Mound’) was adjacent to the River Mourne and was purchased by way of a 500-year lease.
From its very beginning the mill at Sion was designed as a social experiment. Its development was heavily influenced by the theories and work of the social reformer Robert Owen (b.1771 d.1858) who in the early 1800s transformed the village of New Lanark (Scotland) into a model community providing a range of facilities for the welfare of its mill worker and their families.
Among the economic factors that brought the Herdmans and their partners to Sion were: the existence of the old mill which could be adapted to the spinning process; a reliable supply of water throughout the year from the River Mourne; the proximity to a large number of flax growers in North West Ulster; the port at Londonderry; and a readily available pool of labour.
Production started at Sion in November 1835 with 75 employees. Over 400 worked at the mill by 1849 when the Herdman’s became the sole owners, having bought out their partners.
By the 1870`s the mill employed over 1,000 people and at its peak Herdman`s mill had approximately 1,500 workers.
The Herman’s built schools where children of all religious traditions could learn together, churches, recreational and sporting facilities including a billiard room, cricket pitch, bowling green, handball court, tennis courts, football pitches and Captain Jack Herdman who was a passionately keen angler himself, founder of Sion Mills Angling Club.
The Herman’s brothers founded the Herdsman’s / Sion Mills Brass Band in the 1840’s. In 1870 the conductor was Mr Griggs, and David Hill from 1879 to 1880 and James Connolly from 1884 to 1894.
The Herdsman’s aspired to have a workforce and community which was completely integrated, and one of the most important aspects of Sion which cemented this integration and family spirit has always been Sport. Sion Mills is particularly well-known for its cricket and has a most distinguished cricketing history. The club being founded in 1864 by Emerson Tennent Herdman under the patronage of the Herdman family with the cricket ground being located on the down-stream side of the old Mill and was known locally as the ‘Holm Field’.
Captain John Claudius "Jack" Herdman (born 30th December 1876) was President of Sion Mills Cricket from 1923 until his death on 14th July 1964 said that “cricket surpasses all creeds and classes”.
The club won the North West Senior League on 28 occasions and the Northwest Senior Cup 29 times. The club is remembered internationally as the host of the famous victory by Ireland over the West Indies on 2nd July1969 when the Ireland Cricket team bowled the West Indies all out for 25 runs.
The Main Mill was built between 1853 to 1855, designed by the architect William Lynn (b.1829 d.1915) and built by John McCracken. Built from grey ashlar stone quarried locally in Douglas Bridge (near Strabane) the building was designed as a fireproof mill. This building was used for preparing and spinning until 1989 when the Mourne Mill was opened and it was abandoned.
The Main Mill was built wider than normal for spinning mills, which enabled Herdsman’s to survive in later years when others couldn't, because they were unable to accommodate these larger machines.
The frontage of the Line Preparing and Mechanics Shop were built in 1888 with yellow brick from Kilmarnock. A two-storey yellow-brick extension was built in 1888 by J. Ballantine and Company, Derry and designed by William Lynn the building was known as the New End.
Three storeys were added to the New End in 1907 with no pillars thus leaving more room for longer machines. This was achieved by buttressing the walls and using girders of very heavy section.
By the end of the 19th Century the Herdman family had built 240 workers houses in the village, which accommodated a population of over 2000. The buildings in the village are considered so important that 40 of them are listed for preservation.
In 1847 during the potato famine, there is a series of letters from James and George Herdman to their brother John in Belfast that explain how they coped with keeping their workers and families alive in very difficult circumstances. The devotion of the Herdman family to their workers and the villagers is well known and respected. The village houses were sold off to their occupants for between £60 and £180 each in the early 1960s. The legacy of the villagers living, working and going to school together persists and the new state primary school which superseded the Mill School in the 1970s was the first integrated state school in Northern Ireland.
On 9 May 1852, Sion Mills Railway Station opened and the railway served the area for 112 years until the station closed on 15 February 1965.
During the Great Famine, the Herdman’s tried to ensure that not just the people living in the village but as many others as possible were fed.
As part of the “experiment” the Herdman Brothers who advocated temperance, banned Public Houses in the village. Sion Mills remained a “dry” village until 1896 when the Herdman family lost a court case on this issue and within a short time Sion Mills had gained its first Public House.
Unlike factories elsewhere, from the start, the Herdman’s insisted that the working conditions at the Mill were good. The Mill was well ventilated and clean, instead of being dusty and airless.
In 1839 a gas-works (coal-fired) was built and the Mill was lit by gas lamps and in 1842 pipes were laid to the village so that every house had a light, the shop had 4 lights and there were street lights
Between 1900 & 1903 the Mill installed turbines (1000 horsepower) and later between 1919 to 1920 DC Turbines installed in the new ‘Small Turbine 135 horsepower to generate electric to light the Mill, the village, Sion House and Camus Rectory.
Unfortunately, due to competition from China, Herdman Ltd, closed down all production in Sion Mills over a 2-year period and finally ceased spinning linen on 19th May 2004 and with its closure the employment of approximately 300 workers were terminated which was a significant blow to Sion Mills and the surrounding towns and villages.
The mill building still stand, however in very poor state of repair. In September 1999, a group of villagers came together with Celia Ferguson (nee Herdman, her father was Commander Claudius Herdman & James Herdman was Celia's great-great-grandfather) to form the Sion Mills Preservation Trust with the prime objective of rescuing the old Herdman Mill and associated buildings and develop the site as a Heritage Centre for the Linen Industry. Unfortunately, they did not succeed, however people are still trying to develop and maintain facilities in the historic village.
On Saturday October 2010 a derelict part of the Mill was gutted by fire. The company that owned the mill went into receivership in 2011 and in 2014 the site was bought by Strabane woman Margaret Loughrey for an estimated £1m after she won almost £27m in the Euromillions lottery draw in Dec 2013.
There’s been a series of malicious fires over the years, the latest on Monday 19 Aug 2019 all of which have totally decimated the buildings.
April 2022, Mulrines of Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, a food and drinks firm has announced plans to create 54 jobs at their new manufacturing facility on the site of the former flax mill in County Tyrone. Mulrines have plans to redevelop 22 acres of the the former Herdman's Mill site in Sion Mills. The company will produce oat drink and fruit juice products at the new facility.
It said the jobs would pay average salaries in in the mid £20,000 range and would be in place by 2026. Company chairman Peter Mulrine said the Sion Mills project was the culmination of a number of years of research, planning and negotiation. He said the construction of the new factory was the first phase of the company's investment in the village.
Herdman's Old Flax Spinning Mill, Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone, 28 Jan 2017, DSC_0874-2
Herdman Flax Mill - Sion Mills
The name Sion comes from the townland of Seein, which lies to the south of the village. It is an anglicisation of an Irish place name: either Suidhe Fhinn (meaning "seat of Finn") or Sidheán (also spelt Síodhán and Sián, meaning "fairy mound").
In the Civil Survey of 1640 a Corn Mill on this site at Shean, Liggartown is mentioned as part of the Abercorn Estate. Galbraith Hamilton became the tenant in about 1729 and, on the adjoining lands, established a Bleach Green which was abandoned around 1779.
In the 1750s, the Mill was in need of rebuilding, and Galbraith Hamilton was advised to add a Wheat Mill to it, for which he was loaned £100 by James Hamilton (b.1838 d.1913), 2nd Marquess of Abercorn. Galbraith Hamilton also petitioned the Irish House of Commons in November 1765 for financial assistance in building the Mill. However, this venture did not prove successful. In the 1780s, Abercorn intervened personally by laying out more than £1,000 on improving the Seein Mill. This included £39 for two French millstones and £36 for a stove for drying wheat. Abercorn acquired the services of mason and clerk of works, Alexander Stewart (b.? d.1808?) to design and build it.
In 1828, this mill was rebuilt by Abercorn, but shortly afterwards became incorporated in the flax spinning mill as it stands today.
The first of the Herdman family to arrive in Ulster in 1688 was Captain Jack Herdman, of Herdmanston, Ayrshire (b.1876 d. 1964) he fought for King William III at the Battle of the Boyne before settling at Glenavy, County Antrim. Further members of the family arrived from Ayrshire in 1699 and established themselves as farmers.
By the 1830s the three Herdman brothers, James, John and George were involved in businesses within Belfast. James Herdman (b.1809 d.1901), the eldest brother, inherited Millfield Tannery from his father (James b.1781 d.1817), and John (b.1811 d,1862) went into partnership with the Mulhollands who owned the York Street Spinning Mill. In 1835 all three brothers including George (b.1810 d1856) in partnership with brothers Andrew Mulholland (b.1791 d.1866) and Sinclair (St'Clair) Kelburn Mulholland (b.1798 d.1872) and Robert Lyons purchased a flour mill located in Seein, near Strabane, County Tyrone, from the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn.
Sion (or Seein, meaning a ‘Fairy Mound’) was adjacent to the River Mourne and was purchased by way of a 500-year lease.
From its very beginning the mill at Sion was designed as a social experiment. Its development was heavily influenced by the theories and work of the social reformer Robert Owen (b.1771 d.1858) who in the early 1800s transformed the village of New Lanark (Scotland) into a model community providing a range of facilities for the welfare of its mill worker and their families.
Among the economic factors that brought the Herdmans and their partners to Sion were: the existence of the old mill which could be adapted to the spinning process; a reliable supply of water throughout the year from the River Mourne; the proximity to a large number of flax growers in North West Ulster; the port at Londonderry; and a readily available pool of labour.
Production started at Sion in November 1835 with 75 employees. Over 400 worked at the mill by 1849 when the Herdman’s became the sole owners, having bought out their partners.
By the 1870`s the mill employed over 1,000 people and at its peak Herdman`s mill had approximately 1,500 workers.
The Herman’s built schools where children of all religious traditions could learn together, churches, recreational and sporting facilities including a billiard room, cricket pitch, bowling green, handball court, tennis courts, football pitches and Captain Jack Herdman who was a passionately keen angler himself, founder of Sion Mills Angling Club.
The Herman’s brothers founded the Herdsman’s / Sion Mills Brass Band in the 1840’s. In 1870 the conductor was Mr Griggs, and David Hill from 1879 to 1880 and James Connolly from 1884 to 1894.
The Herdsman’s aspired to have a workforce and community which was completely integrated, and one of the most important aspects of Sion which cemented this integration and family spirit has always been Sport. Sion Mills is particularly well-known for its cricket and has a most distinguished cricketing history. The club being founded in 1864 by Emerson Tennent Herdman under the patronage of the Herdman family with the cricket ground being located on the down-stream side of the old Mill and was known locally as the ‘Holm Field’.
Captain John Claudius "Jack" Herdman (born 30th December 1876) was President of Sion Mills Cricket from 1923 until his death on 14th July 1964 said that “cricket surpasses all creeds and classes”.
The club won the North West Senior League on 28 occasions and the Northwest Senior Cup 29 times. The club is remembered internationally as the host of the famous victory by Ireland over the West Indies on 2nd July1969 when the Ireland Cricket team bowled the West Indies all out for 25 runs.
The Main Mill was built between 1853 to 1855, designed by the architect William Lynn (b.1829 d.1915) and built by John McCracken. Built from grey ashlar stone quarried locally in Douglas Bridge (near Strabane) the building was designed as a fireproof mill. This building was used for preparing and spinning until 1989 when the Mourne Mill was opened and it was abandoned.
The Main Mill was built wider than normal for spinning mills, which enabled Herdsman’s to survive in later years when others couldn't, because they were unable to accommodate these larger machines.
The frontage of the Line Preparing and Mechanics Shop were built in 1888 with yellow brick from Kilmarnock. A two-storey yellow-brick extension was built in 1888 by J. Ballantine and Company, Derry and designed by William Lynn the building was known as the New End.
Three storeys were added to the New End in 1907 with no pillars thus leaving more room for longer machines. This was achieved by buttressing the walls and using girders of very heavy section.
By the end of the 19th Century the Herdman family had built 240 workers houses in the village, which accommodated a population of over 2000. The buildings in the village are considered so important that 40 of them are listed for preservation.
In 1847 during the potato famine, there is a series of letters from James and George Herdman to their brother John in Belfast that explain how they coped with keeping their workers and families alive in very difficult circumstances. The devotion of the Herdman family to their workers and the villagers is well known and respected. The village houses were sold off to their occupants for between £60 and £180 each in the early 1960s. The legacy of the villagers living, working and going to school together persists and the new state primary school which superseded the Mill School in the 1970s was the first integrated state school in Northern Ireland.
On 9 May 1852, Sion Mills Railway Station opened and the railway served the area for 112 years until the station closed on 15 February 1965.
During the Great Famine, the Herdman’s tried to ensure that not just the people living in the village but as many others as possible were fed.
As part of the “experiment” the Herdman Brothers who advocated temperance, banned Public Houses in the village. Sion Mills remained a “dry” village until 1896 when the Herdman family lost a court case on this issue and within a short time Sion Mills had gained its first Public House.
Unlike factories elsewhere, from the start, the Herdman’s insisted that the working conditions at the Mill were good. The Mill was well ventilated and clean, instead of being dusty and airless.
In 1839 a gas-works (coal-fired) was built and the Mill was lit by gas lamps and in 1842 pipes were laid to the village so that every house had a light, the shop had 4 lights and there were street lights
Between 1900 & 1903 the Mill installed turbines (1000 horsepower) and later between 1919 to 1920 DC Turbines installed in the new ‘Small Turbine 135 horsepower to generate electric to light the Mill, the village, Sion House and Camus Rectory.
Unfortunately, due to competition from China, Herdman Ltd, closed down all production in Sion Mills over a 2-year period and finally ceased spinning linen on 19th May 2004 and with its closure the employment of approximately 300 workers were terminated which was a significant blow to Sion Mills and the surrounding towns and villages.
The mill building still stand, however in very poor state of repair. In September 1999, a group of villagers came together with Celia Ferguson (nee Herdman, her father was Commander Claudius Herdman & James Herdman was Celia's great-great-grandfather) to form the Sion Mills Preservation Trust with the prime objective of rescuing the old Herdman Mill and associated buildings and develop the site as a Heritage Centre for the Linen Industry. Unfortunately, they did not succeed, however people are still trying to develop and maintain facilities in the historic village.
On Saturday October 2010 a derelict part of the Mill was gutted by fire. The company that owned the mill went into receivership in 2011 and in 2014 the site was bought by Strabane woman Margaret Loughrey for an estimated £1m after she won almost £27m in the Euromillions lottery draw in Dec 2013.
There’s been a series of malicious fires over the years, the latest on Monday 19 Aug 2019 all of which have totally decimated the buildings.
April 2022, Mulrines of Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, a food and drinks firm has announced plans to create 54 jobs at their new manufacturing facility on the site of the former flax mill in County Tyrone. Mulrines have plans to redevelop 22 acres of the the former Herdman's Mill site in Sion Mills. The company will produce oat drink and fruit juice products at the new facility.
It said the jobs would pay average salaries in in the mid £20,000 range and would be in place by 2026. Company chairman Peter Mulrine said the Sion Mills project was the culmination of a number of years of research, planning and negotiation. He said the construction of the new factory was the first phase of the company's investment in the village.