[Proc IoM Nat History & Antiquarian Society vol 6 no 4 pp503/508 1964]

THE LAST OF THE SULBY MILLS

Miss M. QUILLEASH, B.Sc. Presidential Address, 1963-64

THE name of 'Sulby Claddagh' conjures up a peaceful scene, where the Sulby river winds its leisurely way across the flat expanse between Karrin and Cronk Sumark, on its way to Ramsey Harbour.

Here is one of the last stretches of Common Land on the Island, now under the control of the Forestry Board; here, horse fairs were held at the turn of the century, and here, along the river itself, numerous mills made use of the water-power, so that Sulby became a centre of activity.

Lamplugh, in his Geology of the Isle of Man, surmises that in pre-glacial times the sea stretched up to the Lezayre hills and thus the mouth of the Sulby river was at the present entrance to the Glen. Later, he suggests, the river flowed across the Northern Plain, and entered the sea at the Lhen; then, as the volume of water diminished, the river changed its course, and, turning to the right at Sulby, entered the sea at the Mooragh, Ramsey.

Certainly, we know, that when the great flood came on 18th September, 1930, following a cloud-burst on the slopes of Snaefell, water again swept across the roads of old Sulby village on its journey northwards, causing destruction to property and disaster to livestock.

The foothills from Glentramman to Sulby, Glen once belonged to the Monks of Mirescough, an Abbey which is rumoured to be situated near Ellan Bane. Later, this land belonged to the monks of Rushen Abbey. Ballamenagh, the name of the house and grounds lately belonging to Lady Collet, means 'the farm of the monks.'

No doubt they used the power of the Sulby river to grind their corn. At the present time, traces of six mills of various sorts can be found in this neighbourhood, besides buildings belonging to six other mills which have been in use in recent years.

There are no written records of the flax-mills situated on Ballakerka and Ballamenagh, but Mr. T. Brew of the Kella mills states that beds of flax-chaff were found in the Kella mill-dam at a depth of three feet, when the foundations of an extension to the mill were being dug during his lifetime.

Mr. W. Christian of Sulby Glen and Mr. and Mrs. Kelly of Ballacudberagh have provided valuable information concerning the starch-mills, which were in operation from eighty to two hundred years ago. Mr. Christian recalls that, at the height of its prosperity, the mills employed twenty men who were summoned to work by a bell which hung on the front of the building. There were also four night-firemen, Mr. Christian's father being one of them. Three other men each had a dray and a pair of horses. They collected potatoes from the farms and conveyed the finished product to Ramsey for export. Their wages averaged eight-nine shillings a week.

The crushed potatoes were placed in a trough filled with water and the starch settled out. The sludge or 'slourie' was run into vats, and the starch was placed on a drying-rack where heat from one of the furnaces dried the starch, and it was weighed and packaged for sale. A weighing-machine in the road in front of the office weighed up to two tons. There is no sign of this machine now, but only of the office ruins.

Cornflour, too, was made at this mill. The whitest part of the maize was used for this, and the residue was mixed with starch, 'slourie,' and sold as pig food.

It is still possible to see the vats used, but the water-wheel at present there was installed by the Southward family, who leased this building when they first came to Sulby in 1831. It is also possible to see the ruins of a small reservoir on the side of Karrin, where water was collected for use in the starch-mill.

About 1935, the ruins of the starch-mill became part of the Northern Water Board Filter Plant, though previously some slates from the old roof were sold locally and became part of the roofs of neighbouring cottages. Quite close to the starch-mill is the Sulby woollen-mill, rebuilt in 1843 by the Southward family. About twelve people were regularly employed here as well as some casual labour. Two old employees, Mr. Joe Graham and Mr. Walter Lace, are still living in Sulby. In the old days, Mr. Graham was the carder and Mr. Lace the blender. Other workmen included Mr. Kewley, a spinner; Mr. J. Kneale and Mr. P. Reubens were weavers; while Mrs. Caley used a knitting- machine. The firm manufactured blankets, travelling-rugs, several kinds of flannel and shirting, sock wool, serges and tweeds.

The designs for the tweeds were made at the mill, and dyeing and drying the wool took place in the open. Mr. William Faragher, the dyer, used chiefly the colours indigo, brown, blue and black. A young man working in Laxey mines was said to travel over the hills to buy 'russet trousers,' which he claimed saved him from catching cold whilst working underground. Southward's 'grey' was also a very popular colour, and Major Bacon of Staward was said to own a suit of 'keear' wool of which he was very fond. Up to the time of the first World War, when transport was very much slower than it is today, a farmer and his wife would bring his wool-clip to the mill, sometimes asking that some of it should be used to make sock wool for their own use, especially if it included loghtan wool. At the same time his wife would get whatever was necessary for her family for another year. These articles would include flannel singlets, woollen shirts, underpants (drawers, as they would call them), made of specially heavy flannel, socks and stockings, and perhaps material for dresses or costumes.

All these ready-made garments were made on the preinises and at one time there was a resident tailor so that the farmer could, on the same day, choose his cloth and be measured for a suit which would be delivered in due course. They evidently did not think a fitting was necessary in those days!

When all these purchases had been made, the total would be deducted from the value of the raw wool which had been brought in, a balance either way was usually settled by cash though some customers preferred to leave a credit balance, if they had one, to the following year.

During the first World War, the mill was commandeered by the Government and only singlet flannel and sock wool were made. Some of the wool was used by the various ladies' knitting guilds; the remainder, with the flannel, went to the internment camps.

The mill also handled a large postal business. Visitors travelling to Tholt-e-Will by horse-carriage from Sulby Glen station would visit the mill for blankets and rugs. Patterns of materials and wools were sent on request to all parts of Britain, and even abroad.

In 1925, the mill was taken over by Mr. Taylor, who ran it for five years; but the property was severely damaged by the flood of 1930, when, according to the Ramsey Courier, the mill was flooded to an extent of several feet and the machinery covered with mud and slime. A large quantity of raw materials and articles ready for sale were saturated with water, including five hundred yards of Manx flannel and many pairs of blankets.

Later, the mill was taken over by the firm of Howarth & Penrice, when it flourished once more and was noted for its tweeds and rugs.

Finally, in 1956, the buildings closed as a woollen-mill and are at present being used by a local building firm.

The third mill, of which records are available, is the Kella corn-mill, which has been run by the Brew family for the past forty years (1923-63). Mr. T. A. Brew has made extensive notes of his work, and the changes he has seen, for the Folk-Life Survey of the Manx Museum (1950). 'Kella Mill,' he says, 'would remember the days when the women came to the mill to sift and winnow the oatmeal, bringing with them their own fuel of sticks and turf to make heat to dry the grain.'

Mr. Brew reckons that a corn-mill has been on the site of Kella mill for about four hundred years, and that in its early days its water supply was the same as that used by Staward mill some little distance up the river. He estimates that the weir and mill-dam were added about two hundred and fifty years ago and the mill has constantly been improved and extended until recent times.

Mr. Brew thinks that at first there was a small wheel on the south gable of Kella mill, with gearing to drive two pairs of small millstones, and water continued to remain the sole power until 1930, when an oil-engine was installed.

The part on the west, housing the threshing-mill, seems to be the latest addition. It has good slates on it and they are nailed; the older portions have Manx slates fastened on with pegs.

To the east, in the mill-race, there are large bog-oaks, which show that the mill is sitting on a crust of gravel, 'an isle jutting northwards into the Curragh.'

There have been at least three water-wheels on Kella mill, and the last one came from the Beary, St. John's. Up to about 1930, the Kella mill made flour, oatmeal, barley-meal and pearl barley; they ground grain for animal foods, and threshed oats, wheat and barley for numerous crofters who brought their crop by packhorse, sled or wheelbarrow.

In 1906, the charge for making a boll of wheat into flour was two shillings. (A boll was 2} cwts.) Sometimes farmers paid for threshing or grinding by the miller taking 'dooragh,' i.e. a handful of grain out of each sack.

Mr. Brew claims that he is the last of the Island's oatmeal millers, and the last of the millers to sift oatmeal by hand.

In his reminiscences stretching over the past forty years, Mr. Brew describes how the oats were first carefully dried, then placed in bags and hoisted to the top of the mill and run into the hopper of the crushing-stones.

The stones used for oats would be Welsh pebble or Derbyshire Peak, and when freshly dressed these stones would make about three hundred- weight of meal in an hour. If the millstones should run for a couple of minutes without feed or grain, all the labour of dressing them (usually two days) would be undone. If they ran without feed they would strike fire. The sack would be burned off the spout, the wood- work would be charred, and the stones would grow very hot. When water was thrown on them they would burst into several pieces with a loud crack. To overcome this risk of running dry, warning-bells were fitted to the hoppers to give notice of the grain falling below a certain level in the hopper.

One of the repair jobs which the Brew family undertook was the replacement of the kiln floor in 1923.

Mr. Brew's father bought nine sheets of iron, each eight feet by four feet, and these had to be drilled with holes about one inch apart, so that Mr. Brew and his brother drilled about forty thousand holes with a small drilling-machine.

'Before Sulby Hall was built, concerts and tea-parties were held in the barn loft.

Mr. Brew concludes his notes for the Folk-Life Survey (1950) rather sadly, with the words: 'No longer do we find the miller who speaks of his mill as a grand mill. No longer do we hear the millers discussing the making of flour and oatmeal and dressing the stones, and the difficulties they have overcome. We only hear them talking of the past, what they remember about their youth, how they worked to earn a living, how their fathers would clout them if they did not do the jobs in the mill properly.

'Today we find in all the mills a steel grinder and an electric motor. They will keep our mill doors open a little while longer, but the days of the mills and millers are slowly but surely passing.