Greenways and linen mills

Tags

cycle touring, cycling, Donegal, Herdsmans, hiking, Ireland, Lifford Greenway, nature, photography, River Mourne, Sion Mills, travel, Tyrone, Viscount Aerospace

It’s been a strange year from a cycling point of view. It’s hard to believe it is June and halfway through the year yet the weather remains most unlike summer as it’s frequently cold and often wet. Apart from local rides to maintain some fitness, I haven’t really done much cycling of interest, partly due to the weather and partly because I’ve been busy with other things.

One of the positives in my native Finn Valley recently has been the opening of a dedicated cycle path between the towns of Castlefinn and Lifford. This is a very good development as the N15 is a very busy, high-speed road and not one I would normally cycle on as I’d consider it unpleasant at best, and downright dangerous at worst. In time, I hope this will be extended the whole way to Donegal town, hopefully using the old Donegal Railways track bed past Lough Mourne and through Bearnas Mór. As it is, it’s only a few miles, but a welcome start.

It runs alongside the road. When this project was first announced, I had hoped it would use the old railway line but I suppose it was cheaper and easier to build it alongside the main road. The railway line would have made a more pleasant route away from the noise of the passing traffic but the big positive of this is that is passing houses and a National School so the people who live in those houses now have a safe and pleasant place to walk or cycle and it is surely possible for at least some children to walk or cycle to the school. Also, this part of the N15 had wide grass verges so there was always the room to put the cycle path alongside. Not every main road has this advantage.

I have ridden it a few times and they have made a decent job of it for once as it’s well surfaced and well provisioned too with litter bins, benches and even tool stations for cyclists. This is the sort of cycle path that need to be laid alongside busy main roads to make getting about by bike safer and more attractive. I rode it on my Moulton the day after it was officially opened. I only met one other cyclist but I’m sure there will be more in time.

I had decided it was time I had another long day ride and picked a nice, sunny Sunday, one of the few this year so far. I decided to cycle to utilise a little bit of the greenway. I would ride to Sion Mills in one of my occasional cycling excursions to my neighbouring county of Tyrone, one I need to explore by bike more often as it does have a lot to offer. The decision was made to visit Sion Stables where I believed there was now a museum to the linen production and the village.

I had given my Viscount Aerospace some TLC recently as I had neglected it since my accident so I decided to use it. I haven’t really ridden any of my road bikes very much since my accident really. I’ve been happy pottering around on my Brompton, my Moulton, my Rudge, my single speed Raleigh Pioneer and my Townsend mountain bike if I needed low gearing but I have decided I would like to get back into using my road bikes again as you can cover ground faster for less effort.

I made my way to Castlefinn via minor roads and then joined the greenway, heading east towards Lifford. I would only be on it for a few miles though as I was planning to turn off at Cloghfin and cross the River Finn and into the village of Clady, just inside the Co. Tyrone border. From there, I would turn on to the Bellspark Road. I possibly would have used different roads if it had been a busy weekday as this road is often used as rat run by traffic trying to avoid Strabane but I felt it should be quiet on a Sunday morning. This proved to be the case.

There is a whole labyrinth of minor roads around this area, all quite hilly but all pretty scenic in their own way, all looking green and lush at this time of year. I would stay on the Bellspark road before turning in through the Glebe village and another small road to take me into the heart of the village of Sion Mills.

Sion Mills is one of those villages where time seems to have stood still. It is a tree-lined industrial village and now a conservation area. It was founded as a model linen village in 1835 by the Herdsman brothers. The name comes from the adjacent townland, Sidheán or Sián, which translates as Fairy Mound. The town is built on the River Mourne and the river had powered industry here since the seventeenth century. The Herdsman brothers converted an old flour mill into a linen spinning mill in 1835. There is artwork called The Flax Spinner to commemorate the village’s heritage.

My first stop was to be the old linen mill itself, accessed down a side road from the main A5 which passes through the village. The original part of the buildings date from 1835 but the mill was greatly expanded in the 1850s. The main five-storey part of the mill building was designed in the 1850s by William Lynn of Lanyon, Lynn & Lanyon of Belfast and built by James McCracken of Derry. Further extensions were built in the 1880s. The mill lum (chimney) was built in 1866 and stands 135 feet tall. The various factory buildings have a floor space of 200,000 square feet and at its peak, 1,200 people worked here. The mill continued in use until 1989, when it was abandoned in favour of a new, modern mill built nearby. All things must end and Herdsman’s ceased production in Sion Mills in 2004, bringing the final curtain down on a 170 years of linen spinning heritage and tradition.

Today, the derelict buildings have an eerie, melancholy air and I can’t help but feel a sense of sadness as I survey the broken windows and missing roof of these beautiful old buildings which were a hive of industrial activity for almost two centuries. Several generations of the same families worked here and the farmers of the surrounding area grew the lint which supplied the mill. Now the far east can do it cheaper than we can.

I wandered around the grounds of the mill and looked in the broken windows at the empty space where people once worked. The various bits of ruined and rusting machinery scattered around the yard. It is a surprising peaceful place, with little to break the silence. I had a long conversation with a local woman who was walking her dog. The topic of conversation turning to what would become of the mill buildings. A very good question indeed. I would hate to see even more of our industrial heritage being pulled down but it’s difficult to see any other future for it. With enough vision and investment, it could make a lovely hotel or apartment block but I doubt the village is big enough for such a large development. It would be a shame to lose the chimney too, as so few are left now.

Where I was standing surveying the mill was where the Great Northern Railway line once passed and where Sion Mills station once stood. It was originally called the Londonderry and Enniskillen railway and started in 1842 to link Enniskillen to the port of Derry. It was actually only the third railway in the country. Dublin to Kingstown (modern-day Dún Laoghaire) was the first, followed by the Ulster Railway which linked Armagh with Derry. The Herdman family gave up some of their land so the railway line would pass the mill, which of course made it easier for them to transport their wares. I understand the station was demolished by GNR after the line closed in 1965.

I spent some time cycling along the riverside paths and through the woods, attracting some strange looks from people on mountain bikes but this is what people did before mountain bikes became a thing – people used their normal bikes on the “rough stuff” and a gravel path is no real trouble on 32mm tyres although I never really like drop handlebars on loose surfaces.

I spent some time wandering around the village, admiring the many beautiful buildings and bought some lunch in the shop. I have often passed through the village on my way to Omagh or Dublin but this is the first time I ever took the opportunity to explore it. This is another example of not appreciating what is close to home and far-away hills looking greener.

The village was built by the Herdsmans for the benefit of their workers. They built the school, the Churches and leisure facilities. They aimed to found a community which would be housed, educated, moral, temperate and God-fearing. The cricket grounds and tennis courts were created to celebrate the mill’s centenary in 1935. Cricket was always popular in the village. I don’t know anything about cricket but Sion Mills was to witness one of Ireland’s greatest sporting achievements in 1969 when the Gentlemen of Ireland defeated the all-conquering West Indies cricket team against all the odds.

I went to the Sion Stables where I thought there was supposed to be an exhibition to see but it seemed to be closed even though their Facebook page said it opened on Sundays at 12:30. I then started to make my way home, retracing my steps to the Glebe, before taking a different and longer route through Castlederg and past the Alt Presbyterian Church to reach Castlefinn again.

I then rode the greenway the whole way to Lifford. This is where it starts to go wrong as you end up on the road again just in time for a busy roundabout or else ride on the pavement which is far from ideal. I’m sure they’ll do something to improve things in time. From Lifford, I took minor roads to reach Ballindrait and made my way home from there. My day’s riding in excess of sixty miles and I enjoyed it and I enjoyed getting out an about on my old Viscount again. It’s such a smooth bike to ride and after a little fettling after being laid up, it rides like a dream. I haven’t ridden much with downtube shifters in a long time but they become second nature again very quickly. I hope to get many more rides out on it over the summer.