Straid Corn Mill
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Small water-powered mills in locations where fast-flowing rivers could be harnessed to provide power were once a common feature throughout the countryside. These small mills provided farmers with the means to grind their grain. The farmer either paid the miller with a percentage of the meal or with cash. Mill-ground oats were used as feed for livestock and also by people for making porridge and oatbread (oatcakes).
The Straid corn mill was owned and operated by the Weir family, who had been millers there since the 17th century. The date-stone over the door shows that the present building was erected in 1852. By the 1890s the family business had expanded to include a farm, a forge and a carpenter's shop, as well as the corn mill. The mill was powered by a waterwheel 18 feet (5.5m) in diameter and the milling complex includes a corn-drying kiln, a grain store and a pair of cottages for mill workers.
Towards the end of the 19th century large quantities of cheap American and Canadian maize was imported into Ireland. The raw maize was ground into Indian, or Maize, and was fed to animals and poultry. To make it suitable for human consumption, Indian maize needed to be ground much finer than most existing small mills could manage. This finer meal, which was used for making porridge and baking flour, was usually ground in large commercial mills equipped with steel grinders.
Original location: Straid townland, Ballymena, County Antrim
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