Within the sound of Bow bells,
A cockney child is born
A Lisburn child in my young days
Heard the blare of the old mill horn.
I like the chime of church bells
Or the roar of a nearby sea
But I was born near the old mill horn
That sound means home to me.

I started in Stewart's at fourteen, but I think the mill was in my blood long before that. I'm not saying I LIKED it, but it was, with all its faults, like the town, a part of me.

Dabbler
I too was born and reared beside the mill,our lives revolved around the mill horn, knockers up and footfall in the mornings. As a child in the late 40s I remember the workers coming the "Twelfth week" to Hilden mill to get their wages. Then they only had one week´s holiday and on that Friday afternoon they had to come to the dining room to be paid. The first time I entered the "Satanic mill" was when the workers had a "join" to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elisabeth and they were allowed to bring their offspring to celebrate.
donald

Dabbler, when you worked in Stewart's Mill did you know a Willie (Billy) Irwin who lived in Bachelor's Walk and his son Geordie who was my father ? It seems just after I was born my Aunt went to the mill and told my Granda wee Margaret would not live but I'm still here ! Margaret

margaret,
have mentioned this before, but a young billy irwin and i were friends and walked to brownlee school every day and back again in afternoon , unless playing football. we also attended wallace high as well. i lived in mcKeown street, next to batchelors walk. the billy irwin i knew moved to canada with his family at age about 14. he lived in batchelors walk.

Tom, Billy Irwin lives in ontario. He is listed on the exiles site. His Father Jack has just passed away and his mother (Doris Mccartney) has moved into a granny flat at Billy's home. Aunt Doris is well into her ninties and has just stopped driving. She visited Jack every day until his death. Cathy his sister has just moved to the same area. Margaret

Dabbler, that's a nice wee poem. True, as well. All we Lisburn people lived by the sound of the horn. When it sounded in the morning, it was time to get up; 12.45 was lunch-time and by 1.30 the workers had better be inside or they were locked out. 6 pm was the last horn of the day and the workers surged out onto the line, up Mill Street, onto the Low Road and many got the mill buses out into the country areas.

A whole lifetime lived by the sound of the mill horn.

I miss it.

Would the Billy Irwin you are talking about be the same guy who was in the CLB with me during the war. Mauri

Here is a question for you former mill workers, while we are all familiar with the following mills
Stewarts- Antrim Placd

Island Mill-Canal Street

Barbours-Hilden
There was one more mill that closed down durning the depression (in the 30s) but remained standing untill well after the 2nd World was, in fact American troops were billeted in it for awhile even though it was over run by rats,in fact there were complaints about the racket made by some soldiers shooting them. What am I talking about??. No prize for the winner. Mauri

Margaret
I do not recall your relatives. I led a very blinkered life. I knew but few outside Number 3 Spinning Room and the Reeling Room.
Like Ann and Donald, I remember those early days with nostalgia. And Tom from McKeown Street knew several people I knew, including my cousins from Antrim Place. Distance lends enchantment to the view. Had I remained there, the names would doubtless hold less interest for me.

mauri,
the billy irwin i was referring to wasn't in clb during the war. we
both would have been enrolled in brownlee just at the end of the war.
hope all is well with your eyes tom

Hi Mauri, Would you have Mill Brook in mind, I remember it very well as the yanks were very kind with gum and Hershey bars for the kids and I think they were kind to the local girls with nylons etc, they had a shooting range on the middle bank were they used different calibers of ammunition which we use to dig out of the bank after a shooting exercise they were inclined to be a bit careless as sometimes we would have picked up a live one amongst the cartridges it was a great playground for us and brings back many happy memories, Regards Ted

http://www.lisburn.com/oldphotographs/Photo_pages/the-old-mill.html
I think this is a photo of the old mill
donald

Ted, my late Aunt Ellie worked in the mill at the bottom of Millbrook. If I'm correct, that cannot be the mill that Mauri is talking about. I remember most of the workers had a "book" in Mrs Gilmore's shop, including my aunt. They bought goods, including cigarettes, during the week, and paid the bill at the end of the week. I remember many a time running up to Gilmore's to get cigarettes for my aunt in the evening, when she had run out. She always told me to buy myself a quarter lb of sweets. I did, and they were mainly chocolate toffees.

Congratulations Ann & Ted, Millbrook Mill it is. Located just across the river or stream from the Island MIll. In fact during the war I was in the CLB drum and bugle band and we used to practice at the Island Mill, if the weather was bad we would be in the dining room and ififf it was OK we would marchj around the road around the Mill grounds which also took us past Millbrook Mill where the American troops would be waving and yellingas as we marched past.Sam Waring our C.O. was the Manager of the Island Millso thats how we got to practice there. Mauri s

Mauri, Ted was correct but I stand corrected. I'm grateful to Ted, though, because all my life I thought my aunt worked in a mill at the bottom of Millbrook. I was a child at the time and never thought or would have been interested in asking where she actually worked. All I knew was that she came up Millbrook on her way home.

On reflection now, she may have worked in the Island Mill. I think there was access to the Island Mill via Millbrook, but I am only aware of this fact now. Ted my be able to answer.

My aunt Bella was a weaver in the Island Mill and I knew that. However, I never thought to place my aunt Ellie in the same workplace, all because she came home via Millbrook.

Ann
there was a footbridge from Millbrook over the Lagan to the Island mill
donald

Ann, Remind me were was Gilmore's shop I'm thinking was there a wee shop on the right hand side looking down Millbrook or am I imagining it, of course Donald has answered your question , regarding the mill in question I never remember any one working in it! Regards Ted

Ted, absolutely correct. Mrs Gilmore had a wee shop, which she ran from her house really if my memory is correct. It was about half or third way down Millbrook on the right hand side.

There was another lady down Millbrook who did alterations to clothes and she lived not too far from Gilmore's. This woman was called Mrs Marley I think. I wrote a wee piece one time about my mother calling to get some item of clothing repaired. She did this frequently enough and I was usually with her. Mrs Marley and her house used to scare me. The lady dressed in long, dark clothes and she had white hair put up high on her head. The hallway we entered was long and dark before entering the sitting room where the sewing was carried out. This room, too, with the piles of clothes had a strange smell and I always clung to my mother's coat.

Funny how you remember things.

Donald, I know you are younger than me, so I am always amazed that you know things about the area that I didn't. Maybe boys got around more in those days or else I had no interest in what was around me. Good for you anyhow.

Did you eat your asparagus and steak?

Vegetables being my favourite food, I always put them first. Always eat them first as well. You know I don't eat red meat anyhow, only a wee fillet steak a few times a year.

Ann
Yes and I enjoyed it immensely. Tomorrow evening we are going to a local restaurant which has been taken over by a Yugoslavian couple. Everyone who has been there praise the quality of the food. I am very fond of Greek food also. We go to a Greek restaurant here also, mostly at lunch time as the food is cheaper. About 4 weeks ago we went there one evening after going to see the film Philomena and really enjoyed it. My appetite is returning, a good sign
donald

Donald, glad to hear you're feeling better. When you can eat you're all right.

We very rarely go out for meals. I think it's more a habit now than anything else. Even when in Lisburn town, I cannot get himself to go in for a cup of tea, never mind lunch. Another wee rare thing about THIS man.

Thanks Ann I remember it now quite clearly, regarding the tailoress there were quite a few home industries like that Mum use to use Maud Macneice's for alterations etc which was just across the road,
Regards Ted

Ann, another well known terrace house tailor was Sammy Marshall in Church Street. He would mend and alter trousers etc. If I remember correctly his workshop was his front room. Old Testament framed prints hanging on the walls made it a very sombre place.Aidan.

I wrote several years ago that I remember John Abbott living in Bullick's Court. Apparently he was at one time a tailor. That must have been close to a century ago, as John was an old man when he gave me tuppence for fetching his snuff seventy years ago.

The tailoress that I remember was Mrs Cowan on the Warren Park,I was often sentround to her with clothes to be altered. In the late 40s her husband died and she married Bertie Cowan one of her stepsons and moved to Austalia. I visited them a couple of times just outsde Melbourne. Mauri

Dabbler, my granny loved her snuff. She kept it in an old Colman's Mustard tin (minus the wrapper) and stored it near the fire to keep it dry I suppose. I can still see her tapping the lid, opening the tin and snuffing up one nostril, then the next. Even though we bought her fancy snuffboxes, they all ended up as trinkets. She preferred the old mustard tin. As a child, sometimes my granny would offer me a tiny bit of snuff as a joke. It only made me sneeze. The snuff never made her sneeze at all. We never thought anything of her taking the snuff, just part of being our granny.

Do people still snuff?

I've heard of McNeice's, Marshall's and also John Abbot. The lady who did the alterations in Millbrook was actually called Mrs Morrow, not Marley. I remembered that later.

Does anyone remember getting pieces of material added to coats to make them longer? Also, I remember my mother leaving in shirts to have the collars turned. Times were hard then all right. If the people could see the waste now, they would turn in their graves.

Yesterday, I cleared out my wardrobes (again). I filled 3 black bin liners with clothes I no longer need nor want. It's a real sin but they're all going to the Chest, Heart & Stroke Association this morning. In fact, by the barking of the dogs at the front door, the bags have already been collected. Just had a look there. Three bags full have been collected.

My mother would not be pleased with all the excesses in clothes. She's probably looking down and saying "fool laddie". That was an expression of hers, "fool laddie". This applied to females as well as males. A bit of Ulster-Scots. I must try and remember other sayings she had as well. "Och, aye" was another one, but there were more. I'll keep these for another post.

Ann
there was another lady who did alterations who lived in Grand Street, not Mrs Magee, this lady lived alone opposite the Gorman family in the houses with a small front garden. I cannot remember her family name.
donald

Donald, it wasn't Susie Browne, was it?

susan brown had two sons jim and fred she was married to my granmothers brother killed in the 1914-1918 war.
susan liked her snuff like my grannie in lemington place.

Gregg St Boy. Who was your granny in Leamington Place? I'm sure I would have known her.

I remember Susie as an eccentric type of figure. She wore long black clothes which made her different looking to me as a child. I can still see her crossing the road from her house.