USBF documentary to feature harpist Lesley Magee and deserted Balnamore Mill
Date Posted: April 19, 2021
Lesley Magee: The Balnamore Harpist, an Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund 30-minute documentary, will premiere on NVTV on Wednesday 21st April at 9.00pm.
Presented by the author and broadcaster, Liam Logan, the documentary features music composed by the harpist Lesley Magee, played in the deserted Balnamore Mill, near Ballymoney, where hundreds of local people worked until its closure in 1959. Music includes North Coast and An Irish Lullaby.
The documentary was made with support from Causeway Geotech Ltd, Mick Crossey, John Green and Christopher Ward Films.
The mill was one of the largest spinning mills outside Belfast. Lesley remembers how the times were tough for the villagers who worked in harsh conditions in the mill and how her grandmother opened a tiny shop in her living room across from the mill. Her sister Linda remembers a childhood spent running about the streets of the village.
Much of the linen production at Balnamore was for export, yarn having been sent to Europe, Argentina and Brazil. Local historian, Dennis Connelly, recalls how when he was researching the history of the area, he wrote to the Architectural Society in Belfast who then visited and expressed their regrets that the site was derelict. Had they known such a site existed, they would have slapped a preservation order on it in 1959 when the mill closed. The mill was unique in its position beside the village of Balnamore. As well as the linen mill, there was a beetling mill and a small spinning mill where silk was spun when work with linen was scarce.
