The beautiful Ballinderry River, running from the Sperrins through to Lough Neagh, played an important part in linen manufacturing in this area. Landmarks along the river still stand as reminders of the industry that once flourished here. One of the most well known is now a National Trust property; Wellbrook Beetling Mill. It opened in 1764 and operated until 1961. Beetling is the process of finishing woven linen by pounding it over time to create a wonderful smooth finish and sheen. It is still done commercially today by William Clark and Sons of Upperlands. The Ballinderry river powered the large water wheel on the outside of the mill at Wellbrook which drove the beetling machinery inside.
The following poem, inspired by the Ballinderry river, was written by local writer and good friend Maura Johnston.
lies secret in the quiet hills of Tyrone.
There among cobweb-crocheted whins,
a sudden spring,
a sighing gurgle - the river's begun.
Tinkling and wrinkling, rumbling and tumbling - this is the river's song.
drifting over the pearl-musselled gravel bed.
A heron hefts itself into the sky; an otter lithely
insinuates itself into the tangled river weeds.
Plaiting and purling, silkily sliding - the water wanders along.
Tinkling and wrinkling, rumbling and tumbling - this is the river's song.
Wellbrook, and the weight of wheel and weir and years,
curls and whirls in the boulder-buttoned flood.
Hiding speckled trout and snub-nosed dollaghan,
it slips on past Cookstown, cradling salmon parr and smolt.
Plaiting and purling, silkily sliding - the water wanders along.
Tinkling and wrinkling, rumbling and tumbling - this is the river's song.
Below Big Bridge and Coagh Bridge, fishermen cast and hope
and muse as feather, leaf, twig drift lazily past,
twirl into the merging dark Lissan water,
swirl as the river surges through Ballinderry,
under the footgo, into Lough Neagh at last.
Years ago rivers here like the Ballinderry suffered because of pollution from the retting process involved in linen production. Retting occurs when the outer core of the flax stem is broken down by soaking in water, which releases the fibres. Traditionally, retting can be done by laying the flax stems out in fields and allowing the dew to soak it, or by submerging the crop, often in rivers, ponds or dams. The issues with water retting methods in rivers and dams have been linked to the decline of flax growing here so we knew that this was one part of the process that we had to rethink and do differently.
We got great advice from local environmental conservation organisation Ballinderry Rivers Trust and eventually established a method of retting that does not damage the river system. We use a repurposed cheese vat and harvest rain water for the tank. Once the retting process has finished, we draw the leftover water into a slurry tanker and distribute it across the field as a cost effective fertiliser.
You can find out more about the Ballinderry River by following @ballinderryriverstrust