Sion Mills Church Hall, also by Unsworth, is beautifully sited in the heart of the village.
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Sion Mills Church Hall, also by Unsworth, is beautifully sited in the heart of the village.
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 Sion House just off the main street of Sion Mills was the home of the Herdman family,- owners of the mill and builders of the village. This illustration is based upon a 1950’s photograph. Today, it has lost its chimneys and glazed conservatory. The half timbered nature of the building is a result of a remodelling of a previous Italianate villa by London architect W. F. Unsworth in 1884  The former Working Men’s Institute, Sion Mills, now the Recreational Club. Built in 1895 to designs by F.W. Unsworth.
 The Gate Lodge to Sion House is further along the Main Street. Also designed by London architect F. W. Unsworth, it is half timbered and based upon Sixteenth Century English precedents.
 Alexander Terrace in Sion Mills forms one side main street opposite the green space around the church. The former mill workers cottages front rows of similar dwellings in the streets behind and give a strong and unique character to the village.
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On to Sion Mills, a beautifully laid out mill village by the River Mourne. This the Church of Ireland Church of The Good Shepherd at the centre of the Village by dating from 1909. By the English architect, W.F. Unsworth, its design is based on a church in Italy. The building sits proudly in a green space and aligns directly with a street of terraced mill workers cottages opposite.  Up over the hill from Clady past Urney Presbyterian Church. A simple T shaped Presbyterian church built to classical proportions around 1750 with applied pilasters and render probably dating from the mid nineteenth century. Date stone of 1654 commemorates the founding of the congregation.  At the end of Clady Bridge is a sculpture with coloured glass panels celebrating the heritage of the Clady and Urney area. Urney Chocolate, is illustrated on two panels. Looks good!
 326. www.Marksoftime.com
Further upstream at Clady is a magnificent bridge with nine arches. Thought to date from the late seventeenth century this crosses the River Finn linking Co Tyrone with Co Donegal. It is marked by the very large pedestrian refuges to either side of the narrow bridge. The structure was constructed at the highest fordable point of the Foyle river system and was the location of a skirmish during the Siege of Derry. The ford was the location of a battle between the O'Neill’s (Cenel Owen) and the O'Donnell’s (Cenel Conaill) in 784. Clady was called Cladyford for many years and its name in Gaelic (Claideach) means the “muddy bank of a sluggish river,  Hansard House and Grammar School, the Diamond, Lifford, Co Donegal. Demolished in the 1960’s to make way for an extension of the Council Offices next door. The school was founded in 1619 following an endowment in the will of Sir Richard Hansard, who was granted the town and surrounding area in the Ulster Plantation |
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