The History of Milford...

is written in its streets of red-bricked terraced homes, A Victorian factory village with little or no trace left of its thriving industrial past. It was the linen industry of the 19th century, which resulted in the village growing up around the mill built on the River Callan by William Mc Crum in 1808. His only son Robert Garmony (RG) who built on his father’s achievements made the big breakthrough in business.

As the linen business boomed, so did RG’s innovations. His imagination was to match his profits, an extensive farm was attached to the mill and he built a school in 1860 and opened a store.

The Mc Crum residence Milford House built around 1850 and set in woodland at the edge of the village, was the marvel of the region, the first to have electricity. RG died in 1914 and his parting gift to the village was the RG Mc Crum Institute, a modern recreational centre that cost £3,000 to build, quite an astronomical figure at the time. It has now been completely refurbished, renamed Callan House, base for the flourishing Homecare NI family business. The proprietors Gerard and Mairead Mackle have also ownership of Milford House which became a private girl’s school in 1936 and renamed Manor House and have exciting new proposals for its redevelopment.