Walkmill Falls
Walkmill Falls
The Walkmill Falls is the location where the first mill was established in 1606 when Randal MacDonnell gave the lease of land and mill to Mathew Logan. In following years several mills would develop along the river Bush, maximising the head of water as it drops several metres between the falls at the Walkmill and the lower reaches of the village. These mills collectively led to the village being called Bushmills, the original name for the settlement was Portcaman. The Walkmill Falls were very significant in the development of the world's first public hydro-electric tramway, it was here that Anthony and William Traill built their hydro-power station, installed water turbines and generated electricity to power the tram between Portrush and Bushmills and later to the Giants Causeway.
The building where the power was generated is still standing above the river but the turbines and machinery have long gone, you can see this in the photo below (top right) across from this is the newly installed Archimedes screw water turbine station. This part of the river is referred to as the Leap Stretch and is well used by anglers. Many years ago a walk extended from the village to the Walkmill Falls with a footbridge crossing the river below Heronshaw. Although remnants of this path including old seats, footbridges, steps and access paths are still there, most of it has fallen into disrepair and access is no longer available via the Salmon Fisheries although they do still have a link to the site via permits to fish the river.
The local community have plans within their 2020 vision to try and re-establish this once beautiful walk from the village to the Walkmill Falls but until that can be achieved access is restricted as the only access route is a concrete laneway just past the Presbyterian Church on the Coleraine Road which according to the solicitor, is not a public right of way but an access to a private dwelling. Government funding was spent to improve the car park at the old generating station and to create a disabled access platform for anglers which you can see part of in the photo above (bottom left), to access this the contractor, and later disabled anglers used the 'private' lane.
Access is therefore not permitted unless by permission or I assume, an angler who has a fishing permit for the river and wishes to use the disable access platform at the top of the falls. I know this because the author of this page received a solicitor's letter regarding information on it, Quote... "There is so far as we are aware, no general public right of way on the relevant laneway and in that case you are, in effect, encouraging members of the public to trespass on our client's land. In the circumstances, we would be obliged if you would remove the relevant reference from your website" Obviously, I the author removed the relevant reference and would, of course, not encourage anyone to trespass on private land without having permission.