Sion Mills is a village located close to the banks of the Mourne River, in County Tyrone. It was created as a philanthropic, model village by the Herdman brothers, James, John and George in the 1830s to support the Linen Mill which they converted from a previous flour mill. Mills of various kinds had been located in the area since the Plantation due to the energy provided by the Mourne to turn the water wheels, which was equivalent to 1000 horsepower. The village now has over 40 listed buildings and recently the old Herdman's stable block from Sion House where the family all lived, has been restored and now forms a small museum and restaurant complex.
There is parking on either bank but to the East it is at the side of the Liskey Road which is both narrow and busy. For that reason I would suggest parking in the purpose built area on the West side at the start of the Mourne River Path. From there it is a short walk down part of the path near the Herdman's site. Once a beautiful set of buildings it is now sadly derelict and heavily vandalised. However, its fading splendour only serves to underline the beauty of the river area once you reach its tree-lined banks.
The cache is across a Little Bridge on top of old sluice gates in the area. The Little Bridge leads you to a viewing point where the full power of the Mourne will be there for all to see as it crashes over the weir. A gate nearby will take you closer to the river and the cache. Check the spoiler photo if stuck. As said above be careful of young geocachers if they explore the area as the river is both close and fast flowing. The cache contains only a log and bring your own pen please. Please put it back correctly!
The Little Bridges series was started by Stanthews in 2009 to highlight small footbridges in remote parts of Wiltshire. Since then the series has been expanded by others all over the country and starting to spread fast, Damian from Winter Foxes has created and updates a list of cachers who has found 10 or more little bridges and can be found here, if you would like to add to the series, please contact Stan on stanthews@aol.com and he will give you a number for your bridge, to qualify, the bridge must be a foot bridge too small for vehicles, please make sure your title exactly matches “Little Bridges # xx then name” including spaces so it will get picked up and added to Damian’s list.