laurelvale was founded in the 1850s by thomas sinton jp (1826–1887) to house the workers in his linen mill of "thomas sinton & co. ltd", which was in the village. at its height, sintons' mill had over 1000 workers. the mill has since been demolished. the company remained in family ownership until 1945 when it was taken over by the ministry of defence and operated by "hoffmans" (who made ball bearings for gun turrets). the sinton family also ran mills and bleach-works in tandragee, killyleagh, tullylish and at ravarnet outside hillsborough, county down.