Industrial heritage news for 2025
The Irish Independent has a property piece about Yeomanstown Mill, Co. Kildare, which is for sale with an asking price of EUR1.6million.
Over 20 years ago, I organised an IH tour of North Kildare for the IHAI and this site was one of the places visited, its existence having been brought to my attention by a family member.
I recently posted about the GoFundMe campaign for Elphin Windmill, to raise funds for repair to the damaged sails, caused by Storm Eowyn.
Today, I put my money where my mouth is and donated EUR2,000 to the campaign.
It has finally happened – the long talked about memorial to the female shirt factory workers in Derry has been unveiled.
The Derry Journal reports that representatives of former shirt factory workers were given the honour of unwrapping the memorial in an area beside the Guildhall in Derry City.
A GoFundMe campaign to facilitate the repair of the damage caused to Elphin Windmill during Storm Eowyn has been setup and can be accessed here.
Per the Belfast Telegraph, the on off saga of the Commissioners of Irish Lights proposals to modernise the lighting arrangements in St. John’s Point Lighthouse in Co. Down continues, with local residents objecting to the replacement of the fundamentally unsafe mercury based rotation mechanism and light with LED lights and a ball bearing based rotation mechanism, citing a range of spurious arguments against this.
There are many examples of former lighthouse lights preserved as static exhibits in adjacent (and non adjacent) areas and I would suggest that if the local community wish to have a known toxin in their community, they should be facilitated to have the mechanism preserved at a site in the community in the community/council ownership, with all the associated civil liability for same on the community/council if the mercury leaks.
Armaghi.com reports on a refusal to grant planning permission to convert a former reservoir in Banbridge into a house.
The applicant had sought to construct a new build house above ground and incorporate the former reservoir into the structure as a basement.
Another day, another greenway. This time in Co. Down, from Newtownards to Bangor.
At first the headline on insidermedia.com had me confused, stating:
“Construction starts on £5.6m Newtownards to Bangor Greenway – will utilise former railway track”.
Was there a heretofore unrecorded railway line from Newtownards to Bangor? A quick look at my own gazetteer enlightened me. The plan is to use the trackbed from Newtownards to Conlig (also known as Whitespots) and head across country from there to Bangor.
Storm Éowyn has taken a toll on the Elphin Windmill in Co. Roscommon.
The Roscommon Herald reports that the storm has ripped the wooden sails off the windmill.
No, not an evening in a rural Irish pub (I am teetotal).
RTE (and others) are reporting that Diageo, owners of the Guinness brand since 1997, are exploring a spin off of the iconic Irish brand as a stand alone entity.
After a false start in October 2024, when the parent company of H&W was placed into administration (but not the Belfast shipyard nor its 3 sister companies), the BBC reports that H&W has now been placed into administration as part of the process of the companies being taken over.