Battle is on to stop NI Water from knocking down ‘historic’ barracks
A CAMPAIGN has been launched to prevent Northern Ireland Water from demolishing a “historically significant” wartime building at the former Shackleton Army barracks in Ballykelly.
Norman Thorpe, curator of Shackleton Museum, said the importance of saving the building cannot be underestimated.
He said: “NI Water want to build reed beds on that site and they are going to knock down a building that was the World War Two Operations Block, so it is historically significant.
“Once this building is gone an important piece of local history will be gone, so we are doing what we can to save the building.
“A petition we have just launched has already been signed by almost 500 people who recognised the importance of saving the building.
“The base was used during the Battle of the Atlantic and then during the Cold War it was used again and this building was the main operations block during this important operation.
“It is important to protect what we can in Shackleton because Ballykelly is the last remaining airfield that was used during the war. The airfields at Maydown, Eglinton, Limavady and Toome have all disappeared.
“We want the building to be saved and passed over to Shackleton Museum where we can preserve and show the artefacts relating to Shackleton barracks.”
A spokeswoman for NI Water said that it was unaware of any historical significance of any buildings on the site, but that it is willing to meet others to dis- cuss the plans for the site. She said: “Within the area of land NI Water has purchased at the former Shackleton barracks MoD site, there are some old buildings whose origins may stretch back to World War Two.
“NI Water has no knowledge of these buildings being listed and has no knowledge of them being of historical significance. The buildings can be observed to have been heavily modified and extended over the years and now incorporate PVC windows, roofs and rain water goods.
“It was anticipated that these will be demolished to facilitate the construction of a Wetland Treatment facility.”