FLATTENED

1.5 acres of decades-old glass houses destroyed at Barnlands – leaving owner John Nangle ‘devastated’

BARNLANDS was left looking like a scene from a war movie last week after the extreme weather flattened 1.5 acres of glass houses.

The 48-year-old glass houses, which had survived several previous big freezes, collapsed under the weight of snow, leaving owner John Nangle heartbroken.

Mr Nangle, pictured right, had rented out the glass houses for shrub production. He told the Gorey Guardian he has lost his pension and that the damage is ‘not fixable at all’. He said: ‘I will demolish the damaged structures and clean up the area. I still have half an acre standing, and at least nobody got hurt. The weight of the snow brought down the structure – it just buckled. I am devastated.’

Mr Nangle has been involved with the 48-yearold glass houses since 1972. ‘The houses were put up in 1970 for Top Quality Products,’ said Mr Nangle. ‘I became manager in 1972, but then the oil crisis came in 1973.’

By the end of 1974, the price of oil in Ireland had risen from 3p to 30p a gallon.

‘Top Quality Products produced tomatoes, and the oil crisis just killed their production,’ said Mr Nangle.

After a few years away, Mr Nangle bought the glass houses in 1981 for the production of fruit and vegetables.

One year later, the ‘Big Snow of 1982’ hit Ireland. ‘During the bad snow of ’82 there was only damage on one side of the glass houses and it wasn’t even structural damage,’ said Mr Nangle. ‘The snow went along and drifted to the end and gathered in a valley.’

This time the snow lay on top of the glass houses and gathered in the gutters, crushing the beams which hold it up, leading to the dramatic flattening of the structures.

Other nurseries at Barnlands were severely hit, including O’Connors Nurseries.