Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Last working windmill in Ulster gears up for £1.2m
Visitor centre planned for unique site
NORTHERN Ireland’s only original working windmill has been granted £1.2million in regeneration funds.
Ballycopeland Windmill in Millisle, Co Down, will receive a new visitor centre and coffee shop, a new access road, car park and barn, as well as seeing existing cottages restored.
The Rural Tourism Scheme at the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs is to fund the project, which was approved this week by Ards North Down Borough Council.
Ballycopeland is the only structure here with its original mechanism still existing. It is also the last remaining windmill in the world with the patented Hooper Roller Reefing gear – the system for operating the blinds on the sails on calmer days.
The plastered and white-washed tower is a landmark in the area and the last mill out of 100 which once stood in Co Down.
Constructed between the 1780s and 1790s, it appeared on the first Ordnance Survey maps of the area in the 1830s. It processed grains until World War One and has been a public asset since 1937. Although disused for many decades, the old windmill was restored to working order again in the 1970s.
The site is currently managed by the Historic Environment Division at the Department for Communities.
It is not a listed building but the windmill structure is categorised as a regionally-important industrial heritage site. A small visitor centre is currently located inside the millers house, where the kiln and drying floor remain in their original positions. DUP councillor Eddie Thompson said: “This will be a great tourist asset when it gets running. It’s really exciting to see this plan.
“There is no other windmill in the world like the one we have in Millisle and I am sure we will reap the benefits when we develop this site.”
Backing Mr Thompson’s proposal, Alliance alderman Deborah Girvan suggested he should be allowed to unveil the new centre.
No objections to the plan were forwarded by any of the relevant official bodies and the the likely impact of the proposal on biodiversity was deemed to be low.
The council planning committee was told there was one letter of objection from a local resident who referred to the bid as a “complete contradiction to the established character of the area”.
They added visitors using the new coffee shop could look into nearby bedrooms.
However, a council officer concluded residents “should not suffer any significant impact from the coffee shop”.
The proposal is expected to receive full ratification at the next Ards North Down council meeting.