New life for old fort as tower house transformed into community hub

The future of a formerly-at-risk 19th Century tower house has been secured with the successful transformation of Culmore Fort.

Culmore Fort, in County Londonderry, has been restored for community use.

It is set to accommodate youth mental health services and host meetings for a variety of sports, heritage and cultural organisations.

Following years of planning and more than £265,000 in funding, the historic site in County Londonderry was converted for public use by the Culmore Community Partnership (CCP).

The CCP's chairman, Neil Doherty, said the restoration will be a vital resource for the whole community.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle's Mark Patterson Show, Mr Doherty said the Village Catalyst grant scheme — a collaborative initiative between the Department for Communities (DfC), the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF), the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) — helped make this vision a reality.

Additional support was also provided by The Honourable Irish Society, the Garfield Weston Foundation, and the Pilgrim Trust, he said.

Mr Doherty told the programme that the fort at Culmore was held by the Crown until 1840 when it and its surrounding lands were sold to The Honourable Irish Society, who remain its owners.

"For about 50 years, nobody had lived in it as the fort had been leased by Lough Foyle Yacht Club and was primarily a boat storage area, and it was becoming a wee bit derelict," he said.

"We have been here now six months since the work started and it has been an unbelievable change.

"The idea of taking a very old building that was out of use and changing it into something beautiful and somewhere that the community can use is fantastic."

Ryan Byrne from We Build Ireland has helped carry out the restoration and modernisation works at the fort.

"We were very fortunate to work with a very great architect in Mark Hackett who has been incredibly accommodating with the builders," he said.

"Sometimes these old buildings get restricted by the design team.

"You have to work with the building, because sometimes when you try to work against the building, that's when things can go wrong."

Ryan said Mark's vision and sensitivity to the fort's historic character ensured that every decision they carried out respected the past while also bringing to life the modern state-of-the-art plans.

Una Cooper, strategic manager of CCP, emphasised the significance of the fort's future role for the area.

"It is no longer just a historical site," she said.

"It's a safe, inclusive, space that will support young people, celebrate our culture and bring the community together.

"We are incredibly proud of what this project represents."

Northern Ireland Communities Minister Gordon Lyons welcomed the restoration of the historic fort and said it will be a huge benefit to the people of Culmore and surrounding areas.

"We are seeing more and more communities applying to Village Catalyst (grant scheme) and I am pleased that my department is able to support projects where at-risk heritage properties are being revitalised and restored for the benefit of the local community," he said.

Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister Andrew Muir said it was part-funded through his department's Tackling Rural Poverty and Social Isolation (TRPSI) Programme.

"The programme tackles rural poverty and social isolation by refurbishing neglected community-owned historic buildings for locally identified uses which provide access to services and address core community needs," he said.

"The provision of a multi-functional community facility in the Culmore area is a significant development and I'm delighted that this project will help support the local rural community for many years to come."