The Secretary of State James Brokenshire has been urged to help save one of Ireland’s oldest remaining occupied thatched cottages from ruin.
Seacoast Cottage, close to Limavady in Co Derry, has been owned by the same family since the 1700s, and is believed to be the last cottage in Ireland featuring a roof thatched with marram grass.
Its current owners, elderly siblings Edward and Eileen Quigley, face being forced to leave the property they were born in following the failure of Stormont to provide funds reserved for historical buildings.
The roof was damaged in storms back in 2014, and although temporary repairs have been made, professional thatchers have estimated the full cost of restoring and preserving the roof to be up to £130,000.
A previous offer of financial aid from the Department for Communities’ Historic Environment Fund was described as “not even close” to the amount needed, and the family have since relied on an online fundraising campaign to help restore the cottage to its former glory.
However, with just one percent of the fundraising total reached so far, the family has turned to James Brokenshire in the hope that the Secretary of State can intervene and help secure the cash needed to restore the cottage, which is included in the Built Heritage at Risk NI register – a list of vulnerable historical buildings compiled by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society.
Seacoast Cottage is understood to be the only building on the register both occupied and classed as “critical” in terms of repair work needed.
In a letter to Mr Brokenshire, Mark Canning, the nephew of the Quigley siblings, pleads with the Conservative MP to help, explaining how numerous politicians have promised help before failing to deliver.
“The then-newly appointed communities minister, Paul Givan of the DUP, visited the cottage with party colleagues. From what we recall and believe he did promise to help and said our project was a special case and my uncle and aunt would not have to spend another winter in such conditions,” the letter states.
Mr Canning said the unique marram thatch requires maintenance every three years to preserve it, while a spokesperson for the Department of Communities previously said an updated financial offer in relation to Seacoast Cottage was being considered, insisting thatched cottages are “priority” buildings in terms of heritage repairs.
The letter adds: “We are totally frustrated and fed up with our Northern Ireland politicians and reach out to you in desperation in the hope that you may .. get us the funds required to free these OAPs from the squalor they have been forced to live in.”
