IN Dungiven, a former police station that features bomb-proof concrete walls has become a place of safety for a family who fled the war in Ukraine.
The structure first opened in the 1920s shortly after partition, becoming more heavily fortified during the Troubles.
Bought by Dungiven Presbyterian Church in 2016, ‘The Station’ is now used for church activities and is one of many militaristic structures across Northern Ireland that have softened or disappeared since the Good Friday Agreement.
In 2001, the PSNI inherited 140 police stations from the RUC but a police spokesperson said that in 2023 there are currently 45 operational police stations.
British army checkpoints along the border were also removed following the 1998 peace deal, with the last of the military watchtowers dismantled in 2006.
Progress has been slower in other areas, with the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) revealing last year that over 100 peace wall barriers were still in place across Northern Ireland.
Speaking to The Irish News, the Rev Clive Glass in Dungiven explained how times had changed for the better.
“The old police station would have had five bedrooms so we thought it would be an ideal opportunity to host a family of six from Ukraine,” he said.
“They’ve been with us since last July and we’ve had great support from the congregation and local community.”
By the time the church bought the building, he said a lot of the “imposing” protective structures had been removed and community relations were already in a positive place.
“We’ll continue to keep the Ukrainian family with us as long as they need, they’ve been a great blessing to the congregation,” he said.
“We just see the building as a positive thing for the church and community now.”
The church’s Clerk of Session Graham Semple (71) has lived in Dungiven his entire life.
“I remember there was an explosion at the old police station in the late 1970s. As our church backs on to it, it blew out all our stained-glass windows and it lifted the roof off the minor hall,” he said.
“We got it fixed up but then it was blown up again, and a few years later the windows started to sag. The stained-glass people said the bomb had sucked the windows in and out and broke the steel.
“So we had to replace them twice. The shooting of Robert McPherson (the 25-year-old RUC constable was shot by the INLA in Dungiven’s Main Street in 1975) didn’t help either.”
Now in happier times, he remembers the day the Ukrainian family travelled to Northern Ireland last year.
“They actually arrived on July 12, you couldn’t write it, so we took the minibus to Aldergrove to pick them up. It’s such a contrast from the station being bombed to becoming a very safe environment for the family. It’s worked out really well.”
Elsewhere, plans are also under way to transform another former police station in Cushendall into a digital hub to be named ‘The Barracks’ – allowing more freedom for residents to live and work remotely in the area.
The community organisation Grow the Glens announced the purchase in December, with works estimated to cost around £470,000 already under way.
Previously, the station was most remembered as the scene of the 1977 murder of RUC sergeant Joseph Campbell (49) – whose family believe he was killed by rogue elements of the security forces colluding with the UVF killer Robin Jackson.
While time and a changed security climate has transformed many structures, one of Northern Ireland’s most heavily protected police stations in Crossmaglen remains in place.
A now infamous visit by the Chief Constable Simon Byrne in 2019 caused controversy, when he posed for a photo with officers holding automatic weapons outside the building.
He later described the station as like “a relic from the Cold War,” and a review of policing in south Armagh in 2021 concluded the station should be closed.
Looking forward, he said he was hopeful that a new facility could be built that is “more steel and glass and less about concrete”.
