Iconic mill levelled at last

Going, going, gone


Iconic mill levelled at Westport Quay

Áine Ryan

THE building has been part of the Westport Quay skyline for over 110 years and if the walls of the seven-storey high Pollexfen Mills could tell a tale, it would be one of a busy harbour where the oceans were still the main highways to and from the craggy coastline of the west of Ireland and beyond.    
While it may not be as dramatic as the demolition of the Bord na Móna towers in Bellacorrick in 2007, its destruction over the last two weeks truly closes the chapter on the Quay’s narrative as a port. Serendipitously, the old mill, which was located on the quayside on Roman Island or the Point, as it is known locally, was operational until the 1960s and  the last of the many such mills in the area to close. That is according to local historian,  Aiden Clarke, who confirmed the fact that it was known as Hall’s Mill since he can remember.
Mr Clarke said: “While it has been an eyesore for a long time, local people also have a sentimental attachment to it.” He recalled that there had been a tragedy in the 1950s when a local man was killed while working.
Owned by the Hughes Group since 1995, there had been plans to build a hotel on the one-and-a-half acre site but these have been shelved now for some time. Contributing factors were, undoubtedly, the economic crash and a stalled conceptual project to develop a marina, which was the subject of a feasibility study grant-aided in 2001 by the then Minister for the Marine Frank Fahey at the Quay.     

No plans
Speaking last week, Cathal Hughes said: “There are no plans for any development at the moment. We decided to tidy up the site as it was derelict and an eyesore, as has been noted in some of the Westport Tidy Towns’ competition reports. It was part of the Westport skyline for so long but I think most of us will be happy to see it gone.”
Derelict for many years, the Pollexfen grain company originally opened its mill at Westport Quay in 1904. It was sold on the R&H Hall, still international grain exporters today, some time later. The six-story silo was incorporated to the rear of the building and, reportedly, much of the machinery remained in the seven-storey mill until recent times.
Dr Ollie Whyte Snr, who has become Westport’s de facto digital archivist, has recorded every step of the demolition by the giant Liebherr machine, which he has likened to ‘one of the dinosaurs from the film Jurassic Park’.
Contractors, Tinnelly Demolition, from Northern Ireland, own the Liebherr 954 28-metre high-reach excavator, which is the largest such machine in Ireland. The demolished stone will be crushed and levelled on the site.