New roof proposed for Great Tower of castle
Planning permission is being sought for key elements of an initiative to open up Carrickfergus Castle for wider public use.
The Department of Environment is proposing to replace the roof of the Great Tower at the medieval stronghold.
It is also seeking permission for a single storey building to accommodate education and exhibition space with toilets and storage as part of a £1.4m investment. Both proposals were publicly advertised last week.
A DOE spokesperson said: “The applications were received on 19 August and are in the early stages of the planning process. The department is awaiting responses to a number of consultations sent out and these will be fully considered in reaching a decision.”
As the Carrick Times reported earlier this year, there has been water penetration through the roof and into the walls of the tower. As well as refurbishing the historic fabric of the complex, the project also involves opening up the dungeons. There are several areas that are sometimes called dungeons: the barrel-vaulted stores in the outer ward were used as dungeons as were the stores below the Great Tower. The former have ongoing problems with water penetration.
This, according to the DOE, is not unexpected in a structure of this age “but there are challenges in balancing the conservation of the structure and finding new uses”.