Mourne Wall renovation will begin this month

        The Mourne Wall above the Pot of Legawherry. Picture by John Manley

IRELAND: FURTHER repairs are to be carried out the Mourne Wall, which this year celebrates 100 years since its completion.

NI Water has said it plans to spend £2.5m on upgrades to the 22-mile wall following a previous restoration programme, involving some 600 repairs, was completed in 2018.

Built by the poor between 1904 and 1922 in what was an early welfare-to-work scheme, the wall formed the boundary of Belfast Water Commissioners 9,000-acre water catchment which feeds the Silent Valley and Ben Crom reservoirs, and provides Belfast's water supply.

The dry stone, granite wall has been a listed building since 1996 and is owned by NI Water.

The latest restoration is to begin this month.

The government-owned business, according to NI Water's Michael Donnelly, conducted surveys along the full wall's length in 2016 before beginning its prior programme as part of a commitment to the "Protocol for the Care of the Government Historic Estates."

We were always mindful that the wall could deteriorate more in the future, so NI Water put money in place to carry out follow-up studies and repairs, he said. "That initial round of funding saw over 600 wall repairs performed in less than two years, which was a tremendous achievement," he said.

In the beginning, repairs on Slieve Muck and Rocky Mountain will be part of phase two's repairs, which will once more be carried out by Geda Construction in collaboration with nearby stonemasons from Thomas Rooney & Sons.

When the weather permits, stone for the repairs has already been bagged in the Slieve Binnian quarry and will be transported by helicopter to both locations.

NI Water and its collaborators were praised by Infrastructure Minister John O'Dowd for maintaining the landmark.

Mr. Donnelly applauded the support of organisations including the Mourne Heritage Trust, NI Environment Agency, the National Trust, and the Trustees of Mourne that share responsibility for the conservation of the Mournes.

We anticipate finishing as many repairs as we can over the next years and using a proactive stitch-in-time strategy that will involve carefully removing and rebuilding any weak spots in the wall to increase its longevity "he stated.

We ask the public to be conscious of this ongoing activity and the prospect of helicopters being in the vicinity because the Mournes draw thousands of people each month.