Skip to content

Construction begins on Saintfield heritage park

Cormac Campbell
BBC News NI
Saintfield Community Association The ruins of a stone cottage, and a windmill tower. Saintfield Community Association
The sails of the windmill were ripped off in 1839 and never replaced

Work has begun on a new £1m heritage park in Saintfield at the site of an old windmill which was damaged in a storm nearly 200 years ago.

The sails of the windmill were ripped off on 6 January 1839 during a hurricane, known locally as the Night of the Big Wind.

The project is being led by the village's Community Association with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The team behind the project hope it will be open to the public by the end of 2025.

A small digger points its hammer at a wall. In the distance is the ruins of a castle.
Diggers created an entrance by removing a retaining wall on Wednesday morning

The three-acre park is also home to an early 19th Century flour mill and miller's cottage.

The land for the park was bought in 2020 by American benefactor David Moffett, whose ancestors once lived in the cottage.

A section of the former Belfast and County Down Railway track also runs through a corner of the site.

A woman with light coloured medium length hair stands in a field with ruins of a castle in the background. The sky is blue, and she is wearing a green blazer with white shirt underneath.
Diane Goodwin said it was an important place for the heritage of Saintfield

Diane Goodwin, the park's community engagement officer, said it would be an important facility for the whole village.

"It provides an important place for the heritage of Saintfield but also a green space that the people of Saintfield can enjoy nature and the biodiversity of the area, as well as the history and heritage this place has to offer," she said.

The site backs on to the County Down village's existing community and sports hub.

Diggers began work on Wednesday morning to create an entrance by removing a retaining wall.

As well as focusing on the built heritage of the site, the park hopes to enhance the biodiversity of the area, with more than 100 trees already planted.