Twelve listed or historical buildings have been destroyed or damaged in
fires since April. Deborah McAleese reports on new efforts to end the attacks

It was the last wet-spinning flax mill in Ireland, dating back to the Famine
era, but last month 176 years of history was almost wiped out in a suspected
arson attack.

The historic Herdman’s Mill in Sion Mills is one of 12 listed or important
historical buildings damaged or destroyed in fires since April.

Although this is a small percentage of the 8,500 heritage properties in
Northern Ireland, Environment Minister Alex Attwood said there has been a
worrying spike in incidents of heritage crime.

“In the previous years we maybe had one to three properties damaged by fire,
this year it is about a dozen, so we are looking at a 400% to 500% increase.
In the scale of built heritage it is a small number, but you need to
anticipate and you can’t presume it will remain that small,” said Mr
Attwood, who yesterday held a special summit on heritage crime.

This type of crime is not just arson attacks or vandalism on historic
buildings, it also includes architectural theft, removal of objects and
damage to monuments.

It is difficult to determine the true extent of the problem in Northern
Ireland as the PSNI does not gather statistics on heritage crime.

PSNI crime prevention design adviser Kenny McHugh told the summit that the
force needs a digital mapping system to identify where the province’s
heritage sites are and to develop an all-Ireland strategy to tackle the
problem.

Around 100 people took part in yesterday’s summit at Hillsborough Courthouse,
which also looked at how similar problems are being dealt with by English
Heritage.

In England the authorities have drawn up a co-ordinated plan to deal with
heritage crime after a dramatic increase in incidents, which included
200-year-old flagstones being torn up to make a rockery, a Civil War
battlefield looted by treasure hunters, churches stripped and fountains and
fireplaces stolen from historic houses.

These crimes are beginning to be taken seriously within the English courts,
with one judge jailing a man for four months for daubing graffiti on
historic landmarks in York telling him: “Given the worldwide significance of
the historic sites you damaged with graffiti, I am satisfied the offences
were so serious only a custodial sentence is appropriate.” In terms of
sentences available here, Mr Attwood said that he has been in contact with
the Lord Chief Justice to discuss the problem of heritage crime.

Mr Attwood added: “It is important that we protect and preserve as much of our
built heritage as possible and that is why I wanted to get the key players
under one roof for this summit to discuss the problem and see what more we
can do to protect our built heritage.”

Background

Since April this year 12 listed or important historical buildings have been
damaged or destroyed in suspected arson attacks. Environment Minister Alex
Attwood yesterday held a heritage crime summit to gather expert advice on
protecting special sites. Mr Attwood said: “Damage to built heritage is
damage to our economy. It is part of our bedrock that attracts people to
Northern Ireland.”