Fethard community on high alert to protect important structures

Community groups in Fethard are alarmed that two buildings in the town they contend should be publicly owned are now up for sale.

Fethard Community Council and Fethard Historical Society are now campaigning to have both the Watergate Mill property and the Court Castle property taken off the market.

They believe that both properties should be in public or community ownership, as the Watergate Mill property is crucial to finding a solution to the town's flooding problems, while the Court Castle was a 15th-century fortified tower house of enormous historical importance.

Four years ago, community groups highlighted the need to have the Watergate property remain in public ownership and held discussions with Tipperary County Council but are now surprised that the property has been put on the market.

“Fethard Community Council and allied sub-groups of this Council are very disappointed that the local authority did not inform them that the mill was being put back on the Market in recent weeks. Fethard Community Council met with TippCoCo in 2022 at the mill premises. At this meeting they were told that there were no deeds for the building and that title would need to be established before the local authority could address new ownership. However, an understanding was reached at the meeting that the Community Council would be given first option to acquire the mill when title deeds had been established,” said Alan Moore of Fethard Community Council.

He said the groups were now calling on the council to take the Watergate Mill property off the market with immediate effect to allow the Community Council to explore funding opportunities including a community GoFundMe initiative to buy the property.

“We are confident that we can raise the necessary money given the high level of community interest in Watergate Mill and the proven track record of our community in successfully acquiring and restoring similar properties to date,” said Alan Moore.

“We are very concerned that despite our discovery that the mill premises has the potential to significantly alleviate the flood risk to the Valley area of Fethard, Tipperary County Council appears intent on selling the property to a private buyer. Such a sale would mean that it would be impossible to reopen a sluice channel which is part of the property, and also one of the blocked arches in Watergate bridge. This missed opportunity would mean that an easily implementable measure to reduce flooding would be permanently lost and significant public money would then need to be spent on expensive and unsightly flood defence walls and barriers,” said Alan Moore.

The Castle Inn premises in Fethard is due for auction on September 24 by BidX1 auctioneers, with Fethard locals concerned that the adjoining Court Castle is on the folio.

“The Court Castle is the most dominant castle building in the town. It is the fulcrum of the medieval heritage of the town.It should be in public ownership,” said a member of Fethard Historical Society.

Bid X1 auctioneers have been contacted by The Nationalist to confirm if Court Castle is in the folio fo the sale of the Castle Inn in Fethard and have not responded.