Historic clock tower due to be restored collapses

One of Northern Ireland’s best-known historic structures has collapsed just two weeks after a process to compulsorily purchase the building was completed. The clock tower in the Co Tyrone village of Sion Mills collapsed on Monday into derelict stables days after Strabane District Council had served a dangerous structure notice on the buildings. The clock tower and the stables and gate house were built for the Herdman family in the 1880s and yesterday Cecilia Ferguson, a member of the Herdman family, said she was deeply saddened by the collapse of the tower. “It was just so beautiful. It was built for the Herdman mills family in the 1880s by the English architect William Unsworth. It used to strike the quarters and was fitted with the Westminster chimes.

The Irish Times