Charity to host garden party marking 150 years in Killough

Charity to host garden party marking 150 years in Killough

20 June 2018

THE Charles Sheils Charity in Killough is celebrating 150 years of providing charitable service to those in need in Co Down.

On Friday the private housing charity will mark the event and the completion of a major refurbishment programme with a garden party.

Among those in attendance will be representatives of the governing bodies, former and existing residents, former and existing local board members and the many friends of the charity.

There will be a marquee, refreshments and music along with a commemorative tree planting ceremony and the unveiling of a commemorative plaque.

The Charles Sheils Charity was established by statute in 1864 and amended in 1866 with five complexes in Ireland.

Four are in Northern Ireland, at Killough, Carrickfergus, Armagh and Dungannon, with a fifth in Dublin. The flagship Killough complex was opened in 1868 at the bequest of a local man, Charles Sheils, who had bequeathed his entire fortune for the building of alms houses.  

Sheils was born in Killough in 1782, but spent most of his working life in Liverpool where he began as a general shipping and commission merchant.

In 1819 he entered a trans-Atlantic partnership and his mercantile firm became very successful with premises in both Liverpool and New York. By 1829 it had become one of the five largest mercantile firms in Liverpool and as a result Sheils amassed a large fortune.

In his will, compiled in 1846, Charles succinctly outlined his intentions: “I propose building alms houses...first, to relieve as many as I can of those who from their former lives are entitled to a better provision in old age than the workhouse and secondly, with the hope (should my scheme work as well as I expect it will do) that this little move may be followed by others, who even at this moment are anxious to assist the poor people, but find a difficulty in knowing how it can be accomplished.” 

The Killough complex comprises 31 grade B1 listed buildings which have been fully renovated and restored over the last five years with the result that they are now adequate for the needs of residents in the 21st century.

This five-year period saw substantial physical works involving demolition of 1980s extensions and the addition of new and more in keeping extensions, the provision of new roofs, chimneys and in some cases amalgamation of houses. In addition, full rewiring, insulation and new plumbing and modernising the sewerage system were also undertaken.

As late as 2012, the Killough houses were in such a dilapidated state, with several houses being almost derelict, that the charity’s Central Board had to decide whether to abandon the site completely or spend a very substantial amount of money to restore them.

The governors made the courageous decision to restore the Killough houses, championed by the wise foresight of one of the governors, Mr William Gillespie OBE.

Grants were made available from the then Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and a a new superintendent was appointed to manage the Killough complex. In total, the charity has invested just under £3 million in the renovation project.

A spokesman for the Charles Sheils charity said: “Charles Sheils was ahead of his time and his vision for a charity, which was entirely independent of religious or political opinion, continues to this day, despite the political and religious upheavals of the 19th and 20th century in Ireland.

“The Charity continues in the form Charles set down in his original bequest for the benefit of Killough and the wider hinterland of Co Down.”