NORTHERN IRELAND ministers have proved powerless to stop the illegal demolition of one of the most important historic buildings in Londonderry. The vast Victorian Tillie & Henderson clothing factory — mentioned by Karl Marx in Das Kapital — is listed Grade B plus, the equivalent of a Grade II* listed building in England.

It is a major landmark at the end of the bridge over the River Foyle into the city and is one of a dozen buildings in Londonderry to have the top A or B plus listing, on account of its pioneering cast-iron construction as well as its prominent position and imposing appearance.

The demolition has been unanimously opposed by Derry City Council. Strong opposition has also come from the SDLP and from Sinn Fein. John Hume, the SDLP leader, wrote a university thesis on the Londonderry clothing industry.

Demolition began without consent last weekend following a series of fires in December that destroyed the roof of the textile mill but left the imposing red-brick walls and internal cast-iron construction substantially intact. The owners of the site, Dr Diljit Rana, is seeking permission to build an hotel on the site.

The Mayor of Londonderry, Councillor Kathleen McCloskey, says: “This was once the largest shirt factory in Europe and its demolition will leave a void in a most historic part of the city. The Minister for the Environment must now act to ensure that historic buildings of such significance are in future protected from developers.”

Caroline Dickson of the Foyle Civic Trust says: “The planners in the Department for the Environment have put off making a decision for nearly a year. The Environment and Heritage Service has not used its powers to demand emergency repairs and the building has been left a target for vandalism.”

The Tillie mill has been claimed as the first clothing factory in the world to use steam power. Londonderry’s thriving mills turned linen from Belfast mills into shirts. In recent years other Londonderry mills have been successfully given a new lease of life, including the Star Factory, also gutted by fire, which has been restored as offices, and Rock Mills which has been converted to student housing.

Ms Dickson adds: “Tillie was a very innovative manufacturer and an enlightened employer providing a school for his workers’ children.”

Begun in 1856, the Tillie mill was designed by J. G. Ferguson, one of the city’s best-known Victorian architects, and cleverly occupies a difficult steeply sloping site.

Sir Charles Brett, Ulster’s most distinguished architectural historian, said: “This is a major disaster and once again shows up the deficiencies of the heritage legislation and procedures in Northern Ireland.”

Angela Smith, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Northern Ireland, has expressed strong concern at the plight of the Province’s heritage, but her officials have advised that demolition should proceed.

The Northern Ireland Office said: “We are taking legal advice to see if there is a case for prosecution but demolition is so far advanced that the mill is beyond saving. In December we secured a temporary injunction to delay demolition but couldn’t take on liability for the structure.”