Derry shirt factory artwork gets planning approval

A scale model of the sculpture shows what it will look like when it is completed

A piece of artwork to remember Londonderry's shirt factory workers has been approved by Derry City and Strabane District Council's planning committee.

The committee approved public realm works which will transform the area taking in Harbour Square, Custom House Street, Guildhall Street and Whittaker Street, and Foyle Embankment.

The sculpture, created by Chris Wilson, will consist of three bell shaped forms with night time illumination.

It is based on the shapes of spools of thread as used in the shirt factory.

An exact date for when the artwork will be placed has not been set yet.

A council spokeswoman told BBC Radio Foyle the project would take approximately 12 months to complete.

The timeframe is "dependent on the capital funding application being successful", she added.

Planning committee chairman John Boyle said he was delighted to see the plans officially approved.

"Derry has a proud industrial heritage and one that deserves to be celebrated - not least the role of the factory girls who were the backbone of the local economy here for many years and supported households during the most difficult times," he said.

"Their story deserves to be told, and this artwork will be the centrepiece of the public realm works that will transform this busy city centre area."

A long-planned factory girls sculpture was shelved in 2018.

Louise Walsh was the artist who began creating the original sculpture to remember the workers back in 2006.

The unfinished project had its share of delays dating back more than a decade and in the end cost £85,000 of public money.

Derry and Strabane councillors were told in 2018 that it would cost more than £330,000 to complete.

The Department for Communities (DfC) - which originally funded the project - said it no longer represented value for money..

But in 2020, plans for the new piece were announced.

At the time, the DfC allocated £156,150 to allow design work to get under way and an artist to be appointed.

What is the significance of Derry's factory girls?

Derry was historically a centre for shirt-making, with the industry developing from the late 19th century.

By the 1920s, there were more than 40 shirt factories employing thousands of workers, with thousands more servicing the industry from their homes.

The vast majority of those who did the job were women.

They were immortalised by the songwriter Phil Coulter in The Town I Loved So Well.

There were still hundreds of people employed in clothing manufacturing up to the early 2000s.

However, the industry has since been all but wiped out in the face of global competition, with one of the last traditional handmade shirt makers in Britain and Ireland closing in May 2019.