**Document:** Glen Darragh Mill Planning Statement
**Application:** 04/00633/B — Conversion of storage building to a dwelling including a two storey extension to rear
**Decision:** Refused
**Decision Date:** 2004-06-08
**Parish:** Marown
**Document Type:** report / planning_statement
**Source:** https://planningportal.im/a/75779-marown-glen-darragh-mill-conversion-extension/documents/1198886

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# Glen Darragh Mill Planning Statement

Secretary of the Planning Committee
Department of Local Government and
The Environment
DOULGAS IM1 2SF

Dear Sirs

**Re PROPOSED ALTERATIONS AT GLEN DARRAGH MILL UNION MILL FOR MR DIXONS**

Please find enclosed 3 copies of the following drawing numbers:

RECEIVED ON
-1 APR 2004
DEPT OF LOCAL AND THE ENVIRONMENT

together with 3 copies of the completed application form for the above mentioned project. We also enclose a cheque for £125.00 for the above mentioned planning fee. Trusting this will be satisfactory, but if you require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact our Office. Yours faithfully

Ashley Pettit RIBA
Encs /File

[Table omitted in markdown export]
The trees in Glen Darragh are listed and the Forestry Department to manage the trees. However the whole Glen is a massive task and will require a great deal of energy and money to properly manage the area.

It is hoped that by creating a large house at the head of the Glen, a new owner can be found with the time and money to tackle the work in the main Glen.

The existing building is three storey with a ground floor level with the drive. The Mill originally extended over to the river and was probably an undershot wheel but this was modified to a more powerful overshot wheel. This required the water to be managed with a channel made from the lake to the top of the wheel to provide a steady supply of water so the miller could control the speed of the wheel.

The original building was modified and the section nearest the river demolished to provide better access up the Glen. The windows on the end of the building looking back up the glen were blocked and soil built up on this rear wall to support the new waterway. At some stage the ground level has been altered at the back of the building facing Braaid Road to provide access from the road to the first floor where the grain would be delivered and the flour collected. Sometime towards the end of the last century a garage has been added over a store on the ground floor on this elevation. The Ground floor is therefore open on two sides but retaining soil on two other sides, so the space is fairly dark.

The first floor has a large opening where the grain was delivered and windows on all sides. The top floor is a storage area with a door on the gable where sacks were pulled up from the ground floor. The roof structure is old and the main timbers are very attractive (if you like that sort of thing).

The Mill wheel and main bearing into the building still exists and the owner has been speaking with the Mill Interest Group on the Island about restoring the wheel. They are very optimistic that providing the main timber is sound the wheel could be returned to working order.

## Proposals for Mill

It is possible to squeeze a three bedroomed house into the existing building but it would require the soil at the rear of the building facing the glen to be excavated to get light into the Ground Floor. We felt this would not provide a house appropriate to its beautiful setting with its own Glen.

The present design still excavates the bank but constructs a two storcy extension with a new main entrance and a large bedroom with windows on the side facing onto the river. On the first floor, a new large family kitchen has views down the Glen which faces South West. This will be a very nice room with direct access to the footpaths up the Glen to the lake and a view over the restored waterway to the river that runs through the Glen.

Light is bought into the Ground Floor from a new open well staircase to the main circulation area where the workings of the old wheel will be visible. All the rooms have good light and the top floor is used to make a barn style living room. Windows have been added to the Wheel elevation on this level and on the first floor in the style of the existing. Elsewhere existing openings are reused either with sliding sash windows or where the proportions are wrong a traditional casement style.

The new extension will be faced in stone to match the older building, with a slate roof and sliding sash windows on the ground floor. The front door is recessed and will also be timber, probably a stable door style arrangement.

The upper storey uses either fixed glazing or casement style windows and timber framed glazed doors. The walls are still stone faced and the new roof will also be covered in large scale slates to match the original building.

From the road the appearance of the mill will be similar to now at least in scale and general massing. The new extension is behind the main building and is mainly visible from the private Glen. A garage, with maybe a roof terrace, could be added later on land just inside the Glen, again not inferting with the view of the Mill building and blending into the natural contours of the south slope of the Glen. This is not part of this application but included for information on the understanding that garages can be an afterthought in applications of this nature.

We have produced a detailed site plan showing the parking for both properties and how there is sufficient turning for those cars. In order that the mill setting can be maintained our drawing also shows a common area, shared

by both properties, giving access for maintenance and storage areas for the Mill whilst giving the cottage more space for vehicles. It is hoped that both properties will sell as one unit but in the event of them being separated this proposals should keep matter of access clear.

Finally we have added two pictures. One of the mill from the road junction, which is the only clear view of where the extension will be built, and one taken inside the site looking up the Glen. On both we have added lines depicting the proposals.

We hope the Planning Committee will see this is an exciting reuse of an existing building and appropriate for the owner of a large private Glen.
![A black and white site photograph of a stone building with white chalk outlines indicating a proposed two-storey extension and parking area, accompanied by handwritten notes.](https://images.planningportal.im/2004/04/360506.jpg)

View up Glen

![An annotated black and white photograph of a stone building showing proposed modifications with white hand-drawn lines and text labels. The annotations indicate a new window, a new extension, and a new entrance on the...](https://images.planningportal.im/2004/04/360505.jpg)

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*Data sourced from the Isle of Man public planning register under the [Isle of Man Open Government Licence](https://www.gov.im/about-this-site/open-government-licence/).*
*Canonical page: https://planningportal.im/a/75779-marown-glen-darragh-mill-conversion-extension/documents/1198886*