Bee Boles at Moat House, 16 Donegore Hill, Muckamore, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 2HW is a Grade B2 listed building in the Antrim and Newtownabbey local planning authority area, Northern Ireland. First listed on 31 October 1974.

Bee Boles at Moat House, 16 Donegore Hill, Muckamore, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 2HW

WRENN ID
calm-railing-sunrise
Grade
B2
Local Planning Authority
Antrim and Newtownabbey
Constituency
South Antrim MP: Robin Swann (UUP)
Country
Northern Ireland
Date first listed
31 October 1974
Irish grid reference
J 205 877
Coordinates
54.72333, -6.12983
Source
NI Environment Agency listing

Also on this page: radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Bee Boles at Moat House are a masonry structure consisting of a low wall containing six bee boles, which are small rectangular recesses. These are likely of 19th century date and are considered of some interest as a relatively uncommon survival. They are located in the rear garden of a house on Donegore Hill, near Muckamore, facing southwards.

The bee boles are set into a low wall constructed of basalt rubble, with roughly rendered reveals. Originally built as receptacles for bees to cultivate honey, they now serve as a garden feature.

The house to which the bee boles belong is said to have 18th-century foundations though it is now modernised, with roughcast walls, a concrete tiled roof, rectangular timber small-paned fixed lights and top-hung vents, and a modern PVC lean-to conservatory situated adjacent to the bee boles. The site is situated in a rural area next to a church.

While not shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832, a new garden layout including elements in the bee boles’ position is shown on the 1857 Ordnance Survey map, suggesting a construction date between the early 1830s and the mid-1850s, and provisionally dating between 1840 and 1859. The structure lies within the area of an historic monument, ANT50:47.

Local climate

Bee Boles at Moat House, 16 Donegore Hill, Muckamore, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 2HW receives an average of 960 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 74% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 56% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 17 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 84% of listed buildings. Of these, 10 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.2°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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Nearby listed buildings

  1. Watch House at Donegore Parish Church, Donegore Hill, Donegore, Antrim, Co Antrim Grade B1 31 m
  2. Outbuildings at Moat House, 16 Donegore Hill, Muckamore, Antrim, Co Antrim 35 m
  3. Donegore Parish Church, Donegore Hill, Donegore, Antrim, Co Antrim Grade B1 46 m
  4. The Moat Inn, 12 Donegore Hill, Muckamore, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 2HW 99 m
  5. Whinstone Crag, Donegore Hill, Muckamore, Antrim, Co Antrim 297 m
  6. Donegore Footbridge over M2 Motorway, Donegore Hill and Loughanmore Road, Donegore, Co Antrim Grade B1 487 m
  7. Rear Gate Lodge to Loughanmore, 45 Loughanmore Road, Dunadry, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 2HN 620 m
  8. Outbuildings at Loughanmore, 51 Loughanmore Road, Dunadry, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 2HN Grade B1 905 m
  9. Ice House Tower at Loughanmore, Loughanmore Road, Dunadry, Antrim, Co Antrim Grade B2 943 m
  10. Main Gate Lodge and Gates to Loughanmore, 53 Loughanmore Road, Dunadry, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 2HN Grade B2 947 m