Cart Shed and Dovecote at Springhill, Springhill Road, Moneymore, Magherafelt, Co Londonderry, BT45 7NQ

This is an 18th-century cart shed and dovecote, originally part of the outbuildings of a country estate. It is a well-preserved example and contributes to a carefully planned group of buildings.

The building is five bays long and has a one-and-a-half-story design. A two-stage, circular tower is attached to one gable, and the whole structure is built of stone and roofed with slate. The northeast elevation encloses a grassed court located beyond the coach house (listed separately as HB09/06/024D). The cart shed section has two segmental arch openings without doors on the right side, providing access to the interior. A single, sheeted, square-headed door is centrally located, with small, shuttered, vertical windows on either side. Above, under the eaves, is a single, sheeted double door, roughly centered on the long wall. The walls are stone built and whitewashed, with a half-round gutter and a single downpipe. The roof is slated, gabled at one end and hipped at the other. The southeast gable features a circular tower constructed of random rubble stone and whitewashed. This tower has no external door but two narrow slits at the top of each stage; access is from within the cart shed, and the tower is topped with a conical slated roof and a weather vane. The northwest gable and the side wall facing Springhill Road are windowless and built of random rubble stonework. Rubble walls connect the cart shed to the coach house, enclosing the grassed court. Random rubble walls extend along the Springhill Road, bordering the cart shed and forming part of the estate boundary.

The cart shed and dovecote likely date from the mid to later 18th century, during the ownership of Colonel William Conynghan. The estate was later acquired by the National Trust in 1957 (reference HB09/06/024B). Historical sources consulted include an Ordnance Survey map from 1832, “Mid Ulster Houses” (National Trust publication, page 28), the Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Volume 1 (1938), and notes from the first survey by E.H.S. Hill Street, Belfast. The building was previously recorded under reference HB09/06/028.