Ice House, Donard Park, Newcastle, Ballaghbeg, Co Down

This is a roughly 1840 ice house, built to serve Donard Lodge. It is located on the north side of Thomas’s Mountain, just above the tree line in the Glen River Valley, within the Ballaghbeg townland. The structure is built into the hillside, with the south-east face obscured by the slope. It’s a bee hive shaped design, with circular, battered random rubble granite walls. The roof is a brick dome featuring a circular hole protected by a steel grille. A stone and brick barrel-vaulted porch is attached to the north-east side, providing access to the interior. The north-east face of the porch has a square-headed opening with a locked steel grille gate.

The ice house was constructed around 1840 and includes recent repairs, notably the rebuilding of the main dome. Original plans for Donard Lodge and Ordnance Survey maps (first edition and first revision) of County Down can be found in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) under references D.1503/10, OS/1/3/49, and OS/6/3/49/2. Its architectural interest lies in its style, proportions, plan form, spatial organisation, structural system, setting, and group value. It holds both social, cultural, economic, and local historical significance.