The Ice House, Slieve Donard

Few of Hearth’s projects are large, but perhaps one of the smallest was the ice house on the slopes of Slieve Donard in the Mourne Mountains that was restored for the National Trust in 1996-97.

A simple ‘igloo’ of brick and granite providing naturally refrigerated storage for ice, it was built into the slopes of a rocky outcrop above a chilly stream and blends inconspicuously into the landscape. As there is no road up to it and the mountain is an Area of Special Scientific Interest, the contractor had to create an ecologically-friendly access path that could be removed without trace at the end of the contract. Vandals had damaged the heavy stones at the entrance but Noel managed to trace and reinstate lintels that had fallen down the slope years earlier and been buried in undergrowth.