Ice House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Free-standing grotto-like mound containing former ice-house to Hillsborough Castle, erected c.1780. Restored 1996.
Naturalistic mound planted in ferns with voissoired boulder arched opening to the north containing oval-shaped double-vaulted redbrick chamber, mostly set below ground level. Short brick lined passageway with flag stones and timber lintel leading to chamber secured with modern steel gate.

Setting:
Set within the landscaped grounds of Hillsborough Castle with rockery and waterfall to the west.

Roof Boulders / Redbrick

Historical information

The ‘Ice House’ is shown, captioned, on an estate map of c.1800 and, as it is not shown on previous maps, may date from the late eighteenth century. It is created in a grotto style, making a garden feature out of what was a practical necessity in the domestic life of the house.

Grottoes began to be artificially created in Italian gardens in the mid sixteenth century as Mannerist style became popular. The fashion gradually spread to the rest of Europe and Alexander Pope famously created the earliest grotto to appear in a British garden in his villa at Twickenham in the early eighteenth century. The first garden grottoes to be created in Ireland were designed by Edward Lovett Pearce at Stillorgan and by Mary Delaney at the seat of the Bishop of Killala in Co.Mayo, also in the early eighteenth century. (Howley, p.26-7)

According to Howley, abandoned ice-houses are often taken for grottoes, but the ice-house at Hillsborough deliberately imitates the ornamental effect of a grotto and is a particularly fine example of this type. Rustic stonework is used at the entrance and it is sited on a hill above an artificial waterfall, where it resembles a rockery covered with moss and ferns. Ice-houses were often constructed to create an ornamental effect, and some were intended to serve as visual features. Most ice-houses were built in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and few remain intact, only nine being known in Northern Ireland. Ice houses remained in use until the last quarter of the nineteenth century when artificial ice production became commercially viable. (Howley, p.30, 205)

The ice house is shown, uncaptioned, on the first edition OS map of 1833. From the second edition (1858), it is captioned ‘Ice Ho[use]’. In 1995, when it was listed, it had recently undergone renovation and was fitted with a grille to prevent access. It was recovered with turf the following year. (Brett, p.16; NIEA file)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/14/1 – First Edition OS Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/14/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/14/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902-3
4. PRONI OS/6/3/14/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-20
5. PRONI D671/M/8/25 - Map of Hillsborough, c.1800
5. NIEA file – HB19/05/080

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C.E.B. “Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings, Areas of Architectural Importance in the Towns and Villages of Mid Down: Hillsborough, Dromore, Dromara, Ballynahinch, the Spa, Drumaness and Saintfield” Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1974
2. Howley, J “The Follies and Garden Buildings of Ireland” New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1993

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
G. Innovatory Qualities
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
Z. Rarity
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

Free-standing mound with grotto entrance to redbrick vaulted icehouse, erected c.1780 in the grounds of Hillsborough Castle. An increasingly rare demesne feature, this example was restored in 1996 and is of technical interest and would have been an integral part of the functioning of Hillsborough Castle. It has group value with the other listed structures at Hillsborough Castle.

General comments

This record has been re-allocated. Originally HB19/05/080.
Additional listing criteria apply-R-Age, S- Authenticity, T-Historic Importance