Survey Data
Reg No
13704017
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Technical
Original Use
Icehouse
Date
1760 - 1800
Coordinates
304354, 307557
Date Recorded
10/08/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Subterranean stone icehouse, built c. 1780, now disused. Vaulted chambers to north and south linked via passageway with flight of cut limestone entrance steps to east. Barrel-vaulted lower (south) chamber, partially damaged with traces of brick floor vaulting remaining. Rendered limestone rubble and brick masonry. Round-headed openings to south chamber, rubble masonry voussoirs; square-headed opening to north chamber, cut limestone lintel. Set into hillside in what is now a public park, formerly part of the demesne attached to Dundalk House.
Appraisal
Originally part of the Dundalk House demesne, seat of the Earl of Clanbrassil who was responsible for laying out much of the town of Dundalk in the eighteenth-century, this is a structure of historic interest to the town. Fine vaulting and masonry construction are of considerable architectural and technical interest and the icehouse forms a landmark within the extensive public park which now surrounds it.