A Co Antrim landowner has been fined £50,000 for demolishing a protected historical monument.
Police were called to Moneybroom Road, Lisburn, in April 2021 after being made aware of building work on land where there were protected monuments.
Police said it quickly became evident to officers that 150-year-old lime kilns had been levelled without consent.
Henry Price, 64, from Glenavy Road in Lisburn, was sentenced for damaging the historic monument at Craigavon Magistrates Court today.
He was fined £50,000 after pleading guilty.
Protected monuments in Northern Ireland are the responsibility of Stormont's Department of Communities.
Acting director of its Historic Environment Division Brian McKervey said the outcome of the case was a welcome deterrent.
"We welcome the court's recognition that our heritage is an important and finite resource and an appreciated that once gone, these sites are impossible to replace."
Lime production for agricultural use was common on farms throughout the 1700s and early 1800s.
From the mid-1800s, such lime production was concentrated in a number of larger industrial kilns.
The Moneybroom Lime Kilns were built somewhere between 1830-1900 and are an example of this bigger facility.
Works at scheduled monuments are regulated by the department and prior consent for any works affecting them must be sought by landowners.
