A house at Belfast's Silent Valley reservoir has reopened following a refurbishment.

Watertown House was officially opened at a special ceremony in the Watertown area.

The area was previously used to accommodate the engineer and labourers building the reservoir in the 1920s.

Welcoming the house back onto Northern Ireland Water land, Dr Len O'Hagan CBE, NI Water said: "The Silent Valley reservoir's creation almost a century ago was an amazing triumph of engineering. It remains a stunning resource which is an integral part of water infrastructure in Northern Ireland supplying 120 million litres of water each day to homes and businesses."

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Chairman of Newry, Mourne & Down District Council, Mark Murnin added: "This grade B listed building was kindly donated by the Haugh family and dates back to 1923, when the temporary settlement of "Watertown" was established at the Silent Valley. At its peak, there were almost 2000 workers on site, with approximately one third of these living in Watertown. This self-contained settlement had a range of amenities including its own police station, cinema and dance hall and is reputed to have been the first town in Ireland to have street lights."

(CM/LM)