Monument record 2265 - Ice House at Withington Hall

There is an ice house within a woodland enclosure close to a lake at Withington Hall. There are trees on top of the mound and the tunnel roof, which is deteriorating.There is no public access. For a long time, there were few ways of preserving food other than salting and pickling. From the 17th century, the idea of an Ice house was introduced to large estates. They were structures built to house blocks of ice to prevent them from melting. They were well insulated and partly underground. The ice was obtained from ponds and lakes frozen in the winter months. Sometimes fields were deliberately flooded by farmers to provide extra income.