Building record 2770 - Ice House east of Boosey's Garden Centre, Newton Bank

Part of ice house inspected in 1998. No evidence of mound survives but brick chamber visible on surface and entrance way open. No doors survive but there is a worked stone which may have been part of the door structure. Mound with high beech tree immediately north of the ice house. Pond reported to the west where ice was collected. Main house demolished c.1911/12 in an area of what is now the lawn of a bungalow. Ice house lies to the north of the driveway. 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