Source/Archive record SCH6778 - Boosey's Garden Centre, Middlewich: Historic Building Survey Report

The ice house, comprising a small vaulted brick structure, was aligned north east to south west, measuring 2.7m in length and 1.5m in width. The entrance faced north east while the south east end of the structure was curved, with a radius of 0.75m. The roof of the structure was depressed in places indicating a loss of structural integrity and partial collapse. Similarly the entrance to the ice house chamber was incomplete, having partially collapsed; the rubble from this was removed to expose the doorway and interior. The structure of the ice house was of brick construction using unfrogged, coarse bricks measuring 230mm x 112mm x 79mm, bonded with a white lime mortar. Some of the broken brick faces had exposed large pebble inclusions. The brickwork of the walls and roof were double-thickness, the inner doorway marked with an additional brick arch and column fully bonded into the main fabric of the structure. An inset stone corbel on the right hand side of the doorway retained a corroded iron hinge and lead setting to hold the door (now missing). A similar sandstone block, fitted flush into the opposite side of the doorway is assumed to have accommodated fitting to secure the door. The entrance way comprised a low arched opening measuring 0.88m in height and 0.6m in width. The threshold and internal floor of the chamber were partially surfaced with 6” x 6” quarry tiles in poor, broken condition. The tiles only extended into the chamber to a distance of three tiles, beyond which the base fell away. The internal floor of the chamber was 0.35m lower than the doorway, giving a maximum internal height of 1.4m. The floor tiles were unbounded and set directly onto a silty soil suggesting that they may have been a later addition6. The ice house was re-discovered by the resident of the adjacent cottage (Steve Morris), approximately 15 years ago (i.e. c 1997). The ice house was exposed during the reduction of a mound of earth using a machine excavator. At this time the interior was silted-up, and Steve Morris excavated the material within it. There were no finds noted in the material.