Chesterton Memorial Park Ice House - Chesterton, Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, UK
N 53° 02.402 W 002° 15.175
30U E 550090 N 5876984
The ice house is located in Chesterton Memorial Park, a public park located on London Road in the former mining village of Chesterton.
Waymark Code: WM15D2C
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/11/2021
Views: 1
The ice house is located in Chesterton Memorial Park, a public park located on London Road in the former mining village of Chesterton.
Ice houses were man-made structures used to store food before before the invention of refrigerators. Ice and snow was collected from frozen lakes and ponds during the winter months and compacted in the ice house, that was often insulation with straw or sawdust.
Only wealthy landowners could afford to have an ice house built. They were usually built under ground, into rock or built at ground level and then covered with earth to aid insulation.
Ice houses varied in size shape, and design, but all featured a deep chamber for the ice, and usually with a soak way to deal with the melted ice, a corridor leading from the outside, mostly brick-lined with one or more connecting doors and a domed brick-lined ceiling.
The ice houses would usually be positioned facing north to keep the structure as cold as possible.
(
visit link)
The ice house in this park was discovered in 1971 and had probably been used by Chesterton Hall.
Photographs taken in 1971 when the ice house was discovered can be seen at the following link: (
visit link)