Giant "Ice House" discovered under the streets of Marylebone

[Judi Lynn]

Giant “Ice House” discovered under the streets of Marylebone
Posted on 28th December 2018

A long-lost Ice House has been uncovered during building works under the Regent’s Crescent in Marylebone.

Ice Houses were underground chambers used to store ice and keep it cool in the years before modern refrigeration was invented. Ice was either taken from lakes, or later, imported from Scandinavia by boat, then then sold to be stored in the underground ice house.



Ice House’s vary in size but were usually fairly small in a large garden, but the one found under the streets of Marylebone is one of the largest ever found.

The huge underground Ice House dating from the 1780s has been recorded by buildings archaeologists from MOLA working on behalf of Great Marlborough Estates during the development of Regent’s Crescent.

The Ice House has been designated as a Scheduled Monument by Historic England, and it is hoped that public access, via a new viewing corridor, will be made available at certain times of year during archaeological and architectural festivals.



Archaeologists from MOLA record the interior of the Regents Crescent ice house (c) MOLA

Located just off Regent’s Park, the subterranean Ice House would have been one of the largest of its kind when first built – measuring an impressive 7.5 metres wide and 9.5m deep. Remarkably, the red brick, egg-shaped chamber survived the Blitz despite the destruction of the mews houses above, and remains in excellent condition, along with its entrance passage, and vaulted ante-chamber.

More:
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2018/12/28/giant-ice-house-discovered-under-the-streets-of-marylebone/

[dem in texas]

1. Ice was a major product in 19th Century America

New England had many lakes and when they were frozen solid, the ice was cut from the lakes and ponds and stored in sawdust in ice houses. The ice was packed in sawdust and exported to the other states and as far away as Jamaica.

During the same period, Philadelphia became a major center for ice cream making. The New England ice was used to make the ice cream and keep it frozen. George and Martha Washington were ice cream lovers and had ice cream shipped to Mt. Vernon from the ice cream shops in Philadelphia.

[hlthe2b]

3. I'd bet few understand how packing in sawdust allowed them to ship "as far away as Jamaica"

I was interested in how ice boxes-- pre-refrigeratiion-- worked, how ice was shipped and maintained, and actually researched this as a child.

Air trapped between the particles of sawdust kept the warm, outside air from melting the ice. ... And the more tightly the blocks were stacked, the harder it was for warm air to penetrate the stack and melt the ice. Basic physical properties, but not necessarily so obvious...

[LakeSuperiorView]

5. Well, not actually frozen solid...

It would be vastly more difficult to remove ice from a lake that was frozen solid. By floating the slabs of ice to a ramp, it is much easier to move. They used logging saws to saw the ice sheet into slabs. The standard joke was that the new guy got the end of the saw that was underwater.

And also any lake shallow enough to freeze solid would have undesirable particulates from the lake bottom embedded in the ice.

[hlthe2b]

2. A piece of history increasingly lost for most recent generations, who seemingly believe

ice cream and other cold foods came only after refrigeration. Fascinating that one so large has been rediscovered.

[pansypoo53219]

4. refrigerators could be dangerous in the early years. ice boxes stayed around. i

i was so excited to get an ice truck alphabet block on ebay. i also collect ice picks.