Deepdene icehouse

C18 subterranean icehouse, built around 1769, and enlarged in the early C19.

MATERIALS: red brick.

PLAN: the icehouse is set into an earth-bank, with the C19 entrance to the south. The entrance steps descend into a larder, which has a corridor leading east to the entrance to the circular ice chamber.

DESCRIPTION: the earliest section of the icehouse comprises a subterranean cup and dome shaped chamber with a flattened bottom. It measures around 4m in diameter at its widest dimension and is approximately 5m in height. It is lined in hand-made red bricks in a header bond, and the walls are nearly vertical. There is evidence of a circular opening at the top of the structure, which has now been sealed.

The C19 portion of the icehouse consists of a set of brick steps (underneath the former portico which is no longer extant), which descend northward into a brick-lined square larder which measures approximately 2m by 2m. The north wall of this room has a circular opening to provide natural light of around 0.3m in diameter. To the east of the larder there is a narrow brick-lined corridor which is around 2m high, 2m wide, and 4m in length. At each end of the corridor there is evidence of a door-frame. To the north of the corridor there is a shallow brick-lined alcove. To the east, the corridor opens directly into the C18 ice-house at its mid-point in height. The dismantled remains of a timber stair suggest that this was the C19 access, for ice collection.