Ice House, Dundarave Estate, Bushmills, County Antrim, BT57 8ST

Ice House, Dundarave Estate

A low domed ice house set into a mound in pasturelands on the Dundarave Estate near Bushmills. Although now largely obscured by scrub and overgrowth, the interior of the structure remains largely intact, representing a relatively rare survivor within an Ulster context.

The building is constructed of uncoursed rubble stone with flanking walls that splay inwards towards a square-headed brick-lined entrance doorway, of which the door and frame are now missing. It is approached from the north and sits on the crest of a hill in a field with land sloping steeply downwards to the north-east. The ice house is located to the south-east of other estate structures and to the east of the entrance lane.

The ice house is thought to have been built during the latter half of the 19th century, likely soon after 1846-49 when the present Dundarave mansion house was constructed to the designs of Sir Charles Lanyon. It first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1904 and remains unchanged on the fifth edition map of 1921. Although not shown on the second edition map of 1855, its construction date is believed to fall shortly after the new house was completed.

The ice house functioned as a food storage facility for the estate. During times of frost, ice was harvested from nearby lakes and stored in the deep underground chamber, with the stone walls enabling a low temperature to be maintained throughout the year. Following the rise of modern refrigeration facilities in the latter half of the 20th century, ice houses became redundant features, particularly on large country estates such as Dundarave.

The building has group value with Dundarave House and its surrounding outbuildings, and enhances understanding of the functioning of a large estate in the nineteenth century. It is recorded on the Industrial Heritage Record and the estate is included on the Historic Gardens Inventory.