Icehouse associated with Middleton Hall (NPRN 17569) and supplied by the many lakes within its park (NPRN 86175).

A stone icehouse with a brick lined domed roof is partly sunk into the hillside. Approached from the south east, the 3.8m x 1.1m x 1.9m barrel vaulted brick entrance tunnel, which once contained three doors. The tunnel floor is paved with stones set on the edge up to the second door recess; beyond that point, there is a raised kerb to the entrance of the third door; the floor in this area is of beaten earth. A lower passage, 0.68m x 1.1m x 1.4m, leads at right angles to the ice chamber which has a depth of 3m. There are a number of 15cm recesses in the chamber, the purpose of which are unknown.

Both the ice chamber and the passage have an outer shell brick, but unlike some icehouses there is no cavity between the layers. Clay was piled around both the outside of the passage and chamber to increase circulation. Ice was probably brought from the ponds c. 800m away.

Source: Sylvia P. Beaman and Susan Roaf, The Ice Houses of Britain, p.529. Surveyed by E. William 1981.
C.H. Nicholas, RCAHMW, 4th December 2006.