Giant "Ice House" discovered under the streets of Marylebone [View all]

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/