Survey Data
Reg No
32402627
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social, Technical
Original Use
Icehouse
Date
1780 - 1860
Coordinates
169551, 325521
Date Recorded
09/09/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached masonry former icehouse, built c. 1820, now a ruin. Brick barrel vaulted entrance, steps to doorway in internal north-west wall opening into large, brick-lined, cylindrical ice pit with domed ceiling. Approached from north-east, built into hillside in a wooded area in Markree Demesne to north-west of Markree Castle.
Appraisal
An icehouse was an important luxury to the nineteenth century landowner in the days prior to refrigeration. The construction of the pit and vaulted entrance to this icehouse are typical for this type of underground insulated structure but nevertheless a rapidly disappearing typology.