Victorian ice house cleared

Monday, 17 December 2012

The team, led by Giles Reynolds, clearing the ice house

Several members of staff from the University and UPP volunteered to help Giles Reynolds, Head of Grounds, last Tuesday, to clear the entrance to the Victorian ice house on campus close to the lake.

Giles Reynolds first came up with the idea as an ideal opportunity for the University and UPP Halls management teams to work together on an environmental/historic feature restoration.

With the aim of making it a feature of the University once more, the Friends of the University provided the financial help needed to renovate the entrance. The clear up took around 4 hours to reveal the ice house that was used in the Blandford era of Whiteknights 1798-1819.

In the Victorian period when the Whiteknights Park was owned by the Marquis of Blandford the ice house would have been used to keep ice frozen so that desserts and drinks could be served cold. Around the estate were a number of gazebos where Victorians would undoubtedly have taken a cold drink with ice procured from the ice house.

Ice houses are buildings used to store ice throughout the year, commonly used prior to the invention of the refrigerator. Some, like the University's, were underground chambers close to natural sources of winter ice such as freshwater lakes, but many were buildings with various types of insulation.

During the winter, ice and snow would be taken into the ice house and packed with insulation, often straw or sawdust. It would remain frozen for many months, or until the following winter, and could be used as a source of ice during summer months. The main use of the ice was the storage of perishable foods, but it could also be used simply to cool drinks, or allow ice-cream and sorbet desserts to be prepared.

Team members involved were: Karen Thomas, Kate Jackson, Dr Mike Proven, Prof Simon Andrews from the University of Reading; Giles Reynolds and Rupert Taylor from the Grounds team; and Dave Tanner, Anne Moore, Catherine Mewes, Justin Milward from UPP.