Glacière double

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

The conservation of snow-ice in buildings constructed for that purpose is a common practice in the Mediterranean south in the 17th century. From 1659, a royal privilege regulated this trade. Artisanal ice houses were constructed at places of production. In the plain, they could be private but also collective in towns or villages. At Castelnau, two ice houses, one large, the other smaller, form an ensemble located beneath a promontory to the south-east of the medieval city, outside the walls. If the exploitation of the ice houses seems to stop through lack of maintenance from the end of the 18th century, it is nevertheless still mentioned on a plan dating from 1880. These ice houses are composed of a dome in the form of a bell, vaulted in ashlar with a central oculus constituting a large circular well. A system of access and drainage is located in the lower part beneath the ground. The upper part is buried beneath a mound of earth with trees sometimes covered with thatch in order to ensure better thermal insulation.