Ice House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A domestic ice house comprising a vaulted passage leading to a vaulted oblong end chamber, sited within what appears to be a circular earthen fort-like platform. Entrance faces north.
Approach to the entrance is by an open passage at ground level, lined by raking revetments of basalt rubble and fieldstones. Entrance is by a semi-circular brick tunnel vault, also at ground level, with basalt rubble walls up to the springing of the vault. Brick dressings to the open entrance archway, but much decayed; basalt rubble floor to vaulted passage. At the end of the vaulted passage is a semi-circular opening above a basalt rubble plinth wall, giving access to a brick lined domical vaulted chamber.

The exterior of the chamber is of mounded form, overgrown with grass and brambles, raised above the flattish top of the larger fort-like mound which has mature trees, thick bushes, and brambles growing on it.

SETTING: The structure is sited in a field, which appears to be common land, set back from the main road but clearly visible from it. Immediately to the east is an electricity substation surrounded by a steel fence with an outer concrete post and wire fence.
The south side of the mound slopes down steeply to be bounded by a railway line, currently with the track lifted for repair or replacement.
The field is bounded to the north and east by basalt rubble walls, broken by concrete steps on the east side and adjacent to the electricity substation; the steps lead off from a path which runs along the east side from the public road to a pedestrian tunnel under the railway line; path marked by a pair of square masonry piers at the roadside.

Historical information

Built as a domestic ice-house, presumably in connection with Ballycraigy House, the now demolished residence of the Chaine family in the 19th century, a house of uncertain date which was described in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs in the 1830s as "an old-fashioned, plain and rather large building". Precise date of building of ice-house not known, but it appears on the OS map of 1832.
This structure lies within the area of a scheduled monument, no.ANT50:75, described as a flat-topped mound or circular earthen platform of uncertain function.

References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1832, Co Antrim 50 (shown but not named).
2. OS Map 1857, Co Antrim 50 (named as ice house).
3. OS Map 1962-3, Co Antrim 50 (named as ice house).
4. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol 29: Parishes of County Antrim XI, 1832-3, 1835-9 (Belfast, 1995), pp 20 and 50.
Secondary Sources
1. J. Irvine, 'Pigeon houses and ice houses in Co Antrim' in The Glynns (Journal of the Glens of Antrim Historical Society), Vol 14, 1986, pp 16-20 (for comparable examples, but no reference to this one).
2. IHR 7727.

Evaluation

This is an example of a well proportioned ice house of distinctive plan form and spatial arrangement, displaying impressive structural form inside, despite the loss of some minor elements. It stands in a generally pleasant setting, offering easy public access, while its value is enhanced by its location within a scheduled monument.