Record Details

NHER Number:3888
Type of record:Monument
Name:Post-medieval icehouse

Summary

A post-medieval brick icehouse stands here. It is egg shaped and built from pinkish brick with a well-preserved omphalos drain in the centre at the bottom. The ice is said to have come from the pond by Hall Farm. It has been restored but is still used as a bat roosting site.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TF 7903 1812
Map Sheet:TF71NE
Parish:WESTACRE, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

Icehouse.
Egg shaped. From centre of dome, top twenty-two courses in header bond, next twenty-four stretcher bond. Well-preserved omphalos drain in centre at bottom, 3.4m (11ft) below passage. Passage about 1.8m (6ft) high, 1.06m (3ft 6in) wide, 3.4m (11ft) long. Passage sides English bond. Stretcher bond over roof. Pinkish red brick, not the same as in either the 1750 or 1829 portions of High House. Traces of inner door (slots), slight traces outer door. Traces of wooden ?beam over entrance to chamber, and similar fragments on dome within at same level. The ice is said to have come
from the pond by Hall Farm.
Mound overgrown with trees. Bat roosting site.
E. M. James (KLM) 12 February 1980.

Source [1] states that this has now been restored and trees removed.
Doorway into chamber continues into curve of dome.

December 1996. Earthwork Survey.
Survey at 1:1000.
See report (S1) for further details and copy of plan (S2). This site was included in (S3) and the survey is also noted in (S4).
B. Cushion (NLA) January 1997. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 8 April 2015.

Monument Types

  • ICEHOUSE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

  • SHINE

Sources and further reading

---Archive: NIAS. Norfolk Industrial Archaeology Society Records.
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
<S1>Unpublished Report: Cushion, B. 1997. West Acre High House Park SMR 3887, 3888, 29824 & 31636. Earthwork Survey Report.
<S2>Illustration: Cushion, B. 1996. Plan of earthworks at West Acre SMR 3887, 3888, 29824 & 31636(part). Film. 1:1000.
<S3>Monograph: Cushion, B. and Davison, A. 2003. Earthworks of Norfolk. East Anglian Archaeology. No 104. p 228.
<S4>Article in Serial: Gurney, D. and Penn, K. (eds). 1998. Excavations and Surveys in Norfolk 1997. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLIII Pt I pp 193-210. p 208.

Related records

31636Part of: High House Park (Monument)
52595Related to: High House Formal Gardens (Monument)

Find out more...

Norfolk County Council logo Heritage Lottery Fund logo

Powered by HBSMR-web and the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd, and mojoPortal CMS
© 2007 - 2024 Norfolk Historic Environment Service