Building record HEV 017 - Icehouse, Heveningham Hall

1990: The icehouse is in a fine state of preservation. It stands 200m from the Hall. The entrance faces north. The outer walls and thatched roof protect a large, bowl-shaped, soft red brick, construction, 20ft deep and 15 ft in diameter, with a high domed brick ceiling. The brick of the well does not seem to be local. The passage leading to the ice-well is 12ft long and the frames of the three doors are in position, though only the middle door remains, and this has been rehung as the outer door (evidenced by hinges and double bolts on the inside). All the doors had curved heads. The door into the pit was 3ft 6 inces wide and 3ft 9 inches high at its highest point, and opened outwards. Lancelot Brown built the icehouse at the same time as the stable yard in 1781. The icehouse is almost identical in plan to the detailed drawing at Doddington Park, Avon. There is no evidence at present to show whether the walls of the Heveningham pit have cavity walls, as illustrated in the Doddington drawing (S1)(R1)(R2). Shown on 1st edition OS Map (S2).

Grade II listed. Early C19 with C20 repairs. Brick dome of c.3m diameter with an entrance passageway to the north, both half-buried and with a thatched roof. Crowstepped entrance gable with outer plank door, the inner door now missing (S3).