© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR)
Ice house at Coleraine is a post-medieval ice house situated in the town of Coleraine, County Londonderry. Such structures were built from the seventeenth century onwards to store ice harvested during winter months, providing refrigeration for food preservation before mechanical cooling became available. The ice house would have been supplied from nearby water sources, most likely the River Bann which flows through the locality, or from purpose-built ponds that froze during cold winters.
The monument is constructed upon Cenozoic volcanic bedrock of Paleogene age, comprising flood basalts and mafic volcanic rocks characteristic of the Antrim plateau. This geology, whilst not ideal for ice house construction, was typical of the wider Coleraine area. The building would have incorporated thick insulation and a partially underground design to maximise ice retention, with straw or other organic material packed around stored blocks to prevent seasonal melt.
The ice house is now protected as a scheduled monument by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities under reference number 16072. Such structures are relatively rare survivors in Northern Ireland and offer valuable evidence of domestic and commercial life in the post-medieval period, illustrating the logistics and infrastructure of food storage in pre-industrial communities.
Ice house is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 16072. View the official record →
Ice house at Coleraine is a post-medieval ice house situated in the town of Coleraine, County Londonderry. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 16072.
Ice house dates from the post-med period, and is classified as a ice house. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Ice house is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Ni. The official designation reference is 16072.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Portballintrae harbour. harbour (0.2 km), Chapel field. church, graveyard (site of) & souterrain (2.3 km), Church of dunkelisp. post-medieval church & graveyard, on site of medieval parish church (2.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Ice house's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Ice house stands on Cenozoic volcanic rocks, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is flood basalt(s); mafic volcanic rocks.