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Carrickarade ice house is a 18th or 19th-century ice house serving the salmon fishery at Carrickarade in County Antrim. The structure sits on Palaeogene extrusive rocks, a foundation of ancient mafic lava and tuff formed during the early Tertiary period when volcanic activity shaped the north Antrim landscape. This geological bedrock provided stable ground for the ice house's construction, essential for a building designed to maintain subfreezing temperatures.
Ice houses were essential infrastructure for coastal fisheries during the pre-refrigeration era, allowing salmon to be preserved and transported to distant markets. The Carrickarade fishery exploited the productive waters of the River Bush estuary, and the ice house would have stored ice cut from local freshwater sources during winter months, packed with straw or sawdust to prevent melting through the warmer seasons.
The ice house is protected as a scheduled monument under the Historic Environment Division reference 16028, recognising its significance as evidence of 18th and 19th-century fishing practices and food preservation technology in Ulster. The survival of such structures alongside their fishery sites provides archaeological insight into the economic and technological networks that supported rural industries before industrialised food distribution transformed the landscape.
Ice house (of carrickarade salmon fishery) is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 16028. View the official record →
Carrickarade ice house is a 18th or 19th-century ice house serving the salmon fishery at Carrickarade in County Antrim. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 16028.
Ice house (of carrickarade salmon fishery) dates from the c18th/c19th period, and is classified as a ice house. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Ice house (of carrickarade salmon fishery) 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 16028.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Kilcrue. souterrain (6.7 km), Kille-acrue, kilcrue. priests stone. cross-carved pillar stone (6.8 km), Druids' altar. wedge tomb (7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Ice house (of carrickarade salmon fishery)'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 (of carrickarade salmon fishery) stands on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.