Leith Hall, West Pond, Ice House
Icehouse (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Leith Hall, West Pond, Ice House
Classification Icehouse (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Leith Hall Policies
Canmore ID 147522
Site Number NJ52NW 4.06
NGR NJ 5422 2954
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/147522
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Kennethmont
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ52NW 4.06 5422 2954
This ice-house is situated in woodland 260m SE of Leith Hall (NJ52NW 4.00). It is a simple barrel-vaulted structure, which measures about 3.3m square internally and it is entered from the ENE via a passage that is 1.95m in length and 1.5m in height. Two steps at the inner end of the passage lead down into the ice-chamber, but this has been infilled to the level of the lower step. There is a small aperture, which is open to the outside, high up on the WSW side of the vault. The ice-house has an external capping of grass-grown soil, which has been eroded on the ENE to reveal the external face of the ice-chamber above the entrance passage.
The ice-house is not depicted on either the 1st or 2nd edition of the OS 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire, 1870, sheet xliii and 1902, sheet xliii.NW respectively).
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS), 23 June 1999.
Field Visit (June 2006)
260m SE of Hall. Built into the top of a tree mound that is shown on the 1797 Estate map. The chamber is rectangular (3.4m x 3.68m) and lined with stone walls which extend into the vaulted stone roof. There is a single small window c600mm wide high in the W wall. The passage (2m long 0.92m wide) is stone walled and lintelled with six granite slabs. It bears vertical mortar scars, probably from the position of the original doorway. Two steps lead from the passage to the chamber. The chamber is partly covered in soil, but protrudes at the top.
(LEI06 113)
Information from NTS (SCS) November 2013