Fisherhills, Fishing Station, Ice House

The Scottish salmon fishing industry dates back to the Middle Ages, the fish being kitted, pickled or kippered for export. With the opening up of the English market in the 18th century an increasing proportion of the fish was sold in Billingsgate Market, London. George Dempster of Dunnichen advocated sending the fish to London packed in ice thereby allowing them to be sold as fresh salmon. John Richardson (later of Pit four), a Perth merchant, began experimenting with ice in 1765 and quickly established the best way of storing ice and of packing the fish. Richardson's enterprise was based in two centres: Newburgh in Fife (NO 235182) and Tugnet on Speymouth, Morayshire (NJ 348653). Gradually more and more fIshing stations were equipped with icehouses and a whole system of transportation developed using fast sailing packets to feny the fish to Billingsgate.

The commercial icehouse used by the salmon fishing industry differed signifIcantly from the icehouses attached to mansion houses. Domestic icehouses were designed to retain the ice pack for as long as possible, in some cases up to 3 years, the foodstuffs being laid out on clean straw on top of the ice. The salmon fishers icehouse was designed to allow ready quarrying of the ice. The Kinnaber icehouse was erected in the early 19th century and was the largest single volume of any ice chamber known in Scotland.

The icehouse comprised an ice chamber measuring 12.5m by 7.24m with a barrel-vaulted roof 7.58m high at the top of the vault.

The ice chamber is subdivided to take account of the closed season, the smaller portion being intended for use in the early part of the summer, the remainder of the ice being retained for the longer second part. The vault was banked with earth to allow carts to reach the upper level of the vault, and discharge the ice directly into the chamber.

The icehouse was filled with broken ice taken from a nearby pond usually when it was about 35mm thick. It was pounded into small pieces and packed tightly in layers about 150mm thick. The crevices were packed with snow and sprinkled with water to create a solid pack of ice. It was warm work and the men stripped to the waist but wore long seaboots. Once the vault was filled it was sealed and the openings insulated until the beginning of the fishing season.

When the season started the ice chamber was opened and fish boxes were filled with ice and taken out to the individual fIshing stations where they were stored in a cool place. As the fIsh were caught they were laid on the ice to cool and at the end of the day they were transferred to the icehouse for repacking in fresh ice and shipping to London. This took place every second day from a pre-appointed harbour.

Other good examples of commercial icehouses can still be seen at Boddin Point (NO 713534), Fishtown of Usan (no. 7), Lunan House (now Lunan Bay Hotel) (NO 689516), Seggieden (NO 163216), Tayport (NO 456291), Newburgh (NO 235181) and Tentsmuir (NO 500267).

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Fife and Tayside’, (1987).

Fisherhills icehouse has the largest single barrel vaulted roof in Scotland. Joseph Johnston operated it. Two more icehouses are below St Cyrus, Nether Warburton, and, with a related bothy rented out as holiday accommodation, Nether Woodston.

M Watson, 2013