The Ice House at Cosgrove Hall

Once the canals were built it was noticed that the Buckingham Arm froze more quickly and solidly than the River Ouse or the main-line canal. Skaters came from miles around. In about 1820, the owner of Cosgrove Hall built an ice-house halfway between the arm and the hall. This ice-house was constructed in stone with very thick walls with the greater part of its interior being under ground level. Every winter until the 1900s ice was cut from the canal and stored in the ice-house packed with straw. It lasted well into spring and summer and was sold to local fishmongers, butchers and others for refrigeration purposes. The ice-house is now derelict. It was the last remaining in Buckinghamshire and one of the very few left in England.

(Our thanks to the 1993 Cosgrove Village Festival brochure from which we have adapted this description)

The Unofficial Version

While we were on one of our working parties we stopped to talk to a couple of senior walkers who knew the canal as children. Their story is that the ice-house was built for the Canal Company to store ice for the Directors' Canal Boat when they visited or inspected the canal. This could explain why the ice-house was built such a long way from Cosgrove Hall.

(Interesting alternative, don't you think! Has anyone any other ideas? ED)