REPORT ON MEETING OF SHAP LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY HELD ON MONDAY 22 nd FEBRUARY 2010.

Ice houses and the International trade in ice.

Members of Shap Local History Society were welcomed to their February meeting by Chairman Jean Jackson, who introduced the speaker Dr Rob David. Dr David had been a speaker last year when he addressed the Society on the Yellow Earl's Arctic adventure. His topic on this occasion was equally chilly – Ice houses and the international trade in ice.

Dr David began by explaining that people throughout the world had evolved methods of preserving food for future consumption, these methods could range from air drying and salting to storing in pits of snow or ice. He showed examples of buildings for drying and salting from Iceland and a cave of storing ice in Norway . Even in hot climates such as Majorca there are snow pits for storing winter snow gathered from the mountains, and in Iran conical buildings in the desert were for storing snow.

Charles the Second whilst exiled in France had seen ice houses, and when he was restored to his throne, he introduced the concept to England on the royal estates in London . The idea caught on and it became fashionable for large houses to have ice houses on their estates; then the smaller estates followed suit. He showed a diagram dating from 1819 of an ice house, which consisted of a cone shaped pit with a drain in the bottom, accessed by a series of doors in a tunnel and covered by a domed roof. A slide showed the ice house in Levens Park dating from the end of the 18 th century; this has recently been demolished for safety reasons.

Other large houses and estates with ice houses include Holker with the oldest dating from the 1730's, this is occasionally open to the public; Dallam, Newbiggin Hall near Carlisle, Edenhall, Sedgewick House and Helm Lodge near Kendal and Brantwood where the ice house had been quarried from rock and had no drain, it was therefore totally unsuitable, the ice simply turning to watery mush.. At Berwick upon Tweed there are ice houses in the town walls for storing salmon from the Tweed .

The whole purpose of having ice houses was so that ice could be made available throughout the summer to preserve foodstuffs such as fish. This ice was polluted with debris, leaves and mud, but it did not come into direct contact with the food. Special ice boxes were manufactured; these were made from wood and were lined with zinc with a layer of charcoal between the two for insulation, they had a drainage pipe and tap at the bottom. The ice was placed into the main part of the box and a ledge above the ice supported a tray on which the food was placed. The boxes evolved into pieces of furniture similar to a dresser with drawers for the ice and food. The easy access to ice meant that all manner of chilled desserts and ice creams could be made, and decorative moulds were manufactured for ice creams.

The international trade in ice started in North America where unpolluted lakes froze to the depth of two or three feet, the industrial harvesting of ice took off on large scale with warehouses insulated with straw for storing the ice blocks, horses drew ice ploughs over the ice to score it then it was cut into blocks with saws. During the winter months the ice kept reforming so the harvesting could be repeated. The largest operation was at Wenham Lake ; and this ice was renowned as the purest to be had anywhere. Ice was transported by train then in insulated compartments on ships all over the world: Antigua in the West Indies, India and Australia – this voyage took six months and half the ice had melted by the time it arrived but it was in great demand and commanded high prices.

Harry Mudd who was a fish, game and poultry dealer at Grange over Sands advertised Wenham Lake ice for sale, whilst an ice depot at Windermere advertised ice from Great Grimsby . Both of these supplies of ice came from Norway ; an enterprising operator near Oslo having renamed his lake Wenham Lake . The import of ice from Norway began in 1860 peaking in 1898 when half a million tons were imported; it began to decrease at the turn of the 20 th century when artificial ice manufacture took over; Norwegian ice imports ceased at the outbreak of the First World War when Norwegian ships were blockaded.

Dr David had undertaken a project with pupils from a Kendal secondary school during 1979 and 1980. They had managed to record interviews with two elderly men who could remember ice being harvested form the Lancaster and Kendal canal.

They obtained permission to clear the ice house in Levens Park of tons of rubbish; and they found a stone lined pit in excellent condition. In order to keep the ice from falling into the drain hole, some people were recorded as using a cartwheel, but in this case some well placed stones served the purpose and the pit was lined with straw bales. Next a source of ice had to be found so they contacted an ice manufacturing plant in Whitehaven; the physics and maths departments at school calculated the quantity required as 17 tons, this cost £300, the money being raised from fundraising events and donations. The ice arrived in January 1980 the lorries were only able to get within 100 yards of the ice house, so a dumper truck being used from construction work at the school was loaned to move the ice to the entrance of the ice house, from there it was carried in dustbins and tipped into the pit where it was rammed down by two people at the bottom. The ice was quite fine so did not need breaking up, unlike in the olden days when the blocks had been cut from nearby water courses. As the ice came further up the pit, pupils trampled it down. The calculations had been accurate, and the quantity of ice was perfect.

Once the pit was full it was capped with more straw, and the doors were closed with more straw packed between each. The ice levels and temperature was monitored on a monthly basis. In February and March there was no change, with a slight drop in level in April, this continued during the summer months. There was still ice in the pit throughout the following winter with the final ice disappearing in March 1981. The straw at the bottom of the pit had compacted to just one inch.

This had been a successful project and is fondly remembered by those who were involved at the time. Such activity would not be allowed now due to Health and Safety regulations; however safety measures had been taken in the shape of hard hats and ropes to secure the workers.

Dr David was thanked for a most interesting talk by Vice Chairman Jean Scott-Smith.

The next meeting will be on Monday 22nd March when June Hall will speak about ‘Sheep and Wool in history'.

REPORT ON MEETING OF SHAP LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY HELD ON MONDAY 25th JANUARY 2010.

Winter Tales.

When Shap Local History gathered for their first meeting of the year, they were regaled with tales of winters long ago told by some of the members. The meeting was opened by the Chairman Jean Jackson who reported that an appeal for information on dated structures had not had much response; the Dated Structures Project is run by the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, who aim to record as many dated structures as possible.

Mrs Jackson said that the recent winter weather conditions had inspired the theme for the evening, she began by reading an extract from the Westmorland gazette about the great frosts on Windermere at the end of the 19 th and early 20 th century; then she read an account of funeral held in Ennerdale during a big snow.

Kenny Noble told a tale of twin brothers who lived on a remote farm, when one died, the other trudged through deep snow to inform folk from the community ‘one of us is dead.'

Liz Amos, who projected images to accompany the tales, spoke about the meteorological phenomenon the Helm Wind, with extracts giving accounts of conditions when the Helm was blowing; this was accompanied by diagrams and photographs.

Mrs Jackson then read some accounts of the 1947 winter when a poor harvest was followed by heavy snow and frost, four million sheep were lost and 50,000 cattle died from starvation.

Wendy Fairer recalled events from that winter, and told of one boy who came to school with his clogs caked in snow, he removed his footwear and wedged then into the bars surrounding the coke stove in the class room; not ony did the snow melt, but the clog soles caught fire! She also recalled haulage contractors cutting snow on one road where the drifts were so deep they hung their overcoats on the telegraph poles.

Jean Scott-Smith had kept weather records in the 1962-3 winter, and she described the depth of snow and the fact that they had no running water for more than two months; on one occasion she had walked with the her parents from Keld to Wet Sleddale on the ice bound River Lowther. She then read A. H., Griffin's account of the ‘Heroes of Shap' that details the work of the hardy road men whose job it was to keep the road over Shap Fell clear of snow, the account gave details of pay rates and the cost of grit and salt in 1961.

Mrs Jackson read an article from 1963 that had appeared in the Cumberland and Westmorland Herald describing the work of the Shap WVS and others to accommodate stranded drivers. She then read some memories by member John Graham of his time when he was a rounds-man for the Co-op, taking groceries to outlying farms, and incidents he experienced in winter weather.

A series of snow pictures was followed by Mrs Scott-Smith reading two appropriate poems by local poets, ‘Bird Print in the Snow' by Margaret Cropper of Burneside and ‘The Snow' by John Richardson of Naddle, Keswick.

The meeting closed with refreshments and chance to discuss winter experiences further.

The chilly theme continues next month when the speaker at the meeting on Monday 22 nd February will be Dr Rob David on the subject of Ice Houses and the international trade in ice.