Where did ice houses get ice?
Likewise, people ask, how did ice houses make ice?
Many tons of ice were cut from a nearby river in winter, transported by wagon to the icehouse, and deposited into the ice pit. The blocks of ice fused into one giant mass. Gravel at the bottom of the pit drained water from melting, and thick stone walls and straw insulation minimized heat-loss from the icehouse above.
Similarly one may ask, where did the ice come from for ice houses?
Originally used for the storage of local ice taken from the River Thames in the winter months, it was taken over in the 1820s by the ice merchant William Leftwich, who used it for storing imported ice from the frozen lakes of Norway.
Prior to the invention of mechanical refrigeration, ice was collected in the winter by sawing blocks from the surfaces of frozen lakes. The ice could be cut and moved in great floating rafts, and would refresh itself many times through the winter.