Site of Historic Ice Well

An 1857 map shows that there was once an ice well under a mound where the present toilets are now situated.

This would have been a useful facility in which shopkeepers of Montpellier could keep fish, game and dairy produce cool throughout the summer. The ice was collected from local rivers and ponds in winter, including the ponds at the Folly Lane brickworks, and then stored in the ice wells around the town for the year.

The architect of early Montpellier and Lansdown, John Buonarotti Papworth, was a strong advocate of icehouses, realising their potential for food storage. He proclaimed that the icehouse forms an excellent larder for the preservation of every kind of food liable to be injured by heat in summer'.

Now turn 180 degrees with your back to the Ice Well and you will see Sight 16 - The Jubilee Seat - on the lawn in front of you.