This is a large ice well constructed in the 1780s. It is made of brick, egg shaped and 7.5m wide and 9.5m deep and has an entrance passage and vaulted antechamber.
It is known to have been used in the 1820s by a pioneering ice-merchant William Leftwich who started commercially harvesting ice from lakes in Norway and transporting it back to London. This was a marked improvement in quality on the previous sources of ice from frozen (and polluted) lakes and canals nearby.
It fell out of use and was covered over in the late nineteenth century with a mews, which was in turn destroyed in World War 2 during the blitz.
It is intended that when redevelopment is complete a corridor will allow access for occasional viewing of the ice well interior by the public. It is now a scheduled ancient monument.
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