This ice well was built between 1750 and 1760 in the grounds of Eltham Lodge (now The Royal Blackheath Golf Club). Eltham Lodge was the property of the Shaw family and built in 1664 by Sir John Shaw. During the 1750’s the house and grounds underwent considerable modernisation.
Before ice was made artificial refrigeration, it was cut from the ponds and lies in winter and preserved in ice wells. The first record of Ice Wells was in 1683 when one was constructed in nearby `Greenwich Park.
This ice well worked like a vacuum flask insulting the ice and excluding earth. Sited in a shady spot, it is a brick-lined hole in damp ground. Its situation some distance from Eltham Lodge is presumably because of its nearness to the source of ice from the lake. The top opening of the well was north facing for extra coolness and the whole construction would have been thickly insulated with a conical straw thatch covering.
A section has been removed and the angle of the canopy altered so that visitors may see more clearly inside the well.
