The Ice House
Long before electric refrigeration fishermen used the ice to keep their catch fresh.
Ice was imported from Norway and the Baltic as well as being brought by horse and cart from The Gulval Ice Works near Penzance. Three giant hooks in the roof were used to stack the huge blocks. Long before electric refrigeration fishermen used this ice to keep their catch fresh. Large fishing boats would leave Porthleven for as long as three months at a time, often travelling as far as Ireland for mackerel, or making the perilous journey to the North Sea off Scotland in search of herring.
DID YOU KNOW?
Constructed on the shaded side of the harbour, the ice was kept frozen by packing the blocks closely together to reduce surface area and providing insulation via thick walls and packing with straw.