La Glacière
La Glacière de Moreuil is located in the city’s Parc des Sports. Its entrance is placed behind the ruins of the tower, the last vestige of the castle of the city.
Located in the city’s sports park, the Moreuil cooler is the last vestige of the castle. It is quite well preserved and undoubtedly indicates that its design is part of the history of a resolutely modern, prosperous and generous city.In past centuries, each castle, each domain had its own cooler. In the cities, large communal coolers were built. Ice was used to cool, preserve and treat. It also allowed to satisfy a very fashionable pleasure in the 17th century, the consumption of sorbet! The qualities of a good cooler
A good cooler obviously has to keep the ice in storage as long as possible. Between loading in winter and ice usage (from late spring through summer), the initial volume loss should not exceed 50%. Coolers allowed losses of well under 10%, so that in case of a mild winter, it was possible to have ice for 2 or 3 years without reloading.The form of ice storage is important because it has been studied that the greater the volume or mass of ice, the better the conservation is. In fact, it has been observed that when the ice is warmed by an outside temperature, the heat input is directly proportional to the surface of this mass and therefore its envelope. In a nutshell, the larger the envelope, the lower the loss. In a good cooler, the volume of ice must be as collected as possible, which is why the construction will be cylindrical with a height close to that of the diameter. In general and in the largest number of existing coolers, the diameter is located at 4 meters and a volume of 500 kg of ice per cubic meter is recommended to optimize the cold and the preservation of the ice. Of course, other factors come into play: insulation and humidity. Materials such as straw, wood are used but will have a random preservation in time. Less heat-efficient but more resistant, bricks and stones are widely used.
Moisture plays a big role in conservation. Indeed, the presence of water greatly reduces the insulation, hence the interest of an implantation in a dry and well drained place. On the other hand, the ice mass is continually melting, resulting in a quantity of water that, if not evacuated, will lead to a greater melting of the ice. So you have to drain with that water. The bottom of the coolers is being studied for that purpose. Similarly, it is important to shelter the cooler from the sun, hence the implantation under large trees or the presence of dense vegetation covering the mound. Filling the cooler
Depending on geographical location, capacity and climatic conditions, the filling mode differs. For many coolers, ice was imported from Belgium, mountainous regions and even Nordic countries. This greatly increased the cost of production and, at the same time, the cost of purchase. At the time of the operation of the coolers, winters in Picardy were harsh. The ice produced by the frosts was of good enough quality and sufficient to allow direct refuelling. Mode of ice refuelling
Near the monument, passes the Luce. The melting waters of the cooler certainly returned to the river during the melting. In winter, an adjoining field was deliberately flooded by the lock system. The opening of the valves allowed water to enter over the entire area and about 9 to 12 centimetres thick. Once the field was frozen, equipped workers came to cut blocks of ice necessary for the operation of the cooler and filled it. This operation was often done at night to avoid too much loss. Unfortunately, there is no evidence of this mode of operation in our city. The First World War, which particularly affected Moreuil, completely destroyed the lock. The conflict is also a direct cause of the decline of the ice fields. The production of ice was labour intensive. The men who went to the front couldn’t do the refuelling, and then the technology did the rest.... The types of coolers.
Coolers can be classified into two categories:
The wooden coolers. They were made with rye straw tied by hooks or by a duvet. The runoff of the meltwater was through a single pebble soil. This type of cooler has since disappeared.
Masonry coolers are the best preserved and most common. They are found from the Middle Ages. As the 17th century marked the development of their construction, it can be thought that most date from this period.