"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"someone" wrote in message
...


My neighbour has a beehive-shaped ice house built about 1850 beneath her
garden. It is accessed via a long tunnel and, after descending into it
about half way, you pass a square recess in the stone wall. I recall her
telling me that she discovered it was used to store a beehive in the
winter, since the temperature is fairly constant. Is this the sort of
thing you mean?

No, an ice house is used for making and storing ice.

But in the past in Britain (and even now in some parts of the world, such
as Canada) beehives were stored in cellars - i.e. in a frost free but dry
and dark - place so an ice house could have been used for storing hives
during winter if it weren't being used for storing ice too. It would be
unusual to have a single recess in such a place for storing a hive. It
would more likely to be used for a light of some kind or tools, overshoes,
anything which might be needed in such a situation. The domed shape is
common for ice houses and of course the domed roof would make it very
strong.

A bee bole is usually built into a garden or house wall, some walls have
been built purely to accommodate boles. If you go to the link you'll see
very many examples.

Boles are unsuitable for modern wooden hives, they were used for straw
skeps.

www.ibra.org.uk/beeboles

This morning, someone asked, via a radio program, whether he could keep bees
in the city. The Bylaw Officer said that they are classed as livestock and
therefore forbidden. I used to and a friend does still. The only one that
complained was frightened by the bees drinking the seepage on her hot-tub!
A jar of honey cured that!

I supposed if one called them pets, and named each one Eric, one could get
around the by-law{;-)
Graham