Initial adjustment 1748 (≈ 1748)
Created by the Marquise de Pompadour in ancient quarries.
1750-1754
Reorganization of the village
Reorganization of the village 1750-1754 (≈ 1752)
Global project led by the Marquise de Pompadour.
1771
Architectural supplements
Architectural supplements 1771 (≈ 1771)
Work added by the Duke of Penthièvre.
8 décembre 1992
Heritage protection
Heritage protection 8 décembre 1992 (≈ 1992)
Registration to Historical Monuments (Decree).
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Heritage classified
Ice cream, comprising cutting room and sump (Box B 382, 384): inscription by order of 8 December 1992
Key figures
Marquise de Pompadour - Initial sponsor
Order the layout in 1748 and reorganize the village.
Duc de Penthièvre - Complementary patron
Added elements in 1771.
Origin and history
The Crécy-Couvé cooler was built in 1748 in old quarries on the order of the Marquise de Pompadour, which reorganized the village between 1750 and 1754. Located below the castle, near the canals and the mirror where the ice was extracted in winter, it was completed in 1771 by the Duke of Penthever. Its architecture combines utility and technique: a seven-metre-high cylindrical well, vaulted by natural rock, and an adjacent cutting room. Threads on the ground drained the meltwater to a central sump, while mulching layers isolated the ice blocks.
The monument consists of two main spaces: the cutting room and the storage well, designed as a large masonry cylinder. The walls rise up to the rocky vault, creating a natural cold room. Other cellars, not detailed, complete this set. The cooler illustrates pre-industrial conservation techniques, essential for aristocratic residences such as Crécy-Couvé. Its inscription in the Historical Monuments in 1992 protects this rare testimony of 18th century domestic practices.
The site is part of a landscape shaped by the aristocracy: canals, ice mirror and castle form a coherent whole, reflecting the hydraulic and landscape arrangements typical of the seigneurial domains of the era. The cooler, though discreet, played a key role in providing ice for the courtyard's culinary and medical needs. Its present state and its approximate location (map precision noted 5/10) make it a vestige to rediscover, anchored in the local history of Eure-et-Loir.
