Abstract Quantitative stress measurements related to the development of mesoscale structures in rock are difficult, if not impossible. A method for determining the stress distribution and history during the development of mesoscale boudinage structures in ice is introduced here. Boudinage structures in fracture trace ice have been observed in the outlets glaciers of the Framnes Mountains, east Antarctica. Fracture traces are preserved when crevasses fill with surface melt water, which freezes to form coarse-grained columnar ice. A 4.0 km flow-parallel traverse across the Central Ice Stream of the Framnes Mountains is presented to illustrate the boudinage of fracture traces with a mean width of 0.30 m. Field-based measurement of the geometric evolution of boudinage structures has been combined with surface flow rate measurements to quantitatively determine the strain rate at which the boudinage structures formed. The strain rate measurements provide boundary constraints on several two-dimensional finite difference models that have been used to analyse the stress distribution related to the formation of boudinage structures in a visco-elastic solid. The results reveal the development of pressure-shadows during the boudinage of layered rocks, and demonstrate the degree of refraction of stress across rheological boundaries, which have important ramifications for the analysis of planar and linear fabrics in rocks.