Description:Until refrigeration people lived on seasonal food, although a greater variety was enjoyed by the rich who had living supplies of game in their grounds. From the early seventeenth century icehouses came into use, although only the very wealthy could afford the luxury of owning one.
When ice is packed together in a large mass its small surface area slows down melting, especially when insulated by straw and reeds and enclosed within walls and a roof. Icehouses enabled ice, collected in the winter from lakes and ponds, to be stored throughout the summer months.
Food prone to decay in the heat, such as meat, fish, poultry and butter, would be stored in the icehouse, either directly on the ice or on boards or trays on top of it. Pure, clean ice was taken to the house and used as a bed for cold food, chilling bottled drinks or even in the treatment of fever and inflammation.
Shugborough's icehouse dates from the eighteenth century.