Description:Corridor and steps leading to the ice chamber in the Ice House at Crakemarsh Hall showing the brickwork of the chamber through the open door. The Ice House was restored by John Walker of Uttoxeter in 1992.
Crakemarsh Hall was extensively rebuilt in 1815 for Sir Thomas Cotton Sheppard around the staircase of a late 17th century house. It passed to the Cavendish family in 1873. US troops were billeted there during the 2nd World War and after the war part of the Hall was rented out as flats. In 1968 Geoffrey and Pamela Cavendish put the estate up for sale and it was bought by a Mr Stott. He in turn sold it to JCB in 1972, who planned to develop the Hall into an International Management and Marketing Centre. These plans came to nothing and the Hall fell into disrepair. In December 1982 it was gutted by fire and remained an empty shell until it was demolished in 1998 to make way for five ‘executive homes’ to be built on the site.