Survey Data
Reg No
14819268
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Icehouse
Date
1760 - 1790
Coordinates
205496, 204997
Date Recorded
01/09/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Icehouse, built c.1780, located within Birr Castle demesne. No longer in use. Squared limestone entrance elevation and brick entrance tunnel. Main chamber covered with earth. Square-headed door opening with tooled limestone flat arch. Located to the east of the lake.
Appraisal
This icehouse, located close to the lake, provided the principal means of food preservation for the estate until the end of the nineteenth century. It is recorded in the Birr Castle archives in 1785, that the men who were working on or in the icehouse were remunerated with uisce beatha and poitín. The tooling over the doorway indicates an attention to detail despite the purely utilitarian nature of this structure.