 | | Thursday 12th June 2003
Cleaning out the ice-house | |
|  | | Children from Bredon school in the icehouse |
| | Children at a Worcestershire school have been cleaning out a historic icehouse in the grounds. |
| | | This is the kind of school project children are always keen to get involved in: removing the junk of decades from the Victorian Ice House close to Bredon School’s Pull Court mansion.
The Ice House is a gated, underground chamber cut into a wooded hillside and has remained largely unchanged since the Dowdeswell family, owners of the mansion, had it built in the nineteenth century.
Youngsters have spent several weeks clearing out the historic feature as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations.
Keeping cool before the fridge
In the days before refrigeration, at the onset of winter the Dowdeswells’ servants would open sluices to flood a low-lying field in the grounds.
The water in this field, which is now known as the Ice Meadow, froze as the temperature dropped.
Blocks of ice were then carried from the field to the Ice House, which stands about halfway between the Ice Meadow and the mansion.
The ice was used to keep food fresh.
Headmaster Mr Mike Newby said: "This has been a very interesting project for the children. "The Dowdeswells were a very important local family and it has been exciting for everyone to learn more about how a large house such as Pull Court would have functioned in the Victorian era."
Parents and visitors coming to the school near Upton-upon-Severn on Founder’s Day next month will now be able to see the historic structure for themselves. | | | |
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