Document of the Month

January 2008

Rufford Abbey household and estate account book: filling the ice house, January 1838

Reference: DD/SR 235/1

This account book records details of money received and paid by the Rufford Abbey estate. All the entries are arranged under specific headings and show the sorts of activities being carried out in the house and on the estate over a period of time.

These entries are from January 1838. On 12 January J Brooks and J Bell were paid 8 shillings for four days' work getting ice for the estate's ice house. Two further men were paid 3 shillings 4 pence for driving the ice cart, and an allowance of 1 pound, eight shillings was made to 28 men for filling the ice house with ice.

An ice house was a building found on country estates which was usually partly or wholly underground and had non-conducting walls. During the winter ice would be stored here, for use during the year. Rufford Abbey had three ice houses, one of which was situated beside the lake. The map of 1919 (left) shows part of the Rufford Abbey grounds, including two of the ice houses. See the map in more detail here [PDF 688KB] .

The account book records a whole range of other activities going on at the estate between 1837 and 1845, including buying ropes for the Abbey clock, the 'carriage of wine' from London to Rufford for £13, and repairs to the hall.

You can read the accounts for January 1838 in more detail here [PDF 417KB]

Read a transcript of the accounts for January 1838 here [PDF 17KB]

The full catalogue for the archive of the Savile family can be searched on the Access to Archives web site at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a.

Information on the history of Rufford Abbey can be viewed here.

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