Viva Brighton Issue #43 September 2016
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BITS AND BOBS<br />
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SECRETS OF THE ROYAL PAVILION ESTATE:<br />
HOW THE PRINCE REGENT CHILLED HIS WINE<br />
I am currently choosing objects from<br />
the Royal Pavilion archives to include<br />
in the exhibition Visions of the Royal<br />
Pavilion Estate, which will open at<br />
<strong>Brighton</strong> Museum in March 2017.<br />
It will show less familiar views and<br />
lost buildings of the estate. One of<br />
these ‘lost’ structures is the ice house,<br />
which is a few feet underground, at<br />
the south-west corner of the grounds<br />
(near to New Road). It is clearly<br />
visible in the ground plan published<br />
by the architect John Nash in 1826 in<br />
The Royal Pavilion at <strong>Brighton</strong>. It was<br />
probably built in 1822.<br />
In the winter, ice was brought from<br />
nearby ponds and rivers, or even<br />
imported from Norway or North<br />
America. Ice houses were generally<br />
pits or wells lined with brick or<br />
stone, covered with a domed top.<br />
Layers of straw on the floor and<br />
walls provided insulation. In proper<br />
conditions, ice could be stored all<br />
summer, so the supply of ice cream<br />
in the Royal Pavilion was secured,<br />
and George could serve white wine<br />
nicely chilled! Ice houses similar to<br />
our one can be seen at Felbrigg Hall<br />
in Norfolk and by York’s city wall<br />
near Monk Bar. A much larger one<br />
is at Petworth House in West Sussex<br />
and can be visited.<br />
<strong>Brighton</strong> enjoyed a roaring ice trade<br />
in the 18th and 19th centuries<br />
and a number of ice houses in<br />
the area are recorded, including<br />
one near the Castle Tavern<br />
(now Castle Square) in North<br />
Street, from around 1790. By<br />
1854 there were no fewer than<br />
nine in <strong>Brighton</strong>, with many<br />
more ice merchants operating<br />
later in the 19th century.<br />
The Royal Pavilion ice house<br />
is still there, but I wouldn’t<br />
recommend digging for it, as<br />
it has been partly concreted<br />
over. It was briefly uncovered<br />
in the 1950s during work in<br />
the Pavilion Gardens. Its oval<br />
layout and domed roof are clearly visible in the photograph above.<br />
A detailed cross section of the structure, drawn in around 1830,<br />
will be included in the exhibition next year.<br />
Alexandra Loske, Curator at the Royal Pavilion<br />
Ice House dug up, 1950s. © Royal Pavilion & Museums, <strong>Brighton</strong> & Hove<br />
Ice House plans, 1830. © Royal Pavilion & Museums, <strong>Brighton</strong> & Hove<br />
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