In this heat the Russborough Ice House would be the perfect place to chill out! Our Ice House is an underground structure located off the coach road about the size of a large room and in the shape of an egg. In the mid 18th century, the climate was much colder than today and ice could be regularly collected from lakes and streams and put into the Ice house. It is said that when it was full it would take over 2 years to melt!

The ice was kept so that the 1st Earl of Milltown could provide ice for drinks and iced desserts for his guests during the summer. This would have been very unusual and considered rather special back then and reinforced the position of the 1st Earl as an important person in society. In later times, the ice house was also used to preserve meat, fish, poultry and vegetables.