A game larder, also sometimes known as a deer or venison larder, deer, venison or game house, game pantry or game store, is a small domestic outbuilding where the carcasses of game, including deer, game birds, hares and rabbits, are hung to mature in a cool environment. [1] [2] [3] A feature of large country houses and sporting lodges in Britain and parts of northern Europe from the 18th century, game larders continue to be used by shooting estates.
A separate building for storing game during the maturation process improves ventilation, while reducing the odour problem. [4] Most large country houses in Britain had a game larder, [5] and numerous examples built between the early 18th and early 20th centuries survive. [6] The structure also existed in other European countries where hunting or shooting game was popular, including Germany and Austria-Hungary. [7]
Game larders were usually situated near the kitchen. [3] The usual English design is single storey, sometimes octagonal, and usually of brick or stone construction; ventilation is provided by louvred roof lanterns and louvred or mesh-covered unglazed windows. [4] [6] Some game larders had separate rooms for small and large game. [4] A stone or slate floor helped to cool the room. By the early 20th century, refrigeration via cooling pipes was employed. [4] Game larders were sometimes combined with other outbuildings, especially ice houses, as for example at Elvaston Castle in Derbyshire and the Raith Estate in Fife. In central Europe, ice houses were themselves sometimes used for storing deer carcasses. [8]
John Claudius Loudon describes a small game larder in 1842:
I once saw a very pretty convenient larder, which was used only for game. ... It was built out from the wall of the kitchen, in the form of an octagon, having windows on every side, except that formed by the kitchen wall, and in this was the door. The roof projected over the windows, to protect them from the sun and rain. The ceiling in the interior was coved, and from the centre hung an octagon rack with hooks for the smaller birds all ranged in order; and round the wall was another rack for pheasants, hares, rabbits, &c. [3]
Rails or beams were used to support deer on hooks, with roof-suspended racks, sometimes on pulleys, for small game. [4] [9] Shelves, possibly of marble, were also used. [4] Another necessary fixture described by Victorian architect Robert Kerr is a dresser topped with slate or marble for meat preparation. [10]
A relatively early example is the game larder at Farnborough Hall, Warwickshire, which dates from around 1750 and is thought to be by Sanderson Miller; the hexagonal rendered-brick structure has a loggia with Tuscan columns and is surmounted with a wooden cupola. [11] [12] An example of an unornamented square game larder stands at Studley Park in Yorkshire; built in limestone, it dates from the late 18th century. [13] The square stone game larder at Rydal Hall in Cumbria has a timber upper storey reached by an external staircase. [14] Although most extant game larders are built in stone or brick, some timber examples have survived. Examples include the structures at Brodsworth Hall, Yorkshire, Audley End House, Essex, and the Bird Game Larder at Ardverikie House, Badenoch and Strathspey. [15]
In addition to their practical purpose, game larders on great estates often served a decorative function, and could be highly ornate in their design. [16] The game larder at Uppark in Sussex, designed by Humphry Repton, has a floor decorated with deer vertebrae, and has been described as "a mannered grotesque advertisement for the pleasures of the chase and the table awaiting arriving guests." [17] Dating from around 1810, the rectangular flint-faced building has an octagonal timber portion. [4] [18] The game larder at Combermere Abbey in Cheshire, which also dates from the early 19th century and is thought to be by the Irish Morrison family, has decorative windows in the Gothic style. The octagonal red-brick structure is capped with a timber roof lantern. [19] [20] The game larder at Abbotsford House in Selkirkshire, built by John Smith of Darnick in 1851, takes the form of a circular castle, with crenellations. [21] The circular interior of the game larder at Holkham Hall in Norfolk is lined with alabaster; designed by Samuel Wyatt, the octagonal building dates from 1803. [22] [23]
Game larders continue to be used on shooting estates in Britain to store game and sometimes additionally to process it to meat products such as venison. To comply with modern food hygiene regulations, their design incorporates drinking-quality water outlets, and frequently powered ventilation, insect-killing devices and refrigeration. [24] [25]
Octagon houses are eight-sided houses that were popular in the United States and Canada mostly in the 1850s. They are characterized by an octagonal (eight-sided) plan and often feature a flat roof and a veranda that circles the house. Their unusual shape and appearance, quite different from the ornate pitched-roof houses typical of the period, can generally be traced to the influence of amateur architect and lifestyle pundit Orson Squire Fowler. Although there are other octagonal structures worldwide, the term octagon house usually refers to octagonal houses built in North America during this period, and up to the early 1900s.
A larder is a cool area for storing food prior to use. Originally, it was where raw meat was larded—covered in fat—to be preserved. By the 18th century, the term had expanded: at that point, a dry larder was where bread, pastry, milk, butter, or cooked meats were stored. Larders were commonplace in houses before the widespread use of the refrigerator.
Baddiley is a scattered settlement and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The civil parish also includes the north-western part of the village of Ravensmoor, as well as the small settlements of Baddiley Hulse, Batterley Hill, and parts of Gradeley Green and Swanley. According to the 2001 Census the parish had a total population of 226, increasing at the 2011 Census to 249.
Tatton Park is a historic estate in Cheshire, England, north of the town of Knutsford. It contains a mansion, Tatton Hall; a medieval manor house, Tatton Old Hall; Tatton Park Gardens, a farm and a deer park of 2,000 acres (8.1 km2). It is a popular visitor attraction and hosts over a hundred events annually. The estate is owned by the National Trust and is managed under lease by Cheshire East Council. Since 1999, it has hosted North West England's annual Royal Horticultural Society flower show.
Marbury is a small village located at SJ560457 in the civil parish of Marbury and District, formerly Marbury cum Quoisley, within the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is administered jointly with the adjacent civil parishes of Norbury and Wirswall. The village lies around 3 miles (5 km) north east of Whitchurch in Shropshire and 7 miles (11 km) south west of Nantwich in Cheshire. Nearby villages include Malpas, No Man's Heath, Norbury, Wirswall and Wrenbury. The civil parish bordered Shropshire and covers 2,168 acres (877 ha); it also contains the small settlements of Hollins Lane, Marley Green and Quoisley, as well as parts of Hollyhurst and Willeymoor. The total population was just under 250 in 2001, and – combined with Wirswall – 352 in 2011.
Combermere Abbey is a former monastery, later a country house, near Burleydam, between Nantwich, Cheshire and Whitchurch in Shropshire, England, located within Cheshire and near the border with Shropshire. Initially Savigniac and later Cistercian, the abbey was founded in the 1130s by Hugh Malbank, Baron of Nantwich, and was also associated with Ranulf de Gernons, Earl of Chester. The abbey initially flourished, but by 1275 was sufficiently deeply in debt to be removed from the abbot's management. From that date until its dissolution in 1538, it was frequently in royal custody, and acquired a reputation for poor discipline and violent disputes with both lay people and other abbeys. It was the third largest monastic establishment in Cheshire, based on net income in 1535.
Arley Hall is a country house in the village of Arley, Cheshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) south of Lymm and 5 miles (8 km) north of Northwich. It is home to the owner, Viscount Ashbrook, and his family. The house is a Grade II* listed building, as is its adjacent chapel. Formal gardens to the southwest of the hall are also listed as Grade II* on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. In the grounds are more listed buildings, a cruck barn being listed as Grade I, and the other buildings as Grade II.
Rydal Hall is a large detached house on the outskirts of the village of Rydal, Cumbria, in the English Lake District. It has an early nineteenth-century front facade, but includes some earlier fabric.
Adlington Hall is a country house near Adlington, Cheshire. The oldest part of the existing building, the Great Hall, was constructed between 1480 and 1505; the east wing was added in 1581. The Legh family has lived in the hall and in previous buildings on the same site since the early 14th century. After the house was occupied by Parliamentary forces during the Civil War, changes were made to the north wing, including encasing the Great Hall in brick, inserting windows, and installing an organ in the Great Hall. In the 18th century the house was inherited by Charles Legh who organised a series of major changes. These included building a new west wing, which incorporated a ballroom, and a south wing with a large portico. It is possible that Charles Legh himself was the architect for these additions. He also played a large part in planning and designing the gardens, woodland and parkland, which included a number of buildings of various types, including a bridge known as the Chinese Bridge that carried a summerhouse.
Cholmondeley Castle is a country house in the civil parish of Cholmondeley, Cheshire, England. Together with its adjacent formal gardens, it is surrounded by parkland. The site of the house has been a seat of the Cholmondeley family since the 12th century. The present house replaced a timber-framed hall nearby. It was built at the start of the 19th century for George Cholmondeley, 1st Marquess of Cholmondeley, who designed most of it himself in the form of a crenellated castle. After the death of the Marquess, the house was extended to designs by Robert Smirke to produce the building in its present form. The house is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.
In medieval and Early Modern England, Wales and Ireland, a deer park was an enclosed area containing deer. It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a wooden park pale on top of the bank, or by a stone or brick wall. The ditch was on the inside increasing the effective height. Some parks had deer "leaps", where there was an external ramp and the inner ditch was constructed on a grander scale, thus allowing deer to enter the park but preventing them from leaving.
Eccleston Hill is a house in the village of Eccleston, Cheshire, England. The house, with its attached conservatory, wall, and service wing, is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
St John's Church is an active Anglican parish church in the village of High Legh, Cheshire, England. It is in the deanery of Knutsford, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the diocese of Chester.
Rode Hall, a Georgian country house, is the seat of the Wilbraham family, members of the landed gentry in the parish of Odd Rode, Cheshire, England. The estate, with the original timber-framed manor house, was purchased by the Wilbrahams from the ancient Rode family in 1669. The medieval manor house was replaced between 1700 and 1708 by a brick-built seven-bay building; a second building, with five bays, was built in 1752; the two buildings being joined in 1800 to form the present Rode Hall.
Youlston Park, also known as Youlston House, is a privately-owned 17th-century mansion house situated at Shirwell, near Barnstaple, North Devon, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The parkland is Grade II listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The game larder and stables are individually listed Grade II. The pair of entrance lodges are listed Grade II*.
A total of 21 buildings and other structures in the English civil parish of Dodcott cum Wilkesley have been officially designated as listed buildings for their "special architectural and historic interest". Dodcott cum Wilkesley is in the Cheshire East division of the ceremonial county of Cheshire, situated on the Cheshire Plain at the border with Shropshire. The civil parish is predominantly rural, with many scattered minor settlements, the largest of which is the small village of Burleydam. One of the listed buildings is classified by English Heritage as being in grade I, meaning "of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important" ; two are in grade II* and the remainder in grade II.
There are over 20,000 Grade II* listed buildings in England. This page is a list of these buildings in the unitary authority of Cheshire East.
Mawdesley Hall is a country manor in Hall Lane, Mawdesley, Chorley, Lancashire, England. It consists of a central hall with two cross-wings. The central hall was built in the 17th century, its lower storey being timber-framed and its upper floor plastered and painted to resemble timber-framing. The cross-wings were added in the late 18th or early 19th century. The west wing is in sandstone, and the east wing is in brick with stone dressings. The hall is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.
St Mary's Anglican Church is a State heritage-listed church at 11 Gordon Street, Mount Morgan, Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed and built in 1888-1889 by Scottish-born Thomas Glen Cornes (1842-1903), superintendent of sawmills and carpenters at the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Company Limited. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 25 August 2000.
The Model Factory and Dwelling is a heritage-listed former factory, store and dwelling and now offices located at 120 Gloucester Street in the inner city Sydney suburb of The Rocks in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by George McRae and built from 1912 to 1913. It is also known as Chung Lun Building and (erroneously) the Housing Board Building. The property is owned by Property NSW, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 10 May 2002.