The Oldest Walk-in Box
One part of my job as a sanitarian, is to check walk in boxes. These are large, sometimes room-sized refrigeration units. This year while in Ireland I was touring a small garden outside Castle Lismore in County Waterford . There was the stone structure pictured below. It was the castle’s pre-electrical walk-in box. It had an igloo like opening on the other side, where you walked through a short tunnel. Then there was a large barred surface that sat over a pit. The pit was about 30 feet deep. During the winter the castle serfs and slaves would fill the pit with ice and snow. It would stay cool throughout the summer allowing fresh game and other goods to be stored above it. Oh for the good old days when there were serfs!
