Game larder

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. A feature of large country houses 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. Most large country houses in Britain had a game larder, and numerous examples built between the early 18th and early 20th centuries survive. The structure also existed in other European countries where hunting or shooting game was popular, including Germany and Austria–Hungary.

Game larders were usually situated near the kitchen. 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. Some game larders had separate rooms for small and large game. A stone or slate floor helped to cool the room. By the early 20th century, refrigeration via cooling pipes was employed. Game larders were sometimes combined with other outbuildings, especially ice houses, as for example at Elvaston Castle in Derbyshire and Raith Park in Fife. In central Europe, ice houses were themselves sometimes used for storing deer carcasses.

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.

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