including the canal on the west front and the avenues running east to west. These were replaced with grassland and trees, with the planting of cedars and over 2,200 oak and ash saplings. Brown also turned the lakes into a single expanse of water by removing the dam between the Upper Long Pool and the Middle Pool to make way for his Upper Bridge. The Ice House The Ice House was built in 1772 by ‘Capability’ Brown during the extensive remodelling. An Ice House was a ‘must have’ accessory of the day amongst leading gentry, with growing demand for refrigerated food, sorbets and ice creams. Ice was cut in blocks from the lake during the winter and dragged up to the Ice house. A drain at the bottom allowed water from the melted ice to escape. The structure was built mainly underground where the temperature is more consistently cool. The Ice House at Compton Verney was originally thatched, but after 1817 there are no further records of re-thatching or repair and the Ice House was either abandoned or possibly covered in earth and grass – an approach seen with other Ice Houses – as this was how it was found when the present owners took over Compton Verney in the 1990s. Clearance of the Ice House at Compton Verney started in 2008. The Ice House has now been fully restored. 19th century When The 14th Baron Willoughby de Broke died in 1816, the house was inherited by The 15th Baron Willoughby de Broke, and on his death by his younger brother, who became The 16th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1773-1852), an eccentric character who became increasingly reclusive. He made minor alterations to the building, such as architect Henry Hakewill’s transformation of the Saloon into a Dining room in 1824. There was also some work in the grounds, including the extension of the lower lake in around 1815 by the engineer William Whitmore, and the erection of a White Cornish granite obelisk over the old family vault near the lake in about 1848. This structure is said to have been based on the Lateran Obelisk in Italy. The 17th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1809-1862), whose name was originally Robert John Bernard, did very little to the house as he was more interested in hunting. The 18th Baron invited architect John Gibson to work on the site. He made changes to the