[devonlady]

To keep food cool, two earthenware pots, one two or three sizes than the other. Put a layer of damp sand in the larger one, put the smaller one in and dribble damp sand between the two. Put in a shady place, put milk. butter etc in the smaller pot and cover with a damp towel. Keep everything damp and your food will keep fresh.
I used this method for two summers and am still alive!!

[cloddopper]

We had an evaporative  cupboard made out of limestone slabs , brass corner angles with brass bolts & a wooden door with a fly mesh let into it , the thick top slab had a 2 " bowl cut in to it ..you filled it up with the two pint jug using cooled boiled water each day.

As a 4 yr old I could hide inside it , it was that big .

 We also had a factory made double chalk candle filter unit  ,in a four gallon brown earthen ware split tank arrangement to filter out finer crud from the stream or old bottle well water before we boiled it for drinking .

[pgkevet]

we just had the crock-pot you stood the milk bottle in... the water it stands in weeps through the unglazed pottery for cooling.