Gas Lit Houses

Septimia, I do hope that you're not using that ironing board

www.asbestos.net/asbestos/products/iron-rests/

Our batteries were delivered to the door, full of horrid looking black stuff, kept in the pantry, and woe betide us if we touched them, we were told all sorts of nasty things would happen. We never had a gas fire then, stepfather was a miner, so we got cut price coal delivered whenever we needed it, dumped at the front gate, so it was all hands on deck shovelling it up and taking it to the coal shed. The pieces of shale were chucked under the hedge, we used it to mark out hopscotch pitches on the pavement instead of chalk.

Accumulator! That's what the battery was called. We took ours to a local bike shop (?!) every Saturday to get a refill.

Remember the gas mantles, flat irons, coal fire which was replaced by a very ugly gas fire in the early 50's, also having to take batteries which were very heavy to be filled with some kind of acid so we could listen to the radio (DGS looks at me when I call it a wireless). Our leerie was "Willie the Lamp"

We had gas lighting when I was a child, and a fireplace range that had to be black leaded. My mother cooked on the fire and with the oven in the range, but she also had a double gas ring to supplement it. We had gas mantles in the bedrooms, but we weren`t trusted with them, so carried a bicycle lamp up to bed.
We had electricity installed (council house) when I was 8 or 9, also the old range fireplace was taken out and replaced by a more modern one which also had an oven, it was a beigey colour. Our house was halfway down the street, they started at one end putting electricity in, and at the other end with the fireplaces, trouble was they met up at our house, so we had both lots of workers in at the same time.
My grandma was broken hearted when her very forceful daughter insisted on her having a new tiled fireplace in the front room instead of the old black leaded range, she cried when it was being taken out.

I live near Beverley where we have a gas lit pub.
Its referred to as “ Nellies” in fond memory of a formidable landlady.
Officially it’s the White Horse.
The smell and glow of the gas is quite amazing, it really is like stepping back in time.

GabriellaG54 how strange, I had that book too. It was a Christmas present I got in the early fifties from my grandfather.

That's it Baubles. ?

“And all my toys about me lay
To keep me happy all the day”

Yes indeed Gonegirl
That book was a 5th birthday present from my then best friend Jean Anderson in 1950 and she wrote birthday wishes on the flyleaf.

I'll shut up now.

Brought back memories Gabriella.

"Little Indian, Sioux or Crow,
Little frostie Eskimo.
Little Turk or Japanee,
Oh don't you wish that you were me?"

The land of counterpane.

"When I was sick and lay abed
I had two pillows at my head"

Can't remember the rest....

I've still got that book in a cupboard upstairs. I loved it as a child.

"A birdie with a yellow bill
Hopped upon my windowsill.
Cocked his shining eye and said,
Ain't you shamed you sleepyhead?"

Sorry...missed out the first two lines:
My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky;
It’s time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
...

It’s time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.

Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,
And my papa’s a banker and as rich as he can be;
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I’m to do,
Oh Leerie, I’ll go round at night and light the lamps with you!

For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light,
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight!

Mum used to read this book to us at bedtime.
I can recite all the verses within and the book holds many happy memories.

I do indeed remember gaslights and the lamplighter with his ladder over his shoulder riding his bike one-handed.
We had gas lighting in our avenue in Liverpool and the hiss of the lamps and the sound of the foghorn on the Mersey, were quite spooky.
We even had chimney sweeps carrying huge extendable brushes on their bikes and spreading a big cloth on the kitchen floor before fitting the rods together.
Happy memories of winter nights.

Gas geysers were almost invariable in bathrooms (and kitchens) if you did not want to light the big coal fuelled stove in the kitchen. In every flat I rented in the 1960s, all water heating was done by a geyser. The first house my sister bought in 1977 had a geyser for water heating until she had raised enough money to rip it out and install central heating.

No gas lamps, but we had a very old-fashioned gas fridge with ornate legs liker a piece of Chippendale. It was by the back door and the pilot light on it was always blowing out - I had a very sensitive nose and my parents came to believe me if I said I could smell gas and they would go and check the fridge. A bit scary really - no elf and safety then!

And my grandma in London had the scariest bit of gas kit in the bathroom - a gas geyser that would roar when it lit up and frighten me to death. I used to dread having a bath.

We burnt coal, and any wood we collected from the woods.

Yes! My granny used to blacklead ours.

We had a range like that in the kitchen, Marydoll, I've no idea what fuel was used but I can remember my mother having to blacklead it.
It was changed to a gas cooker in the 1950s, nice and modern!

I was quite taken aback when I saw the article, GoneGirl It made me think of Mary Poppins!

That's a really interesting article SueDonim. I had no idea there was still gas street lighting in parts of London, including Westminster Abbey.

There is a pub in Beverley, E Yorks called The White Horse (although known to all as Nellies after a previous landlady), where they still have gas lighting. It's very atmospheric. Does anyone know of any others?