Cooking on an open fire in labourers' cottages in the early 1900s and
before
Based on childhood recollections
of working class family life in north London in Edwardian times.
The Victorian-style terraced houses
where my mother grew up were state of the art at the time with their 'kitchener'
kitchen ranges, but many working class
families in older properties lacked such modern conveniences. My mother wrote
that one of her grandmothers lived in little more than a hovel and cooked on
an open fire and had to use a candle at night to see if the water was boiling.
I wanted to know how this sort of cooking worked.
Fortunately there are still a few old village-style workers' cottages open
to the public which allow some understanding of the lives on the people who
used to live there. Discussions with Bill Hogg have further clarified my understanding.
The process is best explained through the following pictures.
The photo on the left shows a cast iron contraption for heating
cooking pots and a kettle over an open fire. The height above the fire - and
hence the cooking temperature - could be adjusted by the altering the lengths
of the suspension chains. The contraption could be swung round over the fire
for cooking and away from the fire for loading and unloading. The photo on the
right shows the contraption mounted on the fireplace and swung away from the
fire.
Photographed at St Fagans National Museum of Wales.
Cast iron cooking pots on a trivet. This kept the pots
tidy and protected the surface below when they were hot..
Photographed at St Fagans National Museum of Wales.
If you have any information to add or perhaps a
photograph, I would be very pleased to hear from you.
Pat Cryer
