Brigg folk who lived in the alleyways and courtyards off Wrawby Street and the Market Place had to make do with baths infront of the fire. Several people, or even the entire family, would share the same water - topped up, perhaps, by fresh supplies from the kettle simmering on the grate.The tin bath would be kept in the yard at the back of the house until getting its weekly call for service.
No bathrooms or inside toilets in those days. And the washing would be done the hard way with dolly tub, posher, mangle and lots of elbow grease.
It's all a far cry from today when you can nip down to Spencer Molloy's in Cary Lane and order the latest push-bottom washing machine that does the lot in a few minutes.
....less of yer posh talk, Nige; I still use me mangle and tin bath in front of the range. Can't beat a chunk of carbolic and a scrubbing brush.
ReplyDeleteYep, I give meself a bath once year, whether I need it, or not.
The only place I know that still sells tin baths is a shop in/or near Tintwhistle, which is on the Woodhead Pass as it approaches Manchester.
A friend of mine wanted something to bath his dog in and we spied this shop with tin baths hanging on the shop's front. The bath just fitted in the back of the estate, but there was a lot of drumming noise as we headed towards the M1north of Sheffield
Now for something completely different...but still related to Brigg's past life.
ReplyDeleteI had reason to be in the upper back room of the Red X shop recently.
Its window overlooks Brian's DIY outside storage area. The remains of the typical Brigg cottage that was on/in the site has more or less gone.
The only examples of such cottages remaining are the 'cottages' next to Spencer Molleys and behind IC MP's office in Cary Lane.
Is someone going to claim these before they too are lost to the bulldozer?
I don't know who has ownership of these buildings - they seem to used as some sort of storage facility.
But is it rocket science to put these cottages on the agenda for reclamation and possible relocation.
Would make an excellent example of Victorian Brigg and a very useful tool for primary schools to use for history projects -'Life in Nigel's Day!'
Any road up, we have no local outlet for local history; albeit the TI office does have some informative books....yet the Brigg area has a mass of history from the Roman farmstead and possible Iron Age settlements in Wrawby; the Viking site near Barnetby Top to name a few.
Geological, Brigg's Market Place is on Purbeck Shale akin the similar stratum in southern England. The Wolds are the same rock types and age as the Downs and the White Cliffs of Dover.
And I haven't mentioned Brigg Fair.
Doesn't anybody care???