Posted by Robert Dilley on April 09, 2003 at 18:36:22 from 65.39.15.73 user rdilley.
In Reply to: Re: BECKFOOT layout - good grief!! posted by Duncan on April 09, 2003 at 17:15:35:
As someone who grew up in a smaller version of Beckfoot (and whose principal research has remained rooted in the area) I concur that the idea of a kitchen separated from the house is most improbable. The kitchen was usually the centre of the house operation -- and in winter the only really warm room. Many farm houses -- as ours, outside Caldbeck -- had an "ingle" in the kitchen: a sheltered nook close to the stove with a high-backed settle covered in cushions, where the family and visitors could be warm.
Dishes would rarely be washed in the kitchen. There would be (again, as we had) a "back kitchen", which could be at the end of a passageway and which would have big sinks and (again, from my experience) a big "copper" -- a large metal water tank that could be heated by a fire below for washing laundry. You didn't want all that wet (and often smelly) mess in the kitchen where you cooked, baked and usually ate all but the most formal meals.
There would also be a larder: a dark room with thick walls and only a small window (for that matter, all our walls were thick -- you could sit and even lie down and sleep inside the window openings). Before refrigerators food would be kept in the pantry to avoid spoiling. Usually, though, you shopped each day for the day's requirements. If you were relatively remote, as we were (and as at Beckfoot), then the stores came calling -- the butcher's van, the grocer, the baker, the fish man (and the library). Not being at home for a delivery (and we certainly couldn't afford a cook, or help of any kind) was a serious problem. Milk, by the way, came from the farm next door, brought in little cans like those in CC.
When trying to envisage the layout of places like Beckfoot it helps to have had first-hand experience of a similar (if less well-off) establishment. Not to deny that it is fun tuning in to the squabbles.