Life Below Stairs by Alison Maloney

Author:Alison Maloney [Maloney, Alison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781843177814
Publisher: Michael O' Mara Books

An early advertisement for a wrought-iron mangle

The Wash House

In the ‘big houses’, the work was done in a wash house, which was either a few rooms attached to the kitchen or a single-storey building across the yard. It was comprised of a washing room fitted with a series of tubs and coppers, placed at a convenient height for the maid, and a stove to heat the water, unless plumbing allowing hot running water was fitted. The floor was of York stone slabs with a drainage system to draw away the water that slopped on the floor and a flue to draw off the steam. Next door was an ironing room and a drying room, ideally heated with a furnace. The laundry maid spent most of her time in the hot steamy environment, often with her hands plunged into very hot water, and was left with chapped, reddened hands as a result.

For those households that did not boast a laundry maid, there were local laundresses or washerwomen who would take the dirty fabric away on a Monday and return it, washed, starched and pressed, later in the week.

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