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Gas Lit Houses

(85 Posts)
CaroDane Mon 12-Aug-19 17:01:36

Is there anyone else here old enough to remember houses lit by gas ? In the early fifties we visited a great aunt in Lancaster whose house was still gas lit. The house was untouched by time and furnished exactly as it had been when it was her father's family home. A lot of china, and very heavy furniture !
Also i can remember as a child watching a chap on a bicycle with a ladder climbing up and lighting the gas lamp outside our house. He came at roughly the same time every evening. I can also remember caravan holidays with horrible hissing gas lamps. I've always been terrified of gas appliances !

Alexa Wed 14-Aug-19 11:52:35

It wasn't" the dark ages" for me. The first home my husband and I had was a much loved caravan on a RAF caravan site. It had calor gas for lighting and cooking and a solid fuel stove for heating.

Gonegirl Wed 14-Aug-19 13:16:56

"Solid fuel stove"! I had one of those in my caravan - the first place I owned after coming out of bedsits. Me and my black pussycat loved that little stove.

Gonegirl Wed 14-Aug-19 13:17:32

Oops! I sound like an old witch now!

grandtanteJE65 Wed 14-Aug-19 13:20:46

I can remember homes in the Scottish Highlands that only had oil lamps prior to the building of the hydro-electric plant at Loch Awe in the 1960s.

We had electricity, outside Glasgow, but burnt Welsh anthracite in the Raeburn and coal in the fireplaces.

Alexa Thu 15-Aug-19 12:24:15

You sound like a young witch Gonegirl. A good beginning for a story.

fizzers Thu 15-Aug-19 12:58:51

oh yes the gas lights in caravans, forgot allabout that

watermeadow Thu 15-Aug-19 20:23:14

My aunt had gas lights in the 1950s.
We lived in Wales from 1973 to 1994 and attended a little church which had gas lighting.

jacq10 Fri 16-Aug-19 21:29:17

Thanks Alexa I had forgotten about Tilley lamps. We also headed north for the holidays and I now vividly remember my uncle used to spend a lot of time "trimming the wick" of the Tilley lamps at the kitchen table. My aunt used to bake great scones on the black range. I remember the small living room being really hot and the rest of the house freezing. We weren't allowed candles in the bedroom but had great fun with torches!!

Alexa Sat 17-Aug-19 17:18:38

I guess I am older than you jacq10. When I was a child with a naked flame in my attic bedroom there was not really much official health and safety.

Grandetante, thanks for filling in a gap in my knowledge. Of course, the Loch Awe power scheme would have affected the Kyles of Bute.