Cold houses in the past…

I remember the days when my brother wore a balaclava to school, as did many of his friends.

I don't know why, but girls didn't wear them.

When it was cold at school, one lovely teacher used to warm our milk and give us cocoa instead of the cold milk.

As a child I had brushed cotton PJs and a warm dressing gown, and make pictures in the window ice. Bathroom had a wall heater and my sister grabbed the bedroom with the chimney breast when we moved. We swam in the North Sea in Scotland at Easter and played out in all weathers.

My home is stiflingly warm as DH feels the cold and will not wrap up, so I do feel it when I go out.

Icicles on the inside of the windows, chilblains the whole winter, freezing fog,coming home from school and not being able to see the road because of the fog ,long socks and sensible school shoes, frozen milk on the doorstep . Oh yes,we were cold.

Born 1951, I grew up in Renfrewshire in a house that had been built in 1860 of granite blocks, and had not had a great deal down to it since, barring the installations of two of Shank's oldest models of water closets and hand-basins, and some unnamed maker's bath. And electricity.

Apart from the Rayburn in our dining-room (built as the kitchen originally), there were open fireplaces in every room. Only the one in the sitting-room was ever lit.

In winter we had a parafin. heater in the hall, why I do not know, as it did not manage to make any impression at all on the temperature of the hall and stair-case, a parafin convector heater in the bedroom shared by my younger sister and me, and one in Daddy's consulting-room, only during the hours of the day, when he actually was seeing patients there.

I was cold, all through my childhood, although in winter clothed in knitted woollen, scratchy vests, knitted by my grandmothers, cotton vest, cotton underpants, fleecy top pants, woollen skirt and blouse and a jumper, plus woollen knee length stockings. Later a liberty bodice of flannel was added. And long stockings (the reason for the liberty bodice as it had suspenders.)

A very small area of our beds was warmed by a hot water bottle - one to each person, and if we possibly could we smuggled a cat upstairs to act as a second hottie - one that did not turn cold during the night or develop a leak!

We washed quickly, six days a week, as the bathroom was only heated on bath nights for fifteen minutes prior to a bath being taken and while we were actually in the bathroom thereafter.

No double glazing but we did have solid wooden shutters in every room, which helped when they were closed during the winter from "lighting-up time" and until the following morning.

Considerable ingenuity was used to supply doors with draught excluders, and no child ever wore warm slippers with more glee than I.

My grandma had ‘corned beef legs ‘. I remember having Vaseline rubbed above my knees and into my thighs. I had ‘chaps’ because of the cold

I was born in 1945. So of course, no central heating or double glazing.

I remember vividly the icicles forming on bedroom windows.
And like many of you here, huddled up under blankets trying to get warm in bed. I suffered terribly with chilblains as a child.
But it was what we were used to, wasn’t it?

Looking back I don’t remember it with fondness. It was harsh and I didn’t enjoy it one bit.
I didn’t enjoy central heating until the year of 1982.
Up until that time, houses we bought didn’t have it.
We made do with paraffin heaters and electric fires.

I don’t think I would consider another house without CH.

BlueBelle

I have no heating in my bathroom or any other room except my main living room and there I have a lovely gas fire that warms the room beautifully so I m no different now to when I grew up
I cannot afford to have central heating put in this big 1875 house but it’s the only thing I ve ever owned and I will never leave it till the day I die.
I have adapted but I just look forward to spring arriving

By the way Cabbage I m not 150 and I don’t sit hunched over in 20 cardigans I do have a big thick oodie though

O0dies are great for keeping warm.
I had my hair cut today, short at the back & over ears, boy did I feel the difference when I left the hairdressers - I should've thought to bring a scarf.

The house I grew up in was v cold, a treat was to be allowed to come downstairs in pyjamas & allowed to dress in front of the (open) fire in the living room, but Mum only allowed this when it was very cold.We had an old plug-in 3-bar electric fire for the bathroom.

My grandparents' houses (all of these several hundred years old) had curtains across every door to keep the draughts out & the fire / people warmth in, it used to smell quite fusty in winter because draughts were the absolute enemy - and leaving a door unclosed in winter - my Mum used to say 'you must've been born in a tent' if we didn't close the room door behind us. Mind you, it was a bit like being in a tent getting from room to room through the door & curtains as a small child.

I remember the Winter of 1962/63.
When the sea froze and one of the coldest winters on record. I am 71'next month.

My father was a miner at the time so our family were entitled to a free coal allowance from the NCB. National Cold Board. I think it was given out on a monthly.basus.

However although the downstairs of our was toastie. The upstairs bedroom were cold and we had fan heaters and electric blankets. Plus Whitney woollen blankets and thick eiderdowns

Winter clohing involved lots of woollen knitted stuff, garberdines and duffle coats . Woolly hats,gloves,scarves and socks.

Remeber the rubber buttons on Libery Bodies being diffucult to fasten

I had a cold childhood, but you just got on with it because there was no other way. One of my jobs was on a hill farm in a tied cottage. We had a flock of sheep to look after and horses and dogs, so we had to get out in the morning to feed them and milk the house cow. We had a solid fuel Rayburn, no double glazing, if it snowed, we had to dig out the sheep. The farmer would be hauled over the coals now, how they looked after us

I grew up in the 60s and 70s. the house we grew up in had ice on the windows in winter, frozen milk on the doorstep, used to be in the kitchen having meals and the lino on the floor would flap up and down.
in the 70s mum started buying bri nylon sheets from Brentford Nylons as she thought they would be warmer. they were ok but first night i had one of my toe nails catch on the sheet and ripped straight off ouch

My childhood house had coal fires in front and living room; front room only lit on high days and holidays. A bit later we had a two bar electric fire in each room. In ny teens my dad decorated the middle room for me to use for homework and listening to my music. I had a Calor Gas fire in there. Never had central heating or heating in bedrooms or bathroom. When I moved into a flat I had a two bar electric fire. When I got married hubby moved into the flat with me. He froze as his house had central heating. His parents sold the house to us a few months later as they wanted to move back 'home'.

I was always cold in the winter. No heating in the bathroom or bedrooms, although my mother would bring a paraffin stove upstairs if I was ill. I used to have my clothes in bed with me so they would be warm when I put them on. There was a coal fire downstairs, but it always seemed to take hours to get going, and school seemed to be just as cold when you got there. I spent all winter with red mottled legs because I was always too close to the fire.

Does no one remember chilblains. I only ever had red swollen knuckles, but for others it was blisters and weeping sores.

For those who do not remember feeling cold, I sometimes wonder whether this was because we knew of no alternative. In winter we were cold. Fullstop.

However, I do think some people feel cold more than others and this isbuilt in. Ny mther and her sister, who grew up close to poverty both felt the cold and were always huddling around fires to keep warm. I can remember at school, some girls running around in school shirt sleeves, when I too was running around and wearing vest, shirt and sweater.

Heavens, we had a downstairs bathroom and I used to run for it, we did have an electric heater in there. But it was a quick wash etc, run back up to bedroom probably picking up underwear that had been put in front of the Rayburn to warm up.
Mottled legs were around!
Could not use the sitting room as too cold though there was an electric fire in there.
Of an evening being in same room watching TV playing cards it was a quick dash to make a cuppa, boil water for hot water bottles, grab a snack.
Didn't do me any harm

Life in our house revolved around the Parkray stove in the winter. It was in the living room and the only source of heat. We dressed and undressed in front of the Parkray and the dining table was in front of it for meals and homework. I suffered constantly from earache and a bottle of oil was kept warm on top of the stove to be poured down my ears at regular intervals (mostly this just blocked them up). There was much misery on Mondays when a huge clothes horse was placed all around the Parkray with the steaming wet washing cutting off all the heat.

M0nica

Does no one remember chilblains. I only ever had red swollen knuckles, but for others it was blisters and weeping sores.

For those who do not remember feeling cold, I sometimes wonder whether this was because we knew of no alternative. In winter we were cold. Fullstop.

However, I do think some people feel cold more than others and this isbuilt in. Ny mther and her sister, who grew up close to poverty both felt the cold and were always huddling around fires to keep warm. I can remember at school, some girls running around in school shirt sleeves, when I too was running around and wearing vest, shirt and sweater.

I remember chilblains very well. I had them on my feet and they used to bleed when I was made to do PE in my bare feet. Wearing plimsoles didn’t make any difference. Mother used to put chilblain ointment on them, but I can’t remember what it was called. Like some of you, we had draft excluders, heavy curtains over doors, and one fire in the kitchen-living room, which had a back boiler for hot water. The fire would get hot enough to boil the water in the pipes, we could hear it gurgling! We had a tall, Alladin paraffin heater which was put in the bathroom on bath night. Flannelette sheets. Blankets and eiderdowns, often with dad’s army coat over the top. Hot water bottles at bed time - we wrapped our night clothes around them and popped them into the bed in advance of bed time. A skim of ice on the bedside glass of water, and ice on the inside of bedroom windows. Ah yes, I remember it well.

The first house I remember had no heating and then we moved when I was about 4 to a house with central heating downstairs. I remember the excitement and no more temperamental coal fires. A few years later, the heating was extended to upstairs, it was bliss. Then in 1981, I married a farmer & moved into an un centrally heated farmhouse. It was just in time for the worst winter imaginable, with temperatures down to -20. It was dreadful! We had a very temperamental Rayburn in the kitchen and a couple of log fires. Our bed had an electric blanket, two duvets and a thick candlewick bedspread. It was all rather hard going!! I'm pleased to say we still live in the house but have full central heating and a log burner in the kitchen and underfloor heating in the garden room. However, we only have the heating on for a few hours in the evening but the logburner is going all day and the kitchen is the hub of the house.

We were married in1962 and our first home was a flat in a large Victorian house up 62 steps, something which became very significant when carrying coal upstairs for the only fire and then water when the water main in the road froze solid. DH had just started teaching and much ingenuity was involved in exercising the teenage boys as all normal activity - rugby and rowing - was impossible. Keeping clean became a tremendous effort and we were glad of offers of baths from people who were less frozen. It was some seven weeks before normal life resumed.

The go to ointment for my chilblains was called Snowfire or something similar.
It made the skin burn which helped with the circulation.
I suffered terribly with them.
It was hard to know which was worse, the pain or the dreadful itching.
As soon as I left work and didn’t have to be out in the freezing cold weather they stopped and I have never had them since but I still remember how awful they were.

I remember the ice patterns on the windows but mum tried very hard to keep the house warm. She was brought up in India and probably found it very cold. The last two houses we had, had a back boiler in one and a Rayburn in the other which heated the water and the room above. We had a gas fire in the living room. Mum always made sure we were kept warm. When I had a gas fire in my room she always lit it before I got up or the paraffin heater in the previous house. Similarly a paraffin heater in the bathroom. I remember once getting too close with my quilted nylon housecoat and it started to melt! I was lucky!

On top of a cold house, I had Reynauds disease, as did my grandmother and now my DD. It’s improved with age for some reason, but all the blood drained out of my fingers, especially later on, when going into the freezer to take something out.

I remember 1962 and wearing fingerless gloves in the office, operating a switchboard.

This is the boat we were living on in the winter of 1981/82.
We put a log burner in after that winter 😂

petra

This is the boat we were living on in the winter of 1981/82.
We put a log burner in after that winter 😂

That was a very cold winter with ice and snow. There were icicles hanging off our gutters about a foot long!
I fell over walking to school; I was pregnant at the time.

Deedaa

I was always cold in the winter. No heating in the bathroom or bedrooms, although my mother would bring a paraffin stove upstairs if I was ill. I used to have my clothes in bed with me so they would be warm when I put them on. There was a coal fire downstairs, but it always seemed to take hours to get going, and school seemed to be just as cold when you got there. I spent all winter with red mottled legs because I was always too close to the fire.

My mother said my bedroom should be warm because the chimney from the sitting room went up behind the wall near my bed.
It wasn't, there was still ice on the inside of the windows.
She used to call me nesh.

Iwtwab12bow

Icicles on the inside of the windows, chilblains the whole winter, freezing fog,coming home from school and not being able to see the road because of the fog ,long socks and sensible school shoes, frozen milk on the doorstep . Oh yes,we were cold.

I was milk monitor at primary school and we were supposed to stick straws through the foil tops of the little bottles.

The milk used to freeze and rise up out of the bottles in winter.