Cold houses in the past…

Parents house had a fireplace in living room and bedroom above. The only time bedroom fire was lit was if anyone was ill and that was rarely. No shortage of coal either as father was a miner. Marrying in 60s house only had 1 fire, no double glazing. 70s brought gas central heating but no double glazing until early 90s. Electric heaters were used to boost heat in bedroom. Both son's houses seem to be like hothouses even though one was built in the 50s other 2019. Mine 2009 yet never seems as warm. Think it must be an ageing thing.

When I was five we moved from an isolated farm cottage with no electricity or bathroom to a three bedroom, modern for its time, semi with both electricity and indoor bathroom . Still part of a farm it was on the edge of an East London town.

I don’t think my parents noticed the cold for the first winter, they were so pleased with their new (with an all important rent book for security) home.

No heating upstairs made for very cold bedrooms and the beautiful frost patterns on draughty metal framed windows. So much condensation too to be mopped when there was no ice. There was a stove with a back boiler in the kitchen and an open fire in the living room which was lit most evenings. My bed had many blankets and a huge, thick, heavy eiderdown which kept me warm at night. Morning washing was rudimentary, I dressed in the kitchen, clothes were left there overnight, my school shoes warm next to the stove.

As time went on the farm became a factory site. My dad had to change and sometimes worked night shifts. On cold nights my mum and I slept on a bed settee which was usually the province of visitors in the living room, the fire was kept alight, it was bliss. I remember being cold but not usually miserable. Everyone we knew was the same.

The worst time was the cold from winter freezing fog, the buses stopped, school stayed open so I walked the three miles with a friend. It was cold, miserable and scary, sometimes we struggled to know where we were, when he could my dad came to meet us,

My dad hated working inside. When he was offered more farm work we moved in 1968 to another, quite large, farm cottage., still no central heating but by then there were electric heaters in the bedrooms. It all felt so much better.

When first married we lived in a tiny terrace, an outside toilet, no bath and just one open fire. It was fine, we were happy there and sad to leave when we were re-housed in a flat in a tower block with both a bathroom and heating. In 1970 we moved areas, my parents too, and had new build council houses with blown air central heating. It seemed wonderful.

This thread has made me think about expectations It was enough to have a home. We needed or indeed wanted little. I am grateful for the well insulated warm home I share with Mr C today while thinking we both expect and have come to rely on such a lot more now.

In the 1940s and 50s my parents and I often spent Christmas at an Uncle and Aunts large farmhouse in Gloucesthire. The aga stove (coke) heated the kitchen and provided hot water and there was a log fire in a sitting room which was lit late afternoon. The huge bedrooms and huge bathroom were unheated. I remember ice inside the bedroom windows, huge eiderdowns and hot water bottles. In the morning we dressed in thick clothes My mother made lots of Aran sweaters. Anyone remember liberty bodices? I don't remember anyone complaining!

I share all the memories of winters growing up in the 50s and 60s. Like most we only had a fire in the living room and I remember revising for my mock O levels in the kitchen. I put the gas oven on a low heat and sat with my feet in the oven.

I have a good friend who married a wealthy man and lived a pleasant life. She was a loving and indulgent mother.
Only once, in my presence, did I hear her snap at one of her children, who complained about the temperature in their toasty warm house.
" Cold" she shreiked " you have no idea what a cold house feels like!"
And she was right.

I can, only too well, remember being cold as a child. Central Heating had not even been heard off amongst people I knew. Usually, main or only living room would have a small coal fire, so much heat of that disappeared up the chimney. Had to be almost on top it to get any warmth.

Ice inside windows was the norm. Getting dressed each morning was carried out UNDER the bedclothes (which were always blankets - duvets had yet to arrive). Chilblains were far too common.

this was the 1940's and 50's. Even when we moved to our wonderful council house in 1951, there was only the facility for a fire in the Lounge (as we called it then). Nothing in bedrooms or bathroom or kitchen.

My parents NEVER had CH, they died in 1984 and 1991. When I got married in 1964, we lived in a Victorian end-of-terrace in East london, no CH, but did have gas fires both in 'lounge' and living room (off tiny kitchenette). We had astrong fan heater in our bedroom, but in the cold winter months I would take my clothes downstairs to the living room and dress in front of the gas fire there.

First CH we had was when we moved to a new-build in 1972. Sadly this was not very effective as builders had used a warm-air system, with grills high up in each room. Never really worked, and I do know that all those houses have since had it changed to normal rads.

So, when we moved from there in 1976 to a modernised Edwardian house was the first time I experienced proper CH. It was wonderful - BUT windows were all single=glazed so we lost so much heat through them and due to the high ceilings.

I now live in my wonderful 1980's flat, and can keep myself warm, including breathing warm air whilst indoors all the time.

my mother always felt the cold and I always remember the winter of 1962/63. We lived in an army quarter on a base in Germany. The house had a basement which contained a huge efficient coal fired central heating boiler that my father only had to tend once a day.

It was a revelation. the weather was much colder in Germany than the UK, yet we all kept as warm as toast. My mother vowed that she was never ever going to live again in a house without central heating. My father left the amy when we retunrd to the UK and my parents bought their own home. My mother had the central heating installers in the house before we even moved in.

Warm air central heating had a poor reputation because far too often builders used air heaters and fans that were too small for the job and with too few vents. It was a cheap way of instaallingheating. Our first house had warm air central heating and we loved it. It had a powerful heater and fan, vents, sometimes multiple vents in every room and a mechanical air circulation system that ensured the air circulated around the house properly. It is the best system we have ever had.