Thatched Houses

The thatched house

In pre war years, all the houses were thatched. The thatch kept the house warm in winter and cool in summer. The house generally comprised of a kitchen along with two other rooms, one behind the fire and the other (usually very small) at the other end of the kitchen. Generally, the small room was for father, mother and latest baby. The bigger room held the rest of the family, usually quite large in number, so that there could be four or more children in the one double bed some at the top and some at the bottom. There was also a settle bed in the kitchen and this was used during the day as a seat. A bag of straw was used as a mattress for the settle bed.

Layout of the house

There was a half-door at the front which was designed to keep the chickens, hens and ducks out. There were two small windows to the front, one on each side of the door. Lace curtains hung on the windows. The outside of the house was whitewashed and the door and windows were painted red.

The open fire

A lovely open fire would welcome you as you walked in and there was a hob on each side on which to sit. This fire heated the whole house and provided all of the cooking facilities. A crane sat in over the fire and held the pots and kettle. The bread was made in an oven with coals on top of the lid as well as underneath. A cake or two of bread were made every day. These were usually very large and were nicknamed ‘cartwheels’. On occasion, a currant cake was made for Sunday and this was considered a real treat.