The scullery

"Scullery - Interior Temple Cloud" by C. Elisabeth M Lake RMS

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A jumper hanging out to dry.

Backyard Brighton

Behind the back room, which we called the kitchen, was the scullery. This had a concrete floor and contained a stone sink with brass taps which were always kept shining. There was also the old-fashioned copper under which mother had to light a fire. In this copper the washing was boiled.

In those days all the bed linen and towels were white. These had to go through the mangle when they were dry. As we didn't have a mangle, mother had to use Granny's, which was in her scullery next door. We would often hear her churning away at it long after we were in bed. It was a huge thing with very large rollers and it made a terrible noise as it stood on the concrete floor.
Margaret Ward - One camp chair in the living room

"My Mum had Monday as washday. She used to have a great big wooden tub in the middle of our back yard. She used to stand out there and she used to say, 'Go down to the oil shop and get a bar of Sunlight soap, two penn'oth of soda and a penny bag of blue'. Down John Street there was a wood shop. She boiled all the clothes in the wash house, then rinsed them, then blued them"

"My Mum was always standing at tubs washing"

"My Mum used to have to do all the washing for the crèche. ( Tamer Land Nursery School )"

"They did have a hard life didn't they? No washing machines"

"All they washed with was soda and a bar of Sunlight soap. My Mum would stand there all day in a big sack type apron with a big mangle out at the back"

"And I used to have to stand and turn the handle"

Excerpts taken from the tapes made of the conversation at the 'Carlton Hill Tea Party', Lewis Cohen Urban Studies Centre at Brighton Polytechnic May 25th 1984, published in Back Street Brighton