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Other Aspects of Domestic Life

Fascinating Facts

  • Another name for flat irons is ‘sad irons’ because they are heavy. This name comes from the fact that a heavy cake sinks in the middle and is said to be sad.
  • Cobbles or Setts?  In streets where the surface is made from small bits of shaped stone, if they are rounded they are called ‘cobbles’, but if they are fla like in Golcar, they are called ‘setts’.
  • Havercakes were often used as a packed lunch for workers.  They would take their havercakes and put them in their haver-sack (another word for a bag or ruck-sac)
  • Another name for a chamber pot is a ‘gazzunder’ as it ‘goes under’ the bed.