How did they dry their clothes?

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:15 pm Post subject: How did they dry their clothes?

Ok, maybe it's a funny question, but as I tour these castles and manor homes, I am struck with odd questions that linger in my head. I am interested to know how they dried their clothes during the bad weather?

As I have now lived here for 7 months now, I am so grateful for my modern dryer! I was thinking, if everyone had clothes to dry and so many petticoats etc. how in the world did they get it all dry?? Did they have a room where they had hangers to hang dry the clothes in front of a large fireplace?

I imagine that servants hung things up on lines in their rooms and such.
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~~*Diana*~~

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Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 12:17 pm Post subject:

Most of the larger places had laundry rooms/areas where lines were strung near a fire or window. I can't remember which castle it was, but I do remember visiting one and the tour guide mentioned it.
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 9:56 pm Post subject:

I agree with Lady V. I've seen laundry rooms in big castles and country estates. Sometimes they are sepearate buildings. For the less affluent folks, I presume they hung or draped wet items near a fire inside the house somewhere.
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Upstart Joined: 02 Mar 2009 Posts: 14 Location: UK

In answer to your question, I have a picture from some back to back houses built around the 1830's that have now been turned into a museum, and I have found an appropriate picture for you:-

I also found a story on them from the bbc:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/westmidlands/series1/back-to-back-houses.shtml

Which mentions the wash house. From what I can remember of my visit a few years ago, the wash house contains a large brass tub or boiler that was heated via a fire underneath to wash the clothes and if it was wet they could dry their clothes in there although there was not a lot of room and it only had one small window. The wash house was also shared by 6 other familes.

The only other option would be to hang them above the fire in the house or if they had a fire guard to hang them on that.

One of the advantages of a real fire in these old houses is that it heated the bricks of the wall, so the heat of the fire would continue to seep out even after the fire had been put out, helping the clothes to dry.

Hope that answers your question Lady Di.

Helen.