Black lead fireside range (please help)

[Jethro]

Hi this is my first post,
Does any body remember the old (black lead fireside range) the one with an oven, water boiler and open fire, they wear still in use up to about the 1950s.
I no George Bodley invented the range in 1802 and revolutionised the Victorian kitchen.
1. How did they no when the oven was at the wright temperature for cooking
Bread and poultry.
2. Did they use oven sticks under the oven.
3. What sort of food did they cook on it!!!.
4. To boil water they used a copper kettle on the fire, there was a metal bar that folded down over the fire, it was know as a falling crow, was it called anything else.
5. The fret at the base of the fire was called I think a tidy Betty was it called anything else.
6. They some times wrapped the oven shelf in a cloth and used it as a bed warmer, is that true!!!.
Did your parents use one, do you remember seeing one,

I would appreciate any help with this post
Best regards Jethro

[susie123]

Have you seen this?



You could probably do any sort of cooking on a range that you do on a modern oven provided the temperature was right - and that is a matter of experience. As for what they actually did cook - that would be down to local ideas and traditions.

I cooked for about ten years on a modern wood burning range that also did central heating. No open fire to cook over but a large firebox that had to be topped up constantly (would not be true with coal). And an ash can that had to be emptied - the worst job of all. I well remember using the ash rake on the top of the oven, exactly as described in the film.

Try this also - from the book of the Victorian farm TV series.

Victorian Farm: Christmas Edition - Ruth Goodman - Google Books

[Jethro]

Hi Susie, many thanks yes I have seen the short film on YouTube, the Victorian farm link is interesting. As a chimney sweep I still get to sweep these every now and then, one of my customers who is 89 years old and she said they used to sprinkle salt in the bottom of the oven and when it started to turn brown it was the right temperature for cooking bread. My post really is to try and find out as many hints and tips on cooking lighting and operating the dampers etc before that generation completely disappears. Many tanks

[MargaretR]

The ranges are in production

Victorian Cast Iron and Brass Ranges from the Yorkshire Range Company

The manufacturer will know how to use them.

[Margaret Pilkington]

We had a range in our kitchen when I was a child.
Our range had a hot water box...with a lid at the top(to fill the hot water box) and a tap at the bottom to draw hot water off.
I don't think there was any real way of knowing what the right temperature was for cooking food.......except you knew that when the fire was first made, the oven temperature would not be very hot....a blazing fire would mean a very hot oven....and stuff that needed a lower temperature to cook was placed at the bottom of the oven.
I'm sure it was all a matter of experience.

And yes, the metal shelves from the oven were used to warm the bed on cold winternights...as were bricks(these would have been in the oven for a few hours) both the metal trays and the bricks were put into flannel(we had flannel drawstring bags - made by my Grandma) so that we didn't burn ourselves on them...the metal tray was taken out of the bed before you got in...and the bricks were left in bed to put your feet on to keep them warm.

[Jethro]

Thanks Margaret that's exactly what I was hoping for, have you ever heard of Hardin it was a Victorian cloth I think and used as a oven cloth. None of my customers have heard of it.

[Margaret Pilkington]

No, I can't say that I have heard of that........thick padded cloths were used to take stuff from the oven, but they were usually made up from other discarded household textiles.
Bits of old towels folded and stitched to give the required thickness....you were posh if you had oven gloves.
I think my grandma had asbestos fingers...she used to hold things that were very hot without seeming to suffer any ill effect...but warned us against trying the same things.

[MargaretR]

In the video that Susie linked, the cloth was used and named.
My gran used an 'oven and boiler' range until her death circa 1979, but she had a two ring gas hob as well.
I do recall a blackened kettle being permanently on the fire.

[Jethro]

I'm giving a talk to primary school kids in March key stage 1&2 aged 6 to 9 about life as a child in the Victorian times and how life centred around the ( black lead fireside range) I do have an exact replica of the range made out of wood compleat with oven firebox and water boiler it looks just like the real thing, hence my quest for as much knowledge as I can obtain.

[susie123]

It seems that hardin linen is a type of cotton cloth, which you can still buy in America, though I have not heard of it in this country, and I worked with textiles for many years.

Quick View - Pindler & Pindler Hardin Linen
Amazon.com: Hardin Linen Fabric: Arts, Crafts & Sewing

[Gordon Booth]

My grandmother had one of these and always had the kettle on. The smoke must have got into the water because I remember you always had a slight sooty taste in your cup of tea.

[Jethro]

That's interesting did you ever taste any food cooked on the range. And if so what was it like!!!.

[cashman]

My auntie in Ireland had one twas used well into 70s, She lived in a village just outside Dublin. Like Gordons nans the kettle was always on, don't recall any sooty brews wi that un.

[Gordon Booth]

I don't remember the food tasting sooty but the kettle was over the flames and smoke(on the 'falling crow'? Never heard it called that)
The oven was at the side so wouldn't get smoke in it.
The other time I remember that taste was sucking icicles. The whole town lived and breathed in smoke.

[Gordon Booth]

Originally Posted by cashman

My auntie in Ireland had one twas used well into 70s, She lived in a village just outside Dublin. Like Gordons nans the kettle was always on, don't recall any sooty brews wi that un.

Would your auntie be using peat, cashman? Probably not as smoky as the rubbishy house coal we would be using. Remember 'nutty slack'?