The 'living room' with a high class stone floor, most were trodden earth, tamped occasionally with a shovel. The stone floor was scattered with dry sand, to soak up the earth from boots, this was one single room, a catch all, in the opposite corner was the long table and the sink, the husband sat on his bench in front of the ingle, in which was the grate, and rods to support the cradles and hooks for the cooking pots. Clothes were dried on rods or rope in front of the fire. Light after sunset was by a form of candle, made of rush soaked in tallow, set in a metal clip, to get more light, the rushlights were bent double and both ends lit - lighting your candle at both ends. It gave more light but lasted less time, becoming burnt out. Gradually that changed to a chill - earthenware oil lamps (burning train) and then to hempenwick candles, with their strong smeech. No matches (unlike in the photograph). The used tinder and flint. Tinder was a rag, soaked in saltpetre. The steel was stuck against flint to gain the sparks. This was the 1860s, the picture here is from 1935, by Sandys. When the lights burnt down, that was the end of the day. It was a wealthy family that burnt the midnight oil. This is the interior of the old cottage at Gulval that was demolished (near the Church steps).
