Millennium Tour

Clues to village history

Standing right in the front garden of Wyllyne cottage is this old mangle, which was used, in the days before washing machines, to squeeze water from clothes that were being washed.

This mangle belonged to Mrs Roberts who lived in this cottage all her life. Born Ella Lathall in 1888, she earned money by doing other people's clothes washing for them. Coincidentally, Elizabeth Emmerton (1782-1854), who lived next door years before, also earned money as a laundress.

If you go round the back of the cottages you will find a pair of little sheds like this one in the garden of Grebe Cottage. These were built as privvies. That is they were the toilets before the coming of sewers and running water. Inside the privvy you would find a plank with a hole in it to sit on, set over a bucket. When the bucket was full you had to dig a hole and bury the contents in the garden.