Fishermans Dock

Early on Monday mornings we commenced the preparations for the weekly wash by lighting the copper fire.

Now the copper was of the sort which was found in all houses in the 19th century. It was a massive brick structure about one cubic yard containing a round-bottomed cast iron bowl holding about ten to fifteen gallons of water. Now this was filled in our case from the mains water tap across the other side of the wash house by means of a large iron saucepan.

When the water was boiling, in went the household soda, for there were no such detergents 70 years ago such as we know of today.

All the cotton and linen garments and bedding were treated in this way, but woollens and flannels and such received more respect. After the boiling, each article was vetted for any remaining marks, and these were dealt with in a thorough way on the scrubbing board. This was sweaty work indeed!

After the final rinse everything went through the mangle. This was quite a large piece of gadgetry, five feet high, three feet wide, and with two large wooden rollers six inches in diameter. The excess water having thus been squeezed out, each article was attached to the outdoor galvanised wire clothes line with the aid of clothes pegs such as were brought around to the people’s houses by the Gypsies living on the outskirts of town.