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Domestic Life in Rural Shropshire
At the beginning of the 20th Century, the farmhouse was often home to several generations of a farming family. By this time farm labourers rarely lived in the same house but there might be a general a young servant girl.
There had to be a clear routine because, unlike today, water and heat weren't easily available. Typically Mondays were washing days, Tuesdays were for baking and ironing, Wednesdays for butter making, Thursday might be market day, Friday cleaning day and Saturday was for delivering customers; eggs and butter. Sunday was always a day of rest.
Most of the food eaten by the family would have been home produced or caught, such as pig, poultry and rabbit. Vegetables could be grown in the kitchen garden and fruit trees were common. Bread was usually home-baked and this was very time consuming. Home brewing quenched the thirst of male workers and tea was also popular.
Washing took a whole day. The clothes would be washed in a big tub with the help of a dolly before being swilled through and put through a mangle.
Regular cleaning was needed because of the open smokey fire and oil lamps. A lot of the house was cleaned daily, but once a week the flagstone floors would be scrubbed and the kitchen range cleaned and painted with black lead. Furniture was polished with beeswax. These household goods were paid for by the sale of eggs and butter.
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