With a house so large, it was no surprise a small mountain of washing formed.
In Part 2 of The Country Maid, Grace realises her employer expects high, perhaps impossible standards. The maid throws herself into her tasks and gains a friend in fellow maid Eliza, but can they prove to the rest of the household that they’re capable?
Laundry work during Victorian times
could take the entire day for an ordinary family. With somewhere that also
housed staff, the work was tripled.
The dirty clothes were left to soak overnight. Come morning, the lucky maid tasked with laundry had to get rid of any stains, either scrubbing them over a washboard or using a washing dolly/posser, which was a stick about waist high with little feet and handles. The dolly was placed in the tub’s centre and turned to agitate the clothes in much the same way a washing machine does nowadays. It was hot, sweaty work and it could feel as if there was no air in that muggy laundry room.
What did Victorians use as washing
detergent? Soap was often grated in, with some companies releasing soap flakes
for this purpose. White clothes beginning to yellow needed a little extra
help and would have a powder known as laundry blue added to the water. It dyed everything a faint shade of blue, which, when rinsed off, brightened the
whites.
Norfolk’s famous mustard brand, Colman’s, also released starching products and laundry blue during the 19th century. Their version of the powder was an ultramarine shade. An 1891 advertisement of Colman’s Blue can be seen on the Victoria and Albert museum website, Colman's Blue | Aldin, Cecil Charles Windsor R.B.A. | V&A Explore The Collections, the contrast in colours used in the art print would have shown to customers how blue complemented and brightened whites.
Once everything was clean, the washing was fed through a mangle’s rollers while turning the crank at the side. This squeezed out any excess water before, finally, the clothes could be hung up. Even then, it wasn’t over. Clothes needed to be starched and ironed, but that was a job for another day. Now, Grace just has to cross her fingers and hope it doesn’t rain.
All Grace ends up with is sore,
cracked hands from her laundry work, but this part of a maid’s role could be
deadly. Boiling water had to be carried back and forth from the stove to the
tub. One misstep and scalding water would go spilling down her legs. The
strength of the mangle was another thing to fear. Had Grace trapped the ends of
her hair or even her fingers between the rollers while turning the crank, it
could have led to torn skin or broken bones.
When Grace emerges with her laundry
basket, she gets her first look at Marchant manor’s gardens. This location was
inspired by a very real public garden that still exists in Norwich – The
Plantation Garden – although I did allow myself some artistic license as the
actual garden opened in 1857, two years after The Country Maid is set.
The Plantation Garden can be found
on Earlham Road. Originally a chalk quarry, it was transformed into a beautiful
Victorian garden with gothic and medieval influences by affluent cabinet maker Henry
Trevor. There were greenhouses, fountains and follies. It was a small pocket of lush,
exotic vegetation open to the public. However, after Henry Trevor’s death in
1897, the gardens became overgrown and neglected. It was only in 1980, when The
Plantation Garden Preservation Trust was formed, that it was brought back
to its former beauty.
Opening times can be found here: https://www.plantationgarden.co.uk/visit/
A fascinating online archive can
also be viewed: ARCHIVE
| The Plantation Garden
I would love to include The Plantation Garden in a future story as it has such a varied history 😊
The folksong Grace sings while hanging up the washing is the Lady of Carlisle, also known as The Fan, The Lion’s Den or The Bold Lieutenant. The song's origin is unknown, although it is believed to have been inspired by a 16th century poem from Spain. It is about a beautiful lady from Carlisle, Cumbria who has two suitors.
Down in Carlisle, there lived a lady,
And she was a beauty fine and gay.
She had determined to live a lady
No man on earth could her betray.
She wanted to wed a man of honour,
A man of honour and high degree;
At length there came two loving brothers
This fair lady for to see.
To decide who shall have her, she
throws her fan into a lion's den and her husband will be the one to return it…
but which brother will be brave enough? Different versions of the song change
the outcome entirely.
One version of the song can be
heard here: Pentangle
- Lady Of Carlisle (Set Of Six ITV, 27.06.1972)
At the end of Part 3, Grace spies Lady Marchant’s reclusive daughter, but can she get more than a glimpse in Part 4 or will she encounter another member of the Marchant family?
(Couldn’t think how to say it was the library from where Grace
was watching her! :D)
A few lines I decided not to use: Jane kept listening for that cockerel, though it never
came. Left behind on her family’s farm. Without that familiar cry, it did not
seem as if the day had truly started. The dark sky seemed unwilling to give way
to soothing blues.
 |
| About the author |
Kitty-Lydia Dye wanders the beaches for inspiration. Her historical fiction has been influenced by the local myths roaming the haunting landscape of the Norfolk marshes. Many of her short stories have appeared in The People's Friend magazine. She has also released a collection inspired by Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera. She enjoys knitting dog jumpers, gazing at the waves at night, exploring church ruins as well as taking part in amateur dramatics (and played the part of an evil flying monkey!)
No comments:
Post a Comment