Nooks and Corners of English Life, Past and PresentTimbs, John
History
Nooks and Corners of English Life, Past and Present
Timbs, John
England -- Social life and customs
It must not be supposed that the modes we have described were the only
means of heating houses with which our ancestors were familiar. The
Romans in England evidently employed flue-tiles for the artificial
heating of houses or baths. In 1849, a course of flue-tiles was found
upon a farm near Reigate, in Surrey; they were shown to have been taken
from some Roman site in the neighbourhood, and had been used on the farm
to form a drain; the apertures for heated air being covered by pieces of
Roman wall-tile, or stone, to prevent the soil falling into the flues.
One of these flue-tiles is ornamented with patterns, not scored, but
impressed by the repetition of stamps, to produce an elaborate design.
Several varieties of flue-tiles have been found: one from a Roman bath
in Thames Street; and a remarkable double flue-tile, found in the City
of London, and preserved in Mr. Roach Smith's collection in the British
Museum. These tiles were arranged one upon the other, and carried up the
inner sides of the walls of the rooms, to which artificial heat was to
be given from the hypocaust, or subterranean stove, by which means it
was easy to regulate the temperature. Pliny describes a bedchamber in
his villa warmed by the hypocaust and the tiles, with narrow openings.
Sometimes the floor and sides were entirely coated with these tiles.
The Curfew, or _Couvre-feu_, should be mentioned as an appurtenance to
the fireplaces in the Anglo-Norman times. The _couvre-feu_ formerly in
the collection of the Rev. Mr. Gostling, and so often engraved, passed
into the possession of Horace Walpole, and was sold at Strawberry Hill,
in 1842, to Mr. William Knight. It is of copper, riveted together, and
in general form resembles the "Dutch-oven" of the present day. In the
same lot was a warming-pan of the time of Charles II. In February 1842,
Mr. Syer Cuming purchased of a curiosity-dealer in Chancery-lane a
_couvre-feu_ closely resembling Mr. Gostling's; and Mr. Cuming
considers both specimens to be of the same age--of the close of the
fifteenth or early part of the sixteenth century; whereas Mr. Gostling's
specimen was stated to be of the Norman period. A third example of the
_couvre-feu_ exists in the Canterbury Museum; and early in 1866, a
_couvre-feu_--reputed date, 1068--was sold by Messrs. Foster, in Pall
Mall.
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