‘Tapping’ into History!

It is only within the past 150 years or so that water piped into your home could be taken for granted. For many centuries it was hard work fetching water, drawing it from private and public wells yourself – or it was brought by water carriers to those who could afford to pay them for their service. Until a time when we were able to have water supplied readily on tap, it had to be used sparingly. And even when it was more commonplace, wasting water was still a matter of concern – as this notice issued by Edward Crowne on behalf of the Tottenham Local Board of Health in 1873 points out.

(From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive).

Engineering History: Edward Barber & Co Ltd, Paxton Road, N17

From 1908 until 1994 Edward Barber & Co occupied land in Crown Road and then Paxton Road in the shadow of the Spurs’ old Stadium. They had a foundry and brass finishing shop. As sanitary engineers they were manufacturing brass water fittings of taps and valves for plumber merchants. With the growing success of their company from 1953 onwards their engineering premises grew, occupying around an acre site.

(Headed notepaper for invoices from Edward Barber& Co, in 1938. From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive).

Moving out of Tottenham after 1994, the firm still survives making traditional brassware fittings. Sadly, being a traditional brass finisher in the 19th and early 20th centuries, was not always easy. Today, the trade has almost died out.

(Cross-section of a brass tap made by Edward Barber & Co Ltd in Tottenham, showing how a tap works or is made. This tap was given to Bruce Castle Museum in 1938 for an industrial exhibition at the museum, which was showcasing the vast range of manufacturing industries that operated out of Tottenham at that time, before the Second World War. From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive).

With vast improvements to the manufacturing process nowadays, the working conditions for workers have greatly improved thankfully. But those workers who stayed long-term in the trade, enduring repetitive and difficult conditions, could sometimes develop breathing problems due to the brass dust.

The Public ‘Slipper’ Baths and Wash House: Bromley Road, N17

For many people with just an outside toilet, bathing was only possible using zinc baths in the kitchen, laboriously filled with kettles of hot water. There was no privacy and the water was often used several times. Going into the new 20th century, the council built municipal ‘slipper’ baths to provide bathing facilities for a small fee. The slipper baths provided private cubicles with good-sized baths filled with hot water. There were a number of these facilities dotted through Tottenham - the Tottenham Central Baths at Tottenham Green was one, and another in Bromley Road in North Tottenham. Bromley Road combined not only bathing amenities but also laundry facilities. There are no photographs of the interiors of the Bromley Road Baths, but there are plenty of local memories of what it was like attending the public baths in Tottenham:

Elsie Rice (born 1915) recalled:

‘The baths had no taps, the water was controlled by the attendant outside as the bathers called “More hot/cold water!” and then the number of the bathroom they were in. There was a wooden bench to sit on which was scrubbed daily, a mirror, ash-tray and coat-hook on the door and a slip-mat was provided if required.

After every customer, the bath was scoured out with “Vim” on a big brush, the cubicle floor was mopped and, if necessary, sprayed with D.D.T. The taps and brass fittings were cleaned with “Brasso” daily. Wet towels were put straight into a large wicker hamper and taken to Bromley Road Baths, where they were boiled and dried on large, heated rails. Any soap left over from the baths was grated down and used to boil towels.

Some people sang in the bath and some fell asleep and snored and had to be woken up.’

(Workers at Bromley Road Wash House in 1955. From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive).

The Thomas family remembers:

‘My brother and I went to the Bromley Road Bathhouse once a week, usually on a Saturday, for our share of luxury. After paying the entrance fee, purchasing a small bar of soap and being given a towel, we would move into a waiting room until respective numbered bath cubicles were available.

I recall that, on most occasions, a small very cheerful Irishman was the attendant on duty. He would rush up and down the central corridor responding to customers' requests, such as "... more hot water in number eight please". This was achieved by him slotting a chrome handle into a socket outside each bathroom and turning it either left or right (hot one way, cold the other). The same handle would somehow drain the bath once the customer had left the cubicle.

Living in an old house at 13 Church Road, we had no hot running water and certainly no bath. It was usually a quick splash-down wash beside the kitchen sink each morning, after hot water from a kettle had made the experience more bearable. Much later, when our household income increased, we had an instantaneous hot water heater installed on the wall next to that one and only household sink.’

There are more fond memories of visiting Bromley Road Wash House to do the laundry:

‘I used to go to Bromley Road wash. Pushed a massive bag of washing on a pushchair from Dawlish Road, usually 2 or 3 machines worth, then had to sit in a queue until a machine became available. But, boy, did those rollers iron bed linen beautifully. Would still opt for that now if I had a chance.’

‘My sister and I were sent to do the washing there in the ‘60s until the launderette opened in Park Lane by Denmark Road.’

‘My mother used to take a pram-full of the family wash once a week in the ‘40s. The man in charge of the wash house was a Mr. Browning from Sperling Road.’

‘My mother used to take me and my brother every Saturday. (Yawn). And I had to help her with the sheets through the big ironing rollers.’

(27 October 1938. Bromley Road Public Wash House, Tottenham, where housewives can wash, dry and iron their laundry for a small charge).

The Bell & Hare Pub (now ‘No. 8’), 724 Tottenham High Road, N17

Built on what had been designated Charity Estate Land, a tavern was opened here in 1725, and called The Three Conies (a conie being an old word for a rabbit). One hundred years later, the tavern was renamed the Bell and & Hare Tavern in 1825 – and, until recently, the pub has been known by this name. You can see here the results of impressive research collating the names of the licensees of the Bell and Hare up to the Second World War.

Amongst the names is Miss Constance (Lamb) Bye who was, perhaps unusually at the time, the licensee from 1914. She had started out her working life as a domestic servant, and improved her social and financial situation as an unmarried woman by attaining this position at the Bell and Hare. When she passed away after the Second World War she left an impressive estate.

The pub was popular amongst Spurs fans, being near to the Stadium and it saw the celebrations on the occasions when the Club won the FA Cup. By the 1970s and ‘80s the managers of the pub were Mr and Mrs Gullen. The photograph here shows them proudly sharing their fundraising success for the community. Behind them can be seen the name of a popular lager - which one Spurs supporter says the Bell and Hare was the first pub in Tottenham to stock this particular name, eventually becoming a staple in many watering holes!