Homes in the Past
Today we will be...Finding out what Victorian homes were like inside.
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Does anyone know who this person is?
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This woman is Queen Victoria. She was queen of Britain a long time ago from the year 1837 to 1901. She was queen for 64 years. The time Queen Victoria was ruler of Britain is known as the Victorian times.
We are going to be finding out about homes in Victorian times
and how they are different to our homes today.
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18 Stafford Terrace, photo by Justin Barton
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What can you see?
How is this living room different to living rooms
today?
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18 Stafford Terrace, photo by Justin Barton
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What can you see?
How is this living room different to living rooms
today?
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What can you see?
How is this hallway
different to hallways today?
18 Stafford Terrace, photo by Justin Barton
Gas lamps like this could be mounted to the walls. They
had to be lit by hand.
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One of the biggest differences between Victorian houses and modern houses is ELECTRICITY. Electric lights were just beginning to enter homes in
Victorian times but most homes still used candles or gas lamps for lighting.
These gas lamps could be carried around the house to where they
were needed.
Candleholders like this meant that people could carry candles around the
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There were no radiators in Victorian homes either. Every room had a fireplace in which was lit with coal or wood. Lots of Victorian homes
had servants and it was the first job of the morning to light the fires so the rooms would be warm when the family woke up.
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Bathrooms were very different too. In fact, lots of home did not have
bathrooms at all. As toilets were new, only rich people could afford to have
them inside. People had to go outside to the outhouse. Lots of people kept
chamber pots under their beds so they wouldn’t have to go outside at night. These would then be emptied in the
mornings.
A chamber pot
An outhouse NEXTBACK
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For washing, most people had a jug and a basin in their rooms so they could wash their face and hands. When they needed to have a bath, they would put a tin bathtub in the kitchen or living room by the fire and then
fill it with water.
Water would be placed in the jug so it was ready to be poured in the basin when it was needed. A tin bath tub
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18 Stafford Terrace, photo by Justin Barton
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Victorians loved to make their homes look elaborate and fancy. They loved patterned wallpaper, decorative knick-knacks and anything else that
made their homes look fashionable.
What decorative
features can you spot in this
photo?
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Victorians had some names for different rooms that we don’t use very often any more.
SCULLERY - this was a room that was usually at the back of the house and used for doing the laundry, washing up and other dirty work.
DRAWING ROOM - this like a lounge or living room and was used to receive guests who came to call.
NURSERY - this was a room upstairs where the children spent most of their time so they didn’t disturb the adults downstairs.
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Do you think you would have liked to live in a Victorian
home? Why or why not?
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