Barnes, the Lady’s Maid and Joe, the Footman are talking in the Scullery. Their lives are a lot harder than the family they look after and they need to stay awake until very late to finish their jobs. This room was used for washing, cleaning, storing coal for the fires and keeping foods like meat and cheese cool in the meatsafes (there were no fridges or freezers in Georgian times!). It was also the Scullery Maids bedroom. Can you imagine sleeping on these floors surrounded by coal and the heat from the ovens?!

The Georgians pressed their clothes using irons like the ones displayed here. How do you think an iron could work without electricity?

This is a Box Iron. They were called this because they had an opening at the back and a wedge of iron, called a slug, was kept in a chamber inside.  The slug was heated on the fire and placed inside the iron to make it hot. This was much less messy than putting the iron directly on a coal fire!