A peek into a Georgian townhouse – Part 2

I posted last week about my visit to a recreated Georgian townhouse in Bath, UK, that I had the opportunity to visit this past summer. My previous post was all about the “upstairs”–the rooms the gentry would have spent all their time in.

Today’s post is about the other half (or more!) of the inhabitants of the home–the servants. We start by making our way downstairs and through the arch that leads into the kitchen. Looks almost medieval, doesn’t it?

The kitchen might look generous in size compared to the kitchens in many of our houses, but considering the number of servants and the complexity of cooking on an cast iron stove and without many of the modern conveniences we have for food prep, it probably would have felt hot and crammed!

This recipe is from Martha Lloyd’s book! She was a friend of Jane Austen and lived with her and her mother and sister for much of their lives, so this is likely a recipe Jane would have been familiar with.

I loved seeing the utensils and pots and pans all lined up neatly in their rows.

Molded dishes! I loved the pretty patterns on them, from a swan to geometric patterns. Then in the second picture below you can see the passage to the scullery.

While the kitchen was focused on cooking and food, the scullery was a place of cleaning and also some food storage. These cabinets (these had doors and would have been kept closed) stored meat and vegetables.

You can see a row of irons on this shelf as well as one in use in these pics. There’s also a sink and pail for scouring and scrubbing.

Taking a step back to see the scullery as a whole. A door at the side of the scullery connected to a storage room for fuel for the fires.

More food storage! Baskets of vegetables stored under the cabinets, and another glimpse into the cabinet to see cold meats.

This next room fascinated me! This is the room of the housekeeper. Due to her position of power and importance in her house, she had her own room. It may not have been as elegant as the private rooms of the gentry upstairs, but it was still a pleasant, comfortable room with some nice things. She had a writing desk with a book of household accounts on it, as well as a cabinet of decorative china and other special things of her own.

Her tea table and a copy of a book of housekeeping suggestions. I love picturing Mrs. Reynolds sitting here, drinking tea and looking up that receipt for a stain remover.

You can see that a housekeeper would likely be expected to be literate so that she might keep the accounts and for other household duties.

In the housekeeper’s area were also many of the family’s special dishes. I loved the little sets that were shaped to look like ships!

This was in a special learning area in the room that would have been the Servants’ Hall. The fire held a spit that was turned by a wheel that would have once apparently been rotated by a running dog called a turnspit dog or a kitchen dog.

I hoped you liked this little glimpse into a Georgian townhouse! I loved touring it, and I would definitely recommend it if you visit Bath. It was one of my absolute favorite adventures in that city.