There  is an old Hotel/Pub in Marble Arch, London which used to  have

gallows adjacent. Prisoners  were taken to the gallows (after a fair trial of

course) to  be hung.  The  horse drawn dray, carting the prisoner was

accompanied by an  armed guard, who would stop the dray outside the pub and ask  the

prisoner if he would like ''ONE LAST DRINK''. 

If  he said YES it was referred to as ONE FOR THE  ROAD 

If  he declined, that prisoner was ON THE WAGON

So  there you go. More bleeding history.

   They  used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to  all pee

in a pot & then once a day it was taken &  sold to the tannery. If you had to

do this to survive you  were "tick Poor". But worse than that were the

really poor  folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot they "Didn't have  a

pot to tick in" & were the lowest of the  low.

 

The  next time you are washing your hands and complain because  the water

temperature isn't just how you like it, think  about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the  1500s: 

Most  people got married in June because they took their yearly  bath in

May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.  However, since they were

starting to smell brides carried a  bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour.

Hence the custom  today of carrying a bouquet when getting married. 

Baths  consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the  house

had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all  the other sons and men,

then the women and finally the  children. Last of all the babies. By then

the water was so  dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the 

saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath  water!" 

Houses  had thatched roofs, thick straw piled high, with no wood 

underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm,  so all the cats and other

small animals (mice, bugs) lived  in the roof. When it rained it became

slippery and sometimes  the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the

  saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There  was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This  posed

a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other  droppings could mess up

your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed  with big posts and a sheet hung over the

top afforded some  protection. That's how canopy beds came into  existence. 

The  floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than  dirt. Hence

the saying, "Dirt Poor." The wealthy had slate  floors that would get

slippery in the winter when wet, so  they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help

keep their  footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh  until,

when you opened the door, it would all start slipping  outside. A piece of

wood was placed in the entrance-way.  Hence: a thresh hold. (Getting quite an

education, aren't  you?) 

In  those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle  that

always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire  and added things to the

pot. They ate mostly vegetables and  did not get much meat. They would eat

the stew for dinner,  leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and

then  start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that  had been

there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: ''Peas  porridge hot, peas

porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot  nine days old''. 

Sometimes  they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. 

When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to  show off. It was a

sign of wealth that a man could, "Bring  home the Bacon." They would cut off

a little to share with  guests and would all sit around talking and ''Chew

the  fat''. 

Those  with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid  content

caused some of the lead to leach onto the food,  causing lead poisoning &

death. This happened most often  with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or

so, tomatoes  were considered poisonous.

   Bread  was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt  bottom of

the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests  got the top, or ''The Upper

Crust''.

 

Lead  cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would 

sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.  Someone walking along the

road would take them for dead and  prepare them for burial. They were laid

out on the kitchen  table for a couple of days and the family would gather 

around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake  up. Hence the

custom of ''Holding a Wake''.

 

England  is old and small and the local folks started running out of 

places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and  would take the bones to

a bone-house, and reuse the grave.  When reopening these coffins, 1 out of

25 coffins were found  to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized

they  had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on  the

wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up  through the ground and

tie it to a bell. Someone would have  to sit out in the graveyard all night

(the graveyard shift.)  to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be,

''Saved by  the Bell'' or was considered a ''Dead Ringer''

And  that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! !  !

great post. i thouroughly enjoyed it.  thanks. 

Frogtog's true identity is revealed. His real name is Cliff Clavin!

Good stuff.

excellent!!   ;D

good post!

i'd heard of the bathing and thresh hold ones but the rest were totally new to me!