Mayo memories: Keeping the home fires burning

By Tom Gillespie

DID you ever have to use an old newspaper, like that in the photograph, to get the open fire lighting in your home?

Not recommended clearly, given the hazards involved, but back in the late 1950s and ‘60s it was common practice. But you had to be careful not to set the paper alight, as was often the case.

The first chore was to take out the ashes from the previous night’s fire and clean up the general area around the fireplace. A small bucket and shovel was kept nearby and the ashes went into the bin or, depending on the time of year, used to mould the rose bed.

There were no firelighters back then. So you had to bundle up an old Connaught Telegraph into several balls. These were then placed in the fire grate, some twigs were placed on top, and you set them alight. Then you piled on some coal or turf.

In order to get a down draught working and fan the flames, you placed the newspaper across the fireplace and you kept it there until the fire had kindled.

You had to be very careful not to set the paper alight and with practice you could judge when this would happen. You could smell the heat coming off the paper and you then withdrew it just before combustion.

Again, this carries a health warning: Do not try this at home, or anywhere else for that matter. Some practices from the past are best left in the past.

We lived initially in Spencer Street and later in Marian Row in Castlebar. Both dwellings had open fires. It was the only source of heat outside of the kitchen.

I remember the Spencer Street fireplace, which was protected by a large fire guard as we were very young children then.

In Marian Row the open fire was in the front sitting room. It was only lit on special occasions as most of the family activity took place in the kitchen area.

When we eventually got a television from Kilkelly TV it was located in the kitchen. Only at Christmas was it moved to the sitting room where the fire was lit each day over the festive season.

The big occasion for the sitting room was Christmas Day dinner. With a Christmas tree in the corner, the dining table was extended and set specially for the occasion.

My uncle, Denny Fahey, usually joined us for December 25. He and my father would have succeeded in getting a Christmas morning drink in their local, which would have been on Linenhall Street, returning by 3.30 p.m. in time for a 4 p.m. sitting. Quite often they had a straggler or two with them which did not go down too well with my mother.

There was a Jubilee range in the kitchen which was lit 24/7. This supplied the hot water for the house and the hot press was next to the range.

We were many years in Marian Row before we got the luxury of an electric cooker.

Up to that all the cooking took place over the range or in the oven. I can still smell the brown bread that my mother made and we still use that same recipe to this day.

I wrote before of my misfortune of tripping while playing in the kitchen and falling onto the red-hot range, burning my right arm which necessitated many visits to the County Hospital for treatment. I still bear a single tiny scar to this day to remind me of the accident.

We used coal in the range and this led to a build up of soot which had to be cleaned, a task nobody cherished. But we had to take it in turns.

This was the only day that the range was not lit. There were several implements used for this dirty chore with which you scraped off the soot and gathered it in the firebox. There was a long-handled brush for cleaning the pipe that led to the chimney. Halfway up there was a panel you could open, into which you inserted the brush. After a few minutes you would have scraped off most of the soot.

Needless say, after the clean-up I always looked like a chimney sweep. If you were lucky there would be enough hot water left in the tank to take a bath. Again, a shower unit came much later.

If the water had gone cold in the tank the best you could do was to wipe your hands and face and look a little respectable. It would take a few hours for the water to heat up until you had a bath but the heat from the range following the de-sooting was always worth the effort.

In the two main bedrooms upstairs in Marian Row there were open fires too. I can only recall the fire in the front bedroom being lit on a few occasions. One was when I was in bed with the measles, another when my mother came out of hospital.

Their is a back road in Marian Row, recently tarred. I doubt that it sees much traffic today. But back in my days in the ‘60s it was a busy spot, particularly on a Saturday when the local coal man came with his delivery truck.

Only one vehicle at a time could negotiate the back road, entering at number 24 and exiting at number one.

There was usually a standing order which the coal man deposited in the shed in our back yard and he would get paid for the previous week’s delivery.

Some families in the 24-house row invested in a gas cooker and a cylinder would accompany the bag of coal each week.