Hall Place Victorian Workshop – 23rd  May 2007  by Megan Claridge aged 10  (italics added by Mum!)

We all had such fun when we went to Hall Place to learn about the Victorians.  We looked at some Victorian toys with a lady called Helen.  If you were a rich Victorian, you would have a nursery.  That is where you would have kept your toys.  Most of their toys were made of wood.  The wooden toys were hobby horses, whips and tops, skittles (which Henry VIII loved to play), the Diablo, a cup and ball, a hoop and stick, skipping ropes, yo-yo (my favourite), acrobatic toys, Noah’s ark, train sets and board games such as ‘shove ha’penny’.  Some of their toys were made of clay; they had marbles, and jacks which were invented by the Romans, but were called knuckle bones then.  They balanced 5 knuckle bones on the back of their hand and then tossed them up in the air and tried to catch them again with one hand.  Rich children also had tin humming tops.  They also had tin robots, tin drums, and miniature carousels.  Sometimes they’d have a zoetrope, but they would definitely have teddies.  If you were poor you would have to find a shoe, take the bottom of it off, draw or sew a face for it and find some rags to dress it in.  This would make a rag doll.

Next we went to see Annie to do the wash day.  At first we looked at some objects.  There was a chamber pot.  You used to use it instead of a potty – yes, including adults!  Err!  But, it did save you having to go to the toilet at the bottom of the garden, or use the public loo down the road.  There was also an Empire duster made with bamboo and ostrich feathers.  I saw a soap to wash your hair, your body and…..to do the cleaning!  We saw a carpet beater to hit rugs with.  There were cooking implements such a s a whisk, a mincer, scales, a sieve and a screw top bottle for R Whites ginger beer.   (R Whites were one of the first companies to make fizzy drinks.  They also made lemonade).  There were two irons, one called a flat iron and one called a safety iron.  (With a safety iron, you did not have to put the whole iron on the stove to heat up.  You just put one piece of metal on the stove which was then inserted with tongs into the safety iron.)  There was a hot water bottle called a foot warmer, but it was ceramic.  You wouldn’t want to kick it!  There was a candle because Victorians had no electricity. 

When we had finished looking at the objects, we had a go at doing our own washing.  We used a washboard in a tin bath, then we rinsed it in a dolly and tub and then we had a go at using a mangle.  It was so much fun.  Next we took our washing and hung it up with a dolly pet or a gypsy peg.  (Gypsy pegs were twigs that were split part way up.)

When we had finished washing we went to learn about the seaside with Helen again.  At the seaside, ladies wore woolly tights, bloomers, petticoats, bonnets, skirts (with heavy weights in them), jackets, gloves and a parasol.  Men wore white shirts, waistcoats, bow ties, trousers, jackets, boots and a top hat.  You were not allowed to show very much skin.  If you were a Victorian, you were meant to go to the seaside to breathe in the salty air.  The Victorians loved to sit in deckchairs and just watch the world go by.  They loved to promenade (walk whilst showing off their clothes).  Men said ‘good-day’ to people and took their hats off.  Women bobbed and said ‘good-day’ softly.  The trouble started when the men wanted to go skinny dipping (swimming with no clothes on).  They were allowed to do it on a different part of the beach.  Men would have to change in a bathing machine.  Of course, some of them couldn’t swim, so they had swimming teachers.  Skirts finally got shorter and shorts came out thanks to Queen Victoria who dressed her son in them.  Girls wore little pinafores to stop their dresses getting dirty.  The boys were always in charge of the tin bucket and wooden spade.  At the beach, ice-cream came out in a tiny glass.  Ice-cream was called “Hokey-Pokey”.  (It seems the history of this may originate from the Italian for “just a little” or “try a little”).   The amount of ice-cream you got was the same size as a woman’s thumb nail!  The tiny glass, called a Penny Lick, was banned in 1926 (for hygiene reasons). Family bathing was introduced in about 1900 in Bexhill on Sea.  Ladies wore wading knickers that they tucked their clothes into.  The Box Brownie camera was invented by Kodak in 1900.  Victorians did NOT smile in photos!

If you were a Victorian child, you would be beaten with a belt if you disobeyed or complained to a parent.  Little girls were “to be seen and not heard”.  The Victorians liked to collect butterflies:  Also, star-fish, shells, crabs and fish.  Like I said, we all had such fun when we went to Hall Place to learn about the Victorians. 

Hall Place Victorian Workshop – 23rd  May 2007  by Henry Scott aged 8

We went to Hall Place and looked at Victorian toys.  If you were rich you would have had a nursery to put your toys in.  Most toys were made of wood.  Rich children had a humming top. 

Next we went to see Annie do washing and then I had a go at it.  I liked doing the first bit.

Then we went to learn about the seaside.  You couldn’t show your ankles.  Later on, swimming suits came about.  Ice-cream was called Hokey-Pokey.