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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: CelticAnnie on Friday 17 November 17 16:49 GMT (UK)
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Found this report in an Inverness newspaper of 1831:
"On Friday night last a house in Davis Square, Green of Muirtown, was entered while the family were asleep, and several pairs of blankets and other articles carried off."
I'm intrigued by the reference here to pairs of blankets. In what context in the home would you specifically use two blankets? I can understand pairs of sheets, of course -- one over and one under you on the bed; but why designate blankets in pairs? Could this even be a specifically Scottish or Highland thing?
I know it's a stupid little detail really; but I've always been interested in our ancestors living arrangements, and so if anyone has any ideas on this topic, I should be very interested to hear them!
Many thanks.
CELTICANNIE
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Strange...I would only apply the term to sheets too...unless they were a matching pair?
Carol
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From the Sheffield Independent - Tuesday 18 May 1920
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Now I'm even more intrigued! Thank you, Stan! And thank you, Treetotal, for sharing your thoughts.
CELTICANNIE
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By googling it seems that "Blankets were always sold in pairs & quilts always singly." I can't find an explanation though, unless it was thought you always needed more than one blanket on your bed.
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I was brought up in the north. We always had a pair of blankets on our bed - plus an old army coat on top of them in winter.
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Rena was poor! ;D
How come a single item like drawers come in pairs?
Skoosh.
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After living in Germany I converted to duvets long before they became fashionable in the UK, but I remember buying balankets in pairs when I was first married.
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My mum got pairs of blankets as wedding presents in 1955. I have to say she kept everything for 'best' and we used army surplus grey scratchy ones through the winter. The best ones were gradually brought into service as the scratchy grey ones wore out but now, as we clear out her home to move her into a residential home, we have come across blankets still unused.
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I still have a pair of pink blankets I bought for my daughter's first single bed. She's in her 40's now and the bed has long gone, but the blankets aren't going anywhere :)
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Rena was poor! ;D
How come a single item like drawers come in pairs?
Skoosh.
lol - It was war time and rationing didn't end for several years afterwards. Our mam and dad had a rather thin wedding present eiderdown over their blankets.
Do you mean drawers as in knickers, bloomers; pantaloons; trews; trousers?
Historically, each leg was a separate and roughly "tubular" item with a ribbon/string at the top to tie around the waist.
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Drawers and trousers are a pair because they are made up of two legs taken together. It is the same usage as a pair of scissors or a pair of tongs.
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My mum got pairs of blankets as wedding presents in 1955. I have to say she kept everything for 'best' and we used army surplus grey scratchy ones through the winter. The best ones were gradually brought into service as the scratchy grey ones wore out but now, as we clear out her home to move her into a residential home, we have come across blankets still unused.
Same here. Actually the blankets had been used every winter and washed every summer. They were so big and heavy I think they were washed 1 at a time and took all day to dry in the sun. That may have been another reason why each bed needed a pair of blankets, in case one had to be washed when the weather didn't stay dry long enough. Our army surplus grey/ brown scratchy ones were used on top of the good ones. Woollen millhands received a pair of blankets from work when they married, at least at our local, friendly mills.
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I was brought up in the north. We always had a pair of blankets on our bed - plus an old army coat on top of them in winter.
Ditto. One's day clothes were kept between the blankets and quilt so that they were warm for putting on in the morning.
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Interesting stuff, y'all; thank you. This Southern softie doesn't recall much at all about blankets -- changed up to duvets at quite a young age. Led quite a sheltered life, I guess!
CELTICANNIE
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I can remember having a blanket underneath the bottom sheet in winter which was as effective as an electric blanket which wasn't affordable :P
Annie
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I can remember having a blanket underneath the bottom sheet in winter which was as effective as an electric blanket which wasn't affordable :P
Annie
Ditto, again. A blanket below is worth 2 on top. Now marketed as mattress covers in a range of thickness & materials. We used old blankets. After electricity was installed the family could afford only 1 electric blanket since it was a luxury item. That lasted about 20 years. I use thick mattress covers in winter and don't need electric blanket unless weather is very cold.
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I can remember having a blanket underneath the bottom sheet in winter
I have blankets underneath the bottom sheet on all the beds, all the year round . .
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Haha - I remember we had an extremely thin blanket under our sheet when I was a youngster and it was like laying on a prickly hedgehog.
Bryan was in the forces and I still have ex army blankets which I use as under blankets.
What I haven't seen for years are double bed bolster pillows and ticking pillow cases which had blue stripes on them. I use ordinary white pillow cases as pillow protectors underneath the outer ones.
I remember my grandmother using a long handled copper bed warmer pan that she put hot coals in.
My parents had a pot hot water bottle and I still had it until it vanished with Mr Nobody.
Bryan's parents used to warm a brick in the oven and wrap it in a cloth and use that as a bed warmer.
When we married in 1964 I was given a bed warmer which was a blessing in the freezing cold damp quarters we lived in. It was a white enamelled metal tube punched with holes and inside was an ordinary light bulb - 10 minutes light under the covers prior to getting into bed and it was bliss.
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I remember being given at least three pairs of blankets as wedding presents in the 1970s - as well, of course, as pairs of sheets and pairs of pillowcases .... and some pairs of towels, along with a couple of "Bales" of towels - I think those were two large bath towels, two smaller, two hand towels, and possibly face cloths? Can't quite recall.
- Most of the above are still in existence, if not in their original use. Blankets are handy for protecting things in transit in car boots, for animals to sit on, etc.
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I remember being given at least three pairs of blankets as wedding presents in the 1970s - as well, of course, as pairs of sheets and pairs of pillowcases .... and some pairs of towels, along with a couple of "Bales" of towels - I think those were two large bath towels, two smaller, two hand towels, and possibly face cloths? Can't quite recall.
- Most of the above are still in existence, if not in their original use. Blankets are handy for protecting things in transit in car boots, for animals to sit on, etc.
Snap! We were given two 'counterpanes' as well. One blanket still in use , counterpanes somewhere at the back of the airing cupboard. They didn't get much use as one was bright orange the other turquoise and red flowers , pretty vile even for the '70's
Always have a blanket under the bottom sheet...are we of a 'certain age'. ?
As for old army blankets, what were they made of? Incredible to think the last of them went in the dogs beds not many years ago and they would have been my brothers from their National Service days.