Old House Mystery: 6-Bell Servants’ Call Box – 2 Still Missing, Any Ideas?

[morqthana]

Yes another brilliant feat of engineering - sadly I have not seen that one in real life yet.

Dunno where in Lancashire you are, but it's only 70 miles even from Morecambe.

 

[ebee]

Nor I the Falkirk Wheel.

I recommend it if you find yourself up that way.
A marvel of modern engineering in my opinion that ranks alongside the older engineering feats of bygone days,
Free to go in and take a peek, see the Kalpies, have look and see how the wheel works and you can even travel on it a little bit for a small fee too.
There`s some of the older wonders I`ve yet to see and probably some I dont know about yet.
To methese things rank alongside I looked upon The Great Pyramid and thought "How the hell did they do that?" and within the same day I stood before King Tuts death mask, a few years later I sailed on the Nile and went in some temples, wow there are a plethora of things both ancient and modern to be amazed at!
Makes you sad indeed to know that mankind is capable of so much amazing stuff yet that same group can also achieve so much wickedness all around the world.

 

[ebee]

Dunno where in Lancashire you are, but it's only 70 miles even from Morecambe.

Yes it is remiss of me (I do look across Morecambe Bay a few times each year .
I live a few miles away from Pendle Hill and often have sight of any Witches on Flying Broomsticks that might travel over the Hill (Keep it a secret but I`ve not actually seen any yet though.

 

[morqthana]

Build one, then.

 

[JohnW2]

I`m trying to remember an old domestic signalling system that was deployed in old houses (mansions with servants probably)

It certainly wasn't only in mansions. My parents' house where I spent much of the first ~18 years of my life, built in early 20th century, was a very modest 2.5-bed terraced house in the outer NW suburbs of London but when we moved into it (in mid-50s) it had the remnants of a signalling system, with push buttons in the bedrooms and an indicator panel in the kitchen (which had a massive built-in 'Triplex Grate'). It's hard to understand why such a house ever needed such a signalling system, or what it was used for!

 

[morqthana]

It was used to reinforce notions of grandeur.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Friends of mine’s parents had a large Edwardian double fronted detached house. Not massive, but with a couple of attic rooms and maybe four first floor bedrooms.
Quite a few similar houses were converted to flats or dentist surgeries.

They had bell pushes in the ground and first floors. I don’t remember seeing any “receiver” type units but I guess that the house was built to have a live in housekeeper or maid? Possibly not live in but “daily” staff?

My family home was pretty big and the set up was that the fourth bedroom was up as few stairs off the main stairs, while the main bedrooms were straight on. We always thought that the fourth bedroom might have been for live in help. It was built in the 1920’s.

I guess by that point servants were less common and houses were generally smaller

 

[morqthana]

I guess by that point servants were less common

No, just a bit better educated.

 

[JohnW2]

It was used to reinforce notions of grandeur.

Yes, that's the nearest to a possible explanation that I've ever been able to think of. On the assumption that the signalling system was probably 'original' to the house, I can but presume that it was battery-powered, since the house did (and maybe still does, today!) still bear remnants of gas lighting in all the rooms.

 

[morqthana]

I worked somewhere once which still had functioning gas lights being used in the stairways, which was weird, because it looked like a 1960's building from the outside. Inside felt more 50's, I'd say.

 

[JohnW2]

I worked somewhere once which still had functioning gas lights being used in the stairways, which was weird, because it looked like a 1960's building from the outside. Inside felt more 50's, I'd say.

I don't think I've ever seen functioning gas lights inside a building. However, when we moved into the house in question (in mid-50s), the street lights were still gas, and remained so for quite a while.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

However, when we moved into the house in question (in mid-50s), the street lights were still gas, and remained so for quite a while.

If they were near time for coming on, then a good kick would trigger them..

 

[ebee]

The five needle telegraph was not used in domestic applications

Thank you very much Harry, That was pretty much how I remembered it.
Fantastic.

But I do think that a few domestic properties did have them - The larger houses usually for the high proportion of working class like managers and above, these houses later became Doctors and Dentists Surgeries or Care Homes or the local Vets.

 

[JohnW2]

If they were near time for coming on, then a good kick would trigger them..

I can't say that I ever tried that - but my age was in single digits at the time, so my kick might not have been hard enough

 

[morqthana]

There was a Victorian trend for suburban villas [which] were almost 'country estates in miniature' which attempted to emulate upper class mansions on a middle class budget. Many have either been modernised, renovated or refurbished out of recognition over the last 60 years or so or have been demolished and replaced with later housing, converted into offices or residential care homes, or have been broken up into flats and smaller residences.

The Wikipedia article is about one, 'Sunnycroft' which remains amazingly intact, and is an NT property https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/shropshire-staffordshire/sunnycroft

Worth a visit.