{"id":1952,"date":"2007-03-04T23:07:31","date_gmt":"2007-03-04T23:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philobiblon.co.uk\/?p=1952"},"modified":"2007-03-04T23:07:31","modified_gmt":"2007-03-04T23:07:31","slug":"the-mystery-of-the-16th-century-sideboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philobiblon.co.uk\/?p=1952","title":{"rendered":"The mystery of the 16th-century sideboard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why, oh why? Life’s little mysteries can haunt you. Various sources I’ve read agree that in the 16th and probably early 17th century, drinks were served from a “sideboard” or “press cupboard”, and cups were not placed down on the table. One explanation I’ve read for this was that cups were rinsed between use, but a visit today to the Geffrye Museum came up with another – this was to protect the tablecloth. But really – does that make sense? Before the age of 18th-century politeness, wouldn’t the tablecloth have suffered anyway?<\/p>\n

I’ve written up a substantial account of the visit on My London Your London<\/a> – including a rather nice watering can used for purposes you probably wouldn’t imagine. And Pepys’ curtains.<\/p>\n

I also enjoyed an account from Cesar de Saussure in 1726, exclaiming about the cleanliness of London houses, which were washed from top to bottom at least twice a week. And, he noted, kitchen utensils kept scrupolously clean – which does make you wonder what the French were doing at the time. (You can also read his account of highwaymen<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Interesting other snippet: Between 1709 and 1831, candles were taxed.<\/p>\n

The only interior in the building that survives in reasonably original condition is the chapel, which boasts this fine memorial:
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\"memorial\"<\/a><\/center>
\nTo the founder, of course, and his wife, Dame Percilla, “daughter of Luke Cropley esq”. She died in 1676 at the age of 43.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why, oh why? Life’s little mysteries can haunt you. Various sources I’ve read agree that in the 16th and probably early 17th century, drinks were served from a “sideboard” or “press cupboard”, and cups were not placed down on the table. One explanation I’ve read for this was that cups were rinsed between use, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","author-natalieben"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philobiblon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philobiblon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philobiblon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philobiblon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philobiblon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/philobiblon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philobiblon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philobiblon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philobiblon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}