My Paternal Grandmother's House

When I was a kid in the 1960's we used to go to my Gran's house once a week. It was a terraced house in a small mining town called 'Stanley' in the North East of England. My Gran had two tennis balls, a jar of marbles & a tin of buttons for us to play with. They were kept in a funny little cupboard which was built into the wall in the scullery.

As far as houses go it was pretty ordinary - 2 rooms and a scullery downstairs, 2 bedrooms, a box room, bathroom & WC upstairs.

I never liked it - I thought it was dark and creepy and it had a lot of dark wood all over the place. A grandfather clock stood at the top of the stairs on a half landing. It never worked properly and it was scary.

There was no garden at the front but at the back there was a small yard with one little square of grass and an air raid shelter. There was also a garage. The garage housed a very posh car that belonged to Gran's much younger brother. I don't know what type it was, but it had leather seats. I don't think he actually ever took the car out of the garage - I think he just used to polish it every weekend.

I hated going upstairs in Gran's house. It was dark and creepy. I never really had any reason to go into the two bedrooms which both contained very high metal double beds and lots of dark furniture. (I remember Dad telling me that he & his brother had to share a bed when they were growing up which was hard when one of them got chicken pox.) But, if I wanted to go to the toilet I had to pass the grandfather clock - that was scary.

We never, ever, went into Gran's 'front room'. That was for special occasions and as far as I can remember there weren't any. I cannot remember what this room was like.
Everyone always congregated in the dining/sitting room. There was always a fire burning in the grate. There was a dining table & sideboard, sofa & chairs and a 'wireless' (radio - no TV). Landscape pictures hung on the walls, as did a mirror. Looking back it must have been quite cluttered but I guess that was the norm back then.

The scullery was off this room. There was a sink, a cooker and a big walk in larder. No fridge. Also in the scullery was a very dark area (which I guess these days would be turned into an under stairs cupboard). Gran kept lots of brushes, mops, buckets, etc there. And also the 'Eubank' (which I think was a carpet sweeper). I never ventured under the stairs.

Everything in Gran's house was dark - doors, banisters, skirtings, furniture, curtains, etc.

More of life in the 1960's will be blipped later.