Blog: The communal ovens of Welton

In the 21^st century we can be excused for not really thinking about how we cook. What is most normally on the mind is what to cook or, indeed, whether we can eat out!

However, looking at the 19^th census records for Welton, we can see that many of the old cottages, since demolished, often had only one room downstairs and one room upstairs. Toilets were shared across properties and were located outside.

These cottages were generally occupied by the ‘retired’ or widowed / elderly people of the village, as well as poorly paid agricultural labourers. And for those people living in them, life would be hard!

Many had no kitchens as we know them today, just a small hearth over which a pot or kettle could be suspended. Bigger houses had a range fireplace with small oven to the side. In Philip Goodwin’s ‘Welton – a Sort of History’ one refugee child recalled Mrs Lyman’s cottage on Well Lane, a 2 up 2 down, with ‘a big, back range, an open fire with an oven at the side and hooks over the top to put pots on.’

So how did people cook or bake more substantial meals?

The wife of Welton vicar, Edward Liddell, described how the people of Welton managed.

Mrs Liddell, born Christina Catherine Fraser-Tytler (1848-1927) was, in addition to being the vicar’s wife and as such very active within the village, a prolific Victorian author, poet and member of a prominent artistic circle.

One of her works, ‘A Shepherd of the Sheep’ (1916) is a biography written in memory of her then late husband, Rev. Canon Edward Liddell. It may be from that text that the following extract was sourced and reproduced in a 2002 Welton News and Views.

Describing life in Welton during the 1890s, it is clear that many Welton residents relied on communal ovens for some of their meals.

Some residents over the years have, when renovating kitchens, have discovered the remains of some of these ovens and, as the picture below shows, these were not small, simple constructions, but significantly large ovens, to cope with demand.

Cottages and houses that are believed to have provided communal ovens include: Virginia Cottage, Garth Cottage and Rose Cottage.

The Old House, at the top of Kiln Lane, was known in the 1660s as ‘The Bakehouse’ and it is believed that at the far end of the building was a large oven that villagers could access.

Exposed oven in Virginia Cottage at the top of Station Road – courtesy of Welton News and Views

Virginia Cottage was, we understand, built around 1790 and became a bakery in 1800. The oven above has a large arched fireplace, with smaller flues – typical of communal bake ovens built from the late 1700s to mid 1800s. The oven was engraved:

Improved Coal Oven – Manufactured by Stevenson

This suggests an upgrade in the mid 1800s – Stevenson’s ‘Improved Coal Ovens’ appear in trade directories from 1850 onwards. It was common practice to ‘improve’ wood fired ovens as coal became more widely available for domestic use, partly due to the development of the rail and canal networks, and of course the improved mining techniques developed during the industrial revolution.

We believe that the practice of using communal ovens continued into the 20^th century, with some residents on Well Lane using a communal oven during the second world war.

Communal baking was another example of how villagers, particularly women, came together and it would have been one of the village’s important social rhythms.

If you can add any details to this- or have/had such an oven in your home – please get in touch!