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The Grocer |
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A 1930’s grocer’s is on display in the High Street. Its shelves are lined with a plethora of packaged goods, including many famous brand names, such as
Oxo, Colman’s mustard and Spiller’s flour, that are still around today. Less well-known products jostling for space are Wincarnis Beef Cubes, Foster Clarke's Strawberry Custard, and Mason's Botanic Beer. Remember, too, the loose biscuits in glass-lidded tins, with broken biscuits being sold for a fraction of the normal price. This display brings back fond memories to many visitors to Yesterdays World.
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Post Office |
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The village post office was often incorporated into the general store to supplement the shop keeper’s income. In the days before phone boxes (and a long time before mobile phones!), people made telephone calls from here to the local exchange, where the operator put their calls through for them.
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Allwork's Store |
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The oldest general store at BYW dates from the late 19th century before pre-packaging was introduced, when all goods (including coffee, tea, treacle and tobacco) were weighed out by hand.
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Jeweller |
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Amongst the wide range of jewellery on display in the jeweller’s window are mourning brooches, which were fashionable during the time of Prince Albert’s death – jet being the most popular material. Other items to spot include the Georgian patch box with its stick-on beauty spot, and a leaf-patterned box containing a 2s. 6d. pocket watch.
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Chocolate Shop |
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The confectionery shop, with its delicious aroma, is filled from floor to ceiling with sweets and packaging as it would have been sold in the 1920s.
Gobstoppers, liquorice root, giant humbugs, barley twists and other colourful candies could be bought for half a penny in a paper twist. If these whet your appetite, don’t forget a visit to our traditional fudge & ice-cream parlour where you can choose from over a hundred varieties of old fashioned sweets.
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1930's Wireless Shop |
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The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) first started regular broadcasts
in 1922, from the Marconi 2LO transmitter in London. In the 1930’s wireless shop a vast selection of valves, radios, batteries and light bulbs from the period is on display.
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Royalty Room |
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Victoria was born on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace. Everything was done to prepare the young Princess for the possibility of one day becoming Queen, and that day came on the morning of 20 June 1837, when King William IV died after a short illness. In the Royalty Room a life sized moving figure of Queen Victoria recalls
life in the nineteenth century and the inventions which took place during her reign. Also on display are
clothes that she wore, such as her night dress and chemise, which is as wide as it is long, and
many more items of regal memorabilia, including letters from Queen Elizabeth II to Prince Philip.
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Pharmacist |
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The Victorians were obsessed with pills and potions to ease every ache and pain. Within the shop the apothecary mixed his own medicines, using a pestle and mortar for grinding down the powders. The stock from this display comes from a genuine apothecary’s store in Hastings, which had been boarded up since the turn of the century.
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Doll & Toy Shop |
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German manufacturers had a monopoly on china dolls, many of which were modelled on real children and became very popular before the First World War. They sold for 2s.6d.each which was a young man's weekly wage then. Toy bears had been made in Germany since the 1840's; they were always stiff, sawdust-stuffed animals, until 1902 when Steiff introduced a softer fur covered bear.The name, Teddy, was attached to it, after a cartoon appeared of Teddy Roosevelt, the American President, taking home a baby bear as a pet, after one of his hunting trips. The doll and toy shop contains many fine examples of both boys' and girls' toys spanning over a hundred years.
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Cobblers |
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The stock for this shop came from a cobbler’s in Burwash, Sussex, which was run by a Walter Wood since 1923. It is typical of a small boot and repair shop, set up to cater for the needs of the local community during the days when people owned a limited number of shoes.
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Lace Maker |
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At a time when specialist shops were the norm, people visited the lace maker to purchase anything from a handkerchief to a frilly pair of bloomers. Lace making was a very intricate art, often carried out in dim candlelight and extreme cold. Most of the lace in this display was worn by a Miss Marsh, who for many years was Governess to the Queen of Holland.
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Pawnbroker |
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Pawnbrokers were sometimes the only places the working class could get loans in
the early part of the 20th century. Personal clothes and bed linen were among
the items most commonly used as security against a small loan.The contract was
called a ‘pledge.’ As many as 2000 pledges might be made on the Monday
morning; sheets would still be damp from washing, and Sunday best shoes and
clothes would come in, and go out again on Friday, to use the following
weekend.
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Ironmongers |
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The ironmonger held a vast range of goods for the householder, the tradesman
and, in rural areas, the farmer. Larger establishments often had their own
foundry, which carried out repair works as well as manufacturing their own
pieces. Our shop represents the smaller type of establishment, where every inch
of space was taken up with some item of stock.
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Victorian Kitchen |
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With the Industrial Revolution a host of labour saving gadgets for the home,
such as mincers, egg whisks, scales and copper skimmers, became available for
the first time. All of these and more are on display in the Victorian kitchen
where two maids can be seen busily preparing dinner.
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Laundry |
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There were no washing machines or tumble dryers in the days of the Victorian
laundry. Ironing was an arduous task with the use of very heavy smoothing irons
that were heated by charcoal or iron slugs. Before vacuum cleaners were
invented, carpets had to be thrown over the washing line in the back yard and
beaten with a cane bat. Such was the hard work endured by women folk!
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Nanny's Room |
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In the Victorian period the children of middle class parents would have been looked after by a nanny. In this display the nanny can be seen preparing for bed, after curling her hair with rags and checking that the baby is sleeping soundly. She has been promised a rare weekend off, and has been packing her tin trunk in readiness. She will get up early about 5.30 a.m. as usual, and wash in cold water in the china basin on the washstand.
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Children's Playroom |
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Hundreds of toys from the Victorian era can be seen in the children’s playroom
where Nanny would keep the children ‘seen and not heard’ with playthings such as dolls houses, writing slates and picture scrapbooks. In the bedroom there is a beautiful laced cradle,
which was found in a cottage attic in Hastings, and was used when the elderly owner was a baby in 1905.
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Bicycle Shop |
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The contents of this shop were taken from Oxney Cycle Works in Kent, which was run by an Ernest Sweatman on his return from the First World War and sold makes such as Ariel, Humber and Rudge, from 1930. A variety of parts and tools are on display, such as the old carbide lamps, which went into building a bicycle up from scratch.
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Photographers |
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Judges Ltd is a well-known postcard manufacturer in Hastings, but its founder, Fred Judge, also ran a chain of photographic stores. Our display shows a selection of cameras from the history of photography, which began as far back as 1839.
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Railway Station |
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A life-size reconstruction of a country station as it would have been in the 1930’s, complete with railway platform and ticket office.
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Marquee Exhibitions |
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Learn about life before and after the Battle of Hastings 1066 from the information wall boards. Measure yourself against the life-sized but-outs of the Royal Family, past and present, and be photographed with them. Walk past the kitchens from decades long ago, and be thankful for labour-saving machines of today.
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