Servant's Bell

[JoceAndChris]

As part of the dining room project we've decided to try and get this functioning so that Chris can give one ding a ling for tea and 2 for coffee. :roll: I know when I'm alone I'll have to just pretend.

Can anyone hazard a guess as to how old this system is?

Removing the mechanism has made some deep holes in the old lime plaster under the cornice.

The wire threads through the airing cupboard then to the hallway, then to the stairwell.

This is where the ding a ling happens,at the top of the stairwell:

What should attach to the pulley to be pulled? Chris says a chain. :?

Or are you meant to grab hold of this kind of thing. http://goldenrod.vam.ac.uk/cis-online/item/O89269/bell-pull/?print=1

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[chuckey]

If you are that way inclined, you can get a kit of parts to embroider your own bell pull. I guess you could even do your own design, perhaps with the space shuttle and an Ipad?
Frank

 

[Nigel Watts]

Not sure what the answer is in this case.

My house (1840) would have had these:

next to the mantlepiece, about waist height (no originals left but evidence of still existed behind the plasterwork). The wires would have been carried in tubes buried in the walls (and therefore not visible), going down to the void under the floorboards, changing direction as necessary using these:

Yours however look very much as if they had something hanging down which had to be pulled, but why are there two in one room? Your photo shows that there are holes in the plate shelf - were these for the wires/cords perhaps?

A chain would be expensive and the strength of a chain would not be needed. A cord or woven/embroidered strip of some kind seems more probable.

 

[Penners]

Chris can give one ding a ling for tea and 2 for coffee

Oh, good grief! Will you leave that man and come and marry me?

why are there two in one room?

I suspect that the system is probably Victorian - very difficult to be more precise than that.

I agree with Nigel that the rotating bell-pull is a distinct possibility, but a nice brocade dangly thing* with a tassle on the end is equally possible.

*Not getting too technical for you, am I?

As to the reason for two mounting points in one room, I have a completely uninformed theory. As you'll know, the bell in the servants' quarters was tugged by means of a wire that wound its way through the house. Wherever it changed direction, a pully was fitted. So I wonder whether the two mounting points were simply places where pullies guided the wire to the point where the bell-pull was located.

Alternatively, perhaps the Lady Of The House changed her mind about where the bell-pull should be located. I understand that this does very occasionally happen, where ladies are concerned. :wink:

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Chris can give one ding a ling for tea and 2 for coffee

Oh, good grief! Will you leave that man and come and marry me?

Penners, I hope you're a tea drinker, because giving Joce two ding-a-lings every time you want a coffee may leave you exhausted.

 

[Flyfisher]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[jocelyn plummer]

:lol: :lol: :lol: dear me!

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I was thinking of the effect all that pulling the bell pull might have on his back (which he doesn't like to talk about).

Obviously.

 

[Flyfisher]

Of course. What else?

 

[Lime]

I was thinking of the effect all that pulling the bell pull might have on his back (which he doesn't like to talk about).

Perhaps that is the reason for bell-pulls on either side of the fire.
A practical Victorian remedy for repetitive strain injury.

(I think the two bell-pulls were for different requests. If the kitchen was a long way away it would speed up service.)

 

[JoceAndChris]

Chris can give one ding a ling for tea and 2 for coffee

Oh, good grief! Will you leave that man and come and marry me?

Penners, I hope you're a tea drinker, because giving Joce two ding-a-lings every time you want a coffee may leave you exhausted.

:lol: :lol: :lol: I fear it might.

Perhaps that is the reason for bell-pulls on either side of the fire.
A practical Victorian remedy for repetitive strain injury.

(I think the two bell-pulls were for different requests. If the kitchen was a long way away it would speed up service.)

Possibly. I had just thought it was his and her chairs by the fire: the drawing room is the same. (the brass bits are missing but there are scars in the plaster the same shape )

I agree with Nigel that the rotating bell-pull is a distinct possibility, but a nice brocade dangly thing* with a tassle on the end is equally possible

Great, that's what we'll have then, although I'm astonished to find a spelling mistake in Mr P's usually perfect prose.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Not sure what the answer is in this case.

My house (1840) would have had these:

next to the mantlepiece, about waist height (no originals left but evidence of still existed behind the plasterwork). The wires would have been carried in tubes buried in the walls (and therefore not visible), going down to the void under the floorboards, changing direction as necessary using these:

Yours however look very much as if they had something hanging down which had to be pulled, but why are there two in one room? Your photo shows that there are holes in the plate shelf - were these for the wires/cords perhaps?

A chain would be expensive and the strength of a chain would not be needed. A cord or woven/embroidered strip of some kind seems more probable.

Thank for your post Nigel - will you put your bells back?

 

[Lime]

Perhaps that is the reason for bell-pulls on either side of the fire.
A practical Victorian remedy for repetitive strain injury.

(I think the two bell-pulls were for different requests. If the kitchen was a long way away it would speed up service.)

Possibly. I had just thought it was his and her chairs by the fire: the drawing room is the same. (the brass bits are missing but there are scars in the plaster the same shape )

Guest is leaving time for tea?

i.e. Butler and service maid.

 

[Flyfisher]

As part of the dining room project we've decided to try and get this functioning so that Chris can give one ding a ling for tea and 2 for coffee. :roll: I know when I'm alone I'll have to just pretend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaEC-lWSlmI

 

[Penners]

Chris can give one ding a ling for tea and 2 for coffee

Oh, good grief! Will you leave that man and come and marry me?

Penners, I hope you're a tea drinker, because giving Joce two ding-a-lings every time you want a coffee may leave you exhausted.

Actually, I wondered whether the stretching exercise involved in giving a good ding-a-ling might be spinally beneficial.

But I fear I may never find out.

 

[Penners]

I'm astonished to find a spelling mistake in Mr P's usually perfect prose.

I'm touched by the mildness of your criticism, Joce. I'm a great deal more than astonished - I might even say mortified.

My only (weak) excuse is my lack of familiarity with tassels. In fact, I think my last encounter with them was some decades ago, when a young lady called Gloria showed me how she could....

...but I'm getting boring. Sorry.

 

[Nigel Watts]

will you put your bells back?

Now that I have finished decorating my ground floor rooms probably not. None of the bells or visible fittings survived, but under the floorboards some of the wires are still there.

Rather than having bells in the basement servants' quarters operated from rooms higher up in the house what we need today is the opposite: bells operated from the kitchen to summon the children for meal times or when we are trying to leave the house on time. When they are listening to their ipods or slaying Nazi Zombie Warriors on the X-Box a human voice several floors away has no chance of getting through.

 

[Nigel Watts]

I think the two bell-pulls were for different requests.

But there only seems to be one bell....

 

[Penners]

When they are listening to their ipods or slaying Nazi Zombie Warriors on the X-Box a human voice several floors away has no chance of getting through.

I suggest you fight technology with technology:

 

[Flyfisher]

My only (weak) excuse is my lack of familiarity with tassels. In fact, I think my last encounter with them was some decades ago, when a young lady called Gloria showed me how she could....

You know how much we like photos on the forum . . .