A Virtual Tour of the Back to Backs – part 49
As we step across to the Brew’us, do take a look at the state the buildings were in prior to restoration starting in 2002.
The “Brew’us” was correctly known as the wash house, but back in the days before piped water became available, working men would traditionally drink beer, or ale brewed at home by the women of the house in what became known as the brew house – the “Brew’us”. The large boiling vessel, known as the “copper” was of course ideal for boiling up the “Mash” that the beer was made from. CLICK HERE to read about how Lawrence Levy drank his beer in Part 19.
The “copper” was sometimes made of copper, the one now in the Court 15 brew’us is cast iron, sometimes they were made from a ceramic material.
There were two “brew’us” in Court 15, the other one is now used for storage. Use of the brew’us was usually administered by one of the women living in the court and each household normally had the use of it for a day. Woe betide anyone to tried to use the brew’us on a day that was not theirs!!
You may remember one of the first people that we met on our tour was Adelaide Levy, so on the Levy family’s “brew’us” day Adelaide would get up VERY early in the morning and light the fire under the copper.
We’ll find out next what else Adelaide did on washing day.
Uncle Tom's Tales 