As may be seen in the census records, during the early days of No’s 7, 9 and 11 Elliot Street, a number of servants were employed in the houses to carry out the day-to-day tasks such as cooking, cleaning, washing and lighting fires.

The invention of a bell system to provide contact 'between stairs' had been invented in the mid-1700s, thus enabling servants to carry out their chores below stairs and still be available should they be summoned by their 'owners' or by visitors ringing the front door bell.

The system worked with copper wires and pulleys. A brass handle was mounted on the wall (often next to the fireplace) which, when pulled, would operate a sprung bell outside the room. There would usually be a bell for each room in the house as well as for the front door, so a panel would be mounted, often in the servants’ quarters, with all of the bells fixed to it. Each bell would have a label under it to indicate which room required the servants’ attention.

By Victorian times, the system had been further developed, with the wires running in copper pipes, concealed behind plasterwork or under floorboards, and using sprung pulleys so that the wires could turn corners, thus allowing the bells to be situated further away from the main rooms of the house.

Imagine our excitement, therefore, when recent refurbishment of one of our rooms revealed the original workings of such a system, hidden away behind a modern bath panel! The feature has been left in situ, preserved for future generations, but in the photograph to the right, you can see our amazing discovery!