“Do you realise,” he exclaimed one day, “that from the time the Romans left Britain until the arrival of the American heiresses, this country was completely without central heating?”
“Do you realise,” he exclaimed one day, “that from the time the Romans left Britain until the arrival of the American heiresses, this country was completely without central heating?”
A period in our history when we were a bit tougher than today.
Exempting invalids and those who live above 600 foot or so, I’d say that anyone in this temperate Atlantic climate who uses central heating is a sissie.
dearieme, it may be a temperate Atlantic climate but the country’s only habitable for about 3 months of the year.
Damn, where’s an American heiress when you need one.
Have you thought of the cost of constructing a building with a fully operation (and leak free) hypocaust.
If it wasn’t for the slaves it couldn’t be done.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocaust
The organisation of post-Roman British society was not one which made the mobilisation of mass labour at effectively-slave wages impossible. Just, it was focused on this sort of thing rather than giving the toffs nice warm villas.