During our visit to Blist Hill we will get a taste of the sights, sounds and smells of Victorian England . We will meet and talk to the Victorians in their shops, cottages and workplaces.
Our first stop will be the Bank where we will exchange our decimal cash with old money – pounds, shillings and pence. You can use the old money to buy things in the shops.
Blists Hill Victorian Town
Can you guess what you will be able to buy in the shops and workplaces?
What do you think they sell or make?
Shops
Bank–
Grocer’s Shop-The grocer’s shop sold most of the things we buy now from our supermarkets – dried foodstuffs, meat, tinned goods, luxury items, brushes, cookery items and fabrics.
Chemist (Druggist)– They made pills, ointments and medicines on site as well as selling them to customers. Here you would be advised on health matters, have your eyes checked and see the dentist. You could even buy cures for your sick animals. How many different shops do we need today to offer all of these services?
Cobblers Shop – shoe maker
Sweet Shop –
Butcher –
Printing Shop– posters, cards etc. Printers had to know how to read and write. When they were typesetting they had to be able to read upside down and back to front!
Draper – haberdashery, hats, complete outfits and accessories
Baker –
Workplaces
Tinsmith – made things from sheet metal, zinc, copper and mostly tin plate
Plumbers –
Decorative Plasters –
Iron Foundry – made items such as doorstops and statues by pouring liquid iron into green sand moulds. This process was used to construct various parts of the Iron Bridge.
Slaughter House and Stables (behind the butcher shop)
Mason and Builder – A stonemason worked here.
Locksmith –
Candle Factory– The candle maker created candles in white to sell to people to light their homes, but he also made them in green especially for the Madeley Wood Company for the miners working underground. If a green candle was found in someone’s home they were clearly guilty of stealing it and could be punished!
Harnessmaker – Horses were one of the main forms of transport
Blacksmith – Metal workers made tools, fittings, and repairs to farm machines
Wrought Ironworks –
Brick Maker –
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