In medieval times, people faced harsh weather conditions and had to take extreme measures to stay warm. The most common source of indoor heat was a fireplace. Many houses didn’t have a fireplace, but families often had one or two areas where fires could be lit. In colder areas, such as Scandinavia, people piled up bedding in order to stay warm. Children were also likely to be bundled up, sleeping multiples to a bed to keep the cold from them.
Today, we have the convenience of modern household insulation and central heating, but in the past, keeping warm at night was more of a luxury. Before these conveniences, people relied on their body fat and other natural resources to keep warm. Using thermal clothing and animal skins on bedding was another way people stayed warm through the night.
The earliest methods of keeping warm were simple and effective. During cold winters, shared beds or sleeping areas were a necessity and people would pack their bodies tightly together to share body heat. In the French Alps, people would hibernate with their animals. They didn’t have heating sources to heat their homes so would rely on body heat to keep warm.
The Romans were pretty ahead of the game with their heating system and they have sometimes been called the inventors of central heating. It’s not anything like we would recognise today but the Romans did have a clever underfloor heating system known as the hypocaust system. This would have been essential given the cold tiled floors they loved so much!
The main methods of staying warm at night have remained the same. Whether it was through bodyfat or insulation, people have always managed to keep themselves warm. Before there were electric blankets and heaters, people would snuggle up and stay warm after sundown with heavy curtains, thick bedding and tapestries hung on the walls to keep out the draughts. And if they couldn’t find enough blankets, they would use lavender wheat bags, which are still used today. Thankfully, all we need to worry about is how efficient our boilers are. If you need Boiler Service Cheltenham services, visit a site like HPR Services
Soapstones were another ingenious method of staying warm at night. Stones would be heated up over the fire and then wrapped in rags to place in the bed. Copper pans would also be used in this way and acted as an early form of electric blanket!
The first method of staying warm was to build a fire. People have long used wood-burning fireplaces to heat their homes. The temperatures in these homes were often so cold that parts of the room didn’t reach the desired temperature. In addition to their wood fireplaces, people would also use a wooden stove. These methods were not only practical, but they also supplied the inhabitants sawith light and the ability to cook food.
