Down through the cellar grate

[Halibut]

My lad did this only a month or so ago after I'd locked him out. He's sixteen and a fair sized young man too. The really imoressive thing was that he managed to push up the cellar head trapdoor which is covered in bicycles, wellies, old coats and fishing tackle etc....well done that man!

[skippy]

I once went down the cellar grate as a kid when I was locked out, only to find the cellar door locked, then I couldn't climb back out because it was too slippery, I had to wait for my mother to come home, thank goodness she had only gone to the corner shop.

In my late teens I worked for a coalman, one day we tipped the coal down the grate at a house in Tinsley and heard a lot of yelling, many men of mediteranian appearance came running out, they were using it as a bedroom, we got the wrong house, it should have gone next door, Ha Ha.

[Cycleracer]

Did these cellars ever get flooded...I know they were used to tip coal down but the rain must have caused havoc.

I could imagine the cellars knee deep in rain water, the stench of damp must have been horrific.

[skippy]

Did these cellars ever get flooded ?

the stench of damp must have been horrific.

 

Paul, a lot of people had a piece of lino or old sack covering the cellar grate to keep the rain & snow out, our cellar was very damp, it would have been a good place for growing mushrooms, some cellars were very dry and used as workshops by the home handymen.

To get my pocket money, I had to fill the bucket everyday with coal & place it at the top of the cellar steps, that saved us going down below all the time,

many people had pantry's at the top of the cellar steps, which kept things at a nice temperature, that just reminded me of the smell in the cellar, like blue vein cheese.

[eileent]

Who remembers having to go down through the cellar grate to open the house door from the inside, after your parents had locked themselves out?

 

If the media is to be believed, would the modern generation of kids fit through that tight space?

 

Leipzig

 

My brother and I used to get in the house via the cellar grate but it was to get to the cellar head for some cocoa and sugar to eat after school [when food was rationed] We couldn t get to it the normal way as she put a lock on the cellar door

[Shabbas]

Reading all the comments im surprised no one has mentioned the celler grate burglaries usually involving the gas/electric meter. No wonder people chained down the grates or even found a way to block them off.

[willybite]

Reading all the comments im surprised no one has mentioned the celler grate burglaries usually involving the gas/electric meter. No wonder people chained down the grates or even found a way to block them off.

 

turning back the clock we had a fireplace tin cover over our two cellar grates tio keep the rain out, and still remember during the war years we had a blackout shutter made from a wooden frame and oil cloth covered that my mam had made, and also i remember after the war was over seeing the lights in shops go on again no more of put that light out, and having the blackout blnds taken down.

[hobinfoot]

It was a regular occurrence in the 60s for people to ask us kids to go down the cellar and open a door or window and let them in.

[soft ayperth]

Some hilarious stories on here. In the home where I spent my early years, we had a cellar but no grate. The coal was stored in a shed in the back yard. The cellar was used as an air raid shelter for several families on the street during the war and thereafter, as a place where milk and meat were stored. I hated going down there because it was full of spiders.