Water supply in a remote house in rural Norfolk, England in the early 1970s

Factual Questions
21

Whoo, so many replies! I keep screwing up quotes, so I won’t even try. To answer some points:

I should have made it clearer: the house was abandoned by Woman #1 in the 1970s (estimate, based on one date mentioned plus how long some other things that happened – like children getting older – had to have taken. She bought the house in the 60s, and at that point it was empty and for sale, so who knows how much earlier it was actually built? (You English with your 400 year old building littering the place.) But it did have an indoor bathroom with piped water, so probably not hundreds of years old. That was why I threw in the stuff about it being a ‘flint house’, figuring that might be a clue as to its age. As I said, it really didn’t convey anything to me, I’m not aware of flint as being a building/veneering material in America.

That was also why I added things about ‘the plow’ and whatever. They seemed like they were put in because they would convey information to British readers, although nothing to this Yank. Sorry if they end up spoiling anyone’s pleasure later on.

The author is (was?) definitely English. I’ve seen a brief bio sketch.

I’m sure nothing was ever said about the metallic composition of pipes or taps. I don’t remember anything said about the roof, wait, at one point she definitely said it wasn’t thatched.

At one point the current lead character was walking around the house area, just for exercise/viewing nature, and she talked of walking through some areas with trees and others that weren’t, plus some marshy areas with some open water – though it didn’t sound like it rose to the size of even ponds, maybe seasonal puddles? So the people saying the area is too flat for gravity fed water from hills might fit that, but if the water table is that close to the surface and, uh, ‘free’ to flow out, would that rule out artesian wells, too?

Anyway, I’ve decided that I must simply accept that the author wanted things the way she did to accommodate her plot. The house was in ‘suitable’ condition for the second affair to happen there, and that was that. She was, after all, interested in the emotional aspects of the affairs and how it affected the lives of the people involved directly or collaterally, not writing a treatise on proper plumbing maintenance. :wink:

22

“Grime’s Graves , the famous neolithic flint mine, in Norfolk.”

So it is. I learn something every day. Thanks, Stafford.

According to the English Heritage Website, Grime’s Graves is in the Breckland heath.

23

More in reply to StarvingButStrong.

I have no idea what the reference to “the plow” is, locals might know.

The house could be anything up to 200 years old, but I doubt you could have found a house without a bathroom, or running water, at that time. More likely the bathroom would have been renovated at that time, prior to that I have happy memories of Victorian-era bathrooms with cast iron bathtubs and weird lavatory cisterns with a handle hanging down on a chain, and which invariably required a unique and complex sequence to actually operate. Modern plumbing is so predictable and boring - and I love it!

There could well have been lead pipes to the house, but houses usually had metal header tanks, which would rust (and also become disgusting if not cleaned out occasionally), and the various fittings would tend to corrode somewhat and then stick, but not necessarily enough to stop them being operated. But, the utilities would have been canceled by the owner, or else cut off once the utilities companies no longer got payments.Anyway, my guess is that the house had mains water and electricity. And if there was still water in the header tank then you would get some water by turning a tap. But I wouldn’t drink it.

The obvious comment is that a house would seldom stand empty for any length of time without somebody making provision for a friendly neighbor to look in occasionally. Otherwise it would get vandalized or squatters might try to move in. Given that minimal attention, a sound roof and no broken windows, then it could last 30 years in decent condition, albeit rather dusty and musty.

The fact that it is a flint house merely indicates to me that it a bit older, as I don’t think flint has been used as a building material for a few decades.

24

I think it’d be clay tile then, given the area. They do last pretty well- while certainly not guaranteed to be OK if left untouched for 30 years, it wouldn’t be that unlikely, especially if it was in decent shape to begin with.

25

Bathrooms, and inside plumbing in general, have often been added to much older houses (usually IME carved out of what started off as a bedroom or a storeroom, though sometimes in the form of additions.) And old plumbing has often been replaced with renovations somewhere down the line. You really can’t date a house just by knowing whether it’s got a bathroom or how modern the plumbing in the bathroom is.

26

Some of you seem to have an odd idea about England. Flint houses are kind of traditional in parts of Norfolk - considered highly desirable these days. (The flint is applied to the outside as a render)

By the 1970s most English houses would have had mains water and drainage. Not all of course but the alternative was almost always a well and a soakaway. Plumbing was copper and even after 30 years, I would expect the water to flow unless the water supplier had cut it off for non-payment of rates. Virtually all post-war houses were built with indoor plumbing.

The state of a semi-abandoned house would depend a lot on how well it was closed up. The garden would be an impenetrable jungle and there would be some serious damp inside with attendant mould, There might well have been serious flood damage from pipes burst after being frozen if the main stop cock was not turned off. It’s highly likely that rodents and other small creatures would have moved in and there could be bats in the loft.

27

Copper header tanks were not unknown. Also, header tanks with tops.

Our original header tank and water pipes were still in good condition when the house was knocked down in the 1990s, apart from the original toilet, which was outside. The stove/oven was replaced with electric at the time the wiring was done, which was soon after the house was built, and had been replaced again.

28

A hydraulic ram pump could be the answer.

These were/are very common all over the UK in agricultural (off-mains) areas. They work reliably and without maintenance for many years at a time.

29

Here’s a random picture of a random house in a Norfolk village, made primarily from flints (they are not just a facing - they are the main building material of the wall:

This construction is fairly common in Norfolk - some of these flints might have been brought in from local coasts, or they may have been picked out of a field after ploughing.

30

Also