England Tea Rooms
From Mystic Tea Room
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[[File:Regnum-Tea-Rooms-Tortoisette-Stove-Possibly-Sussex-England-postcard-front.jpg|center|600px|thumb|Regnum Tea Rooms Shewing Tortoisette Stove, Unknown Town, "Possibly in Sussex," England. Well, this is one of those cards that resists research. I purchased it from a dealer in the UK who, for reasons known to himself, pencilled on the back, "Possibly in Sussex," and so here it is. No tea room of this name currently can be found in England, and this photo must date to the mid or late 1930s. Which brings me to the second great unknown: lacking a cozy fireplace, the Regnum Tea Rooms makes do by boasting of its "Tortoisette Stove." I pondered this mystery for many a year, but in due time, the internet came along, and the Tortoisette Steve proved very easy to research. To make a long story short, in the 19th century, Charles Portway designed a very slow-burning fuel-efficient cast iron stove that could handle soft woods, hard woods, peat, straw, sawdust briquettes, anthracite, and lignite coal. He named it the Tortoise, and its motto, "Slow but Sure" was displayed on the front of every stove. In the 1930s a smaller version of the Tortoise was introduced, and it was, logically enough, called the Tortoisette. Several models were made; this is the Tortoisette Model 2, now a much-loved and highly collectible antique. The Portway company is still making stoves, by the way, and they come with a ten-year guarantee. As for the Regnum Tea Rooms, we have a mix of rattan and wooden seating, abundant summer flowers in vases, an art deco light fixture, an antique pottery platter, signage advertising "Dainty Teas" and "Luncheons," and not much else. If you know where it was located, drop me a line; i'd love to get it properly situated in the Land of Tea.]] | [[File:Regnum-Tea-Rooms-Tortoisette-Stove-Possibly-Sussex-England-postcard-front.jpg|center|600px|thumb|Regnum Tea Rooms Shewing Tortoisette Stove, Unknown Town, "Possibly in Sussex," England. Well, this is one of those cards that resists research. I purchased it from a dealer in the UK who, for reasons known to himself, pencilled on the back, "Possibly in Sussex," and so here it is. No tea room of this name currently can be found in England, and this photo must date to the mid or late 1930s. Which brings me to the second great unknown: lacking a cozy fireplace, the Regnum Tea Rooms makes do by boasting of its "Tortoisette Stove." I pondered this mystery for many a year, but in due time, the internet came along, and the Tortoisette Steve proved very easy to research. To make a long story short, in the 19th century, Charles Portway designed a very slow-burning fuel-efficient cast iron stove that could handle soft woods, hard woods, peat, straw, sawdust briquettes, anthracite, and lignite coal. He named it the Tortoise, and its motto, "Slow but Sure" was displayed on the front of every stove. In the 1930s a smaller version of the Tortoise was introduced, and it was, logically enough, called the Tortoisette. Several models were made; this is the Tortoisette Model 2, now a much-loved and highly collectible antique. The Portway company is still making stoves, by the way, and they come with a ten-year guarantee. As for the Regnum Tea Rooms, we have a mix of rattan and wooden seating, abundant summer flowers in vases, an art deco light fixture, an antique pottery platter, signage advertising "Dainty Teas" and "Luncheons," and not much else. If you know where it was located, drop me a line; i'd love to get it properly situated in the Land of Tea.]] |
Revision as of 00:02, 2 December 2022
England Tea Room Gallery, in alphabetical order by name of city or town.
In this installment of "From the Land of Tea," we take a sneak-peek look at an upcoming page that will eventually be on display to the public. As a Patreon supporter, you have access to the page one full year before the public does.
- Patreon Release Date: November 28th, 2021.
- Public Release Date: November 28th, 2022.
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Today's topic is again Tea Rooms by Location. These are old postcards, and each one has a caption explaining it, and some have additional text. These images will eventually be on display at the Mystic Tea Room web site. As a Patreon supporter, you have access to them one full year before the public does.
To place this work in context, please read the following introductory pages
Contents |
England
English tea rooms are among the oldest found outside of Asia. Their popularity predated the great Tea Room craze of 1895 to 1945, but like their American counterparts, they were often retrofitted into historical buildings, including cottages, houses, barns, granaries, mills, inns, taverns, and hotels. Because England is a region of cold and damp winters, these older buildings were often outfitted with fireplaces in every room, and thus, in England at least, a fireplace was to be found in almost every tea room.
The word most often used to describe such tea rooms is "cozy" -- and cozy is a word whose literal meaning is "warm." When postcards were made to publicize such local tea rooms, it was quite natural for the photographer to focus on the fireplace or to feature it prominently in the composition.
Not all of the tea room postcards in this lot are interior views, but those that are often contain fireplaces. Many of these cards are also RPPCs -- real photo postcards.
Cornwall
Penzance
Polperro
Devon
Braunton
Moretonhampstead
Woolacombe
Gloucestershire
Tewkesbury
Greater London
London
Hampshire
Beaulieu
Burley
Ringwood
Kent
Hildenborough
Maidstone
Surrey
Epsom
Sussex
Alfriston
"Posibly in Sussex"
Wealden
Warwickshire
Kenilworth
Worcestershire
Broadway
catherine yronwode
curator, historian, and docent
The Mystic Tea Room