The cold was particularly felt in bedrooms where furnishings tended to be less lavish and fires were generally left unlit during the daytime. Our ancestors devised many ways of
keeping the temperature up. Co-sleeping with parents and siblings was common; people also slept with animals. Beds were covered with many layers of straw or newspaper. People wore socks and bed caps, rested
their feet on foot warmers, and prewarmed their sheets with hot soap stones or bricks and warming pans.
Victorian newspapers frequently warned of the dangers of cold bedrooms with The Shields Daily Gazette and Shipping Telegraph advising on Saturday November 16th 1895, 'It is safer to sleep in bad air all night with a temperature over 50 (F) than in pure air with a temperature under 40 (F). The bad air may sicken you, but cannot kill you; the cold air can and does kill very often.'
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