Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

1920s house - Anyone know what this is?!

27 replies

WillowB · 31/03/2018 20:42

Seeking some mumsnet wisdom...Moved into a 1920s house a few months ago. Lots of original features but the house has been extended to the side to add a garage/kitchen extension.
This is on the wall at the foot of the stairs by the front door. I presumed it had been added to fill the space previously used as a window but I'm not so sure. A friend mentioned something about catholic families using them for holy water and to bless themselves when they leave/enter the house. Anyone seen one before?

1920s house - Anyone know what this is?!
OP posts:
borntobequiet · 31/03/2018 20:47

Looks like it could be a holy water stoup.
Was the house ever used as a presbytery? Is it near a church?

Original poster
WillowB · 31/03/2018 20:53

Ooh that's really interesting, thank you! Yes we're a few yards from an Anglican Church (it's very high C of E)

OP posts:
DonaldWeasley · 31/03/2018 20:53

A place for a telephone?

hesterton · 31/03/2018 20:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Efferlunt · 31/03/2018 20:55

Some v religious families used to have a place for holy water. Could also be for the telephone though.

BellMcEnd · 31/03/2018 20:57

Our house is 1930s and had one of these. It turned out that the previous owner but one had been a florist and used it to display flower arrangements. It wasn’t original to the house we removed it ASAP

Lordamighty · 31/03/2018 20:57

It’s a niche, you can still buy them today, made from plaster to display an ornament. They are very twee and dated. Nothing to do with holy water as far as I know.

giveitfive · 31/03/2018 20:58

Looks like holy water font to me. So that granny can give you a good dousing before you leave the house!

Namethecat · 31/03/2018 21:01

Agree with Lordmighty. It is just a place to display a much loved ornament.

Penfold007 · 31/03/2018 21:05

It's just a decorative plaster niche. Could be used for religious icons, flowers or even a telephone if you are Hyacinth Bucket.

Original poster
WillowB · 31/03/2018 21:17

We're not particularly holy but it's a useful place to stick a vase of flowers and it does kind of fit in with the style of the house so I think we'll keep it whatever the original intention!Grin
Thanks for the replies.

OP posts:
DairyisClosed · 31/03/2018 21:19

Most likely just a niche.

3luckystars · 31/03/2018 21:21

My friend has one in her house and has a vase in it. It’s not an old house, a doctor built it before her so I don’t think it’s religious in her case anyway.

MrsEricBana · 31/03/2018 21:29

Yep, a decorative niche I'm afraid.

Original poster
WillowB · 31/03/2018 21:30

Now I know what it's called I've googled them and they're all over eBay so yes definitely a niche not a period feature!

OP posts:
chickywoo · 31/03/2018 21:34

We had two of these in the living room of our old house (put in by previous occupants not us!) they had lights above them Grin they were a 1990’s decorative feature along with dado rails and top and bottom different wallpaper with borders!

johnd2 · 01/04/2018 00:45

@efferlent "Some v religious families used to have a place for holy water. Could also be for the telephone though."
This made me laughGrin
Not sure why, just equating holy water with telephone!

AirandMungBeans · 01/04/2018 00:48

My mum and dad have two of these in their lounge. They added them in the 90s because my mum liked them. She used to put flowers on them and I think the phone was on one at one point.

Original poster
WillowB · 01/04/2018 07:29

Wow, seems they're actually pretty popular then! Not sure how I've reached the age of 37 without seeing them before Grin

OP posts:
UrsulaPandress · 01/04/2018 07:37

I live in a 1920's house and have exactly the same thing in the upstairs lounge.

reallyanotherone · 01/04/2018 07:46

It’s a niche, you can still buy them today, made from plaster to display an ornament. They are very twee and dated. Nothing to do with holy water as far as I know

Yep, my mum had a couple put in our house in the 90’s.

I am catholic, and have some very active catholic friends and relatives. None of them had ever come across one before..

Notonaschoolnight · 01/04/2018 08:01

Wish I still had the photo of my husband hammering the shit out of our inherited 80’s tastic niche when we moved in to here it literally had every cliche of the time niche dado rail plaster framing around pictures..

SofiaAmes · 01/04/2018 08:06

I thought it was for giving space when carrying a coffin down the stairs to be able to make the turn....at least that's what they are for in New York City.

Original poster
WillowB · 01/04/2018 08:53

I thought it was for giving space when carrying a coffin down the stairs to be able to make the turn....at least that's what they are for in New York City.

Shock that definitely didn't cross my mind!!

OP posts:
Petalflowers · 01/04/2018 08:59

We had one in our old 1930s house. We used it to out a nice vase on.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread