I have been meaning to share this story for SO long, finally got around to it.
When I was a teenager we moved to a bungalow of the suburbs of north London. We bought it from an old lady who was retiring. Not sure how long she had it, but don't think she was the first owner. The bungalow was built in 1937. We moved in to the place in 1977.
The odd thing was the attic. In the attic which was not floorboarded there were vertical panels of wood. The rafters made a triangle to the apex, so these panels blocked off the lower part, around two three walls. in the panels there were two trap doors, you could crawl through. Being a teenager I crawled in there.
Behind the panels were vertical wires connected from each rafter diagonally downwards to the horizontal timbers that made the floor of the roof space. None of the wires were connected to each other, just separate wires.
Why go to all that trouble? What were the wires for? Why were there panels covering the wires (if that was what the panels were for). It struck me that if the wires were connected to another wire, perhaps it would have made an aerial of some sort?
Very strange, and have never been able to decide what the purpose of it was. Any ideas?