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Books

A paean to the British passion for our very own ‘castles’

A review of Everyman’s Castle: The story of our cottages, country houses, terraces, flats, semis and bungalows, by Philippa Lewis. From inglenooks to top-shops, from boarding houses to bedsits, this compendium covers it all (almost)

12 July 2014

9:00 AM

12 July 2014

9:00 AM

Everyman’s Castle: The story of our cottages, country houses, terraces, flats, semis and bungalows Philippa Lewis

Frances Lincoln, pp.250, £20, ISBN: 9780711233386

‘Phlogiston’ is an interesting, if obsolete, word. Of Greek origin, it referred to the ‘fire-making’ quality thought to be present in, among other things, the ashes gathered by London dustmen. In the mid-18th century these ashes were mixed with earth and even ‘excrements taken out of the necessary houses’ to create the vast numbers of bricks needed for the explosion of house-building taking place at the time in London and elsewhere.

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