Hi Debbie - You are right about the iron, my grandparents had some - she was a seamstress - I still have three of the olde irons and a stand. They were classed in sizes according to the garment to be ironed; which as a matter of interest, was at first only a method of drying clothes. I have sizes two of No. 2 and one of No. 5 - No.1 would probably have been the styling iron for delicate work and frills etc., - the iron was heated either on a stand attached to the fire grate or over a flame from the open range or when gas arrived, on the gas ring. A No. 5 iron was used by my grandfather for his starched collars, he would use a piece of candle to test the heat, if it ran slowly then it was about right!! I have used these before the advent of affordable electric irons! Cheers Roy (Ex-Somerset - not far from Brushford - as the Crow flies!) -----Original Message----- From: old-english-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:old-english-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of DEBBIEKENNETT@aol.com Sent: 06 February 2009 10:06 To: old-english-l@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [OEL] Unsolved - 1674 Inventory of Alice Cruse ofBrushford, Somerset - Pa... John We did in fact have an extensive discussion about this inventory some time ago now. The stiling iron was I think used for ironing clothes. This usage seems to be particularly prevalent in the West Country: The Oxford English Dictionary includes the following definition of the word “ steel”: 7. dial. To iron (clothes). 1746 Exmoor Scolding 273 Tha hasn't tha Sense to stile thy own Dressing. The English Dialect Dictionary also has a similar definition sourced from the Somerset Word Book.: Steel: 8.v. To iron clothes. w.Cy. To stile linen, A Provincial Glossary. Grose (1790) Dev. The back o' a zittle is a choice thing to steel clothes 'pon. 46, ed Palmer. n.Dev. Tha hasn't the sense etc....Exm. Scold. 1746. Hence Stiling-iron, an iron. Debbie ==================================== WEB PAGE: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/ ARCHIVES: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=OLD-ENGLISH ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OLD-ENGLISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message