From Co Waterford's penchant for grand beds to ingenious settle beds, here's where our ancestors went to sleep
Did you know that the bed traditionally has been a status symbol in Irish society - and that the size of your leaba said something about your social status? That was one of the nuggets which design historian Dr. Claudia Kinmonth, from the Royal Irish Academy and author of Irish Country Furniture and Furnishings 1700 to 2000, had to share when she joined the Drivetime show on RTÉ Radio 1. (This piece includes excerpts from the conversation which have been edited for length and clarity - you can hear the discussion in full above).
"The bigger it was, the grander it would be as well", says Kinmonth. "If you were in a big grand house or an aristocratic house or a castle historically in Ireland, you'd have something extraordinarily beautiful with very rich hangings and lovely textiles.
"But I'm also considering the Irish farmhouse, which the majority of our Irish ancestors would've been living in and they also had lovely beds, and some of them were certainly status symbols. Some of the surviving ones were beautifully carved on the front and they had wooden roofs over the top. Again, they had curtains across the front, but they are covered in a wooden roof for different reasons. They're really a shelter within perhaps a leaky thatched house or they are an extra warm shelter in a place that might have been drafty."
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From RTÉ Radio 1's History Show, design historian Claudia Kinmonth on the social history she found within Irish farmhouses and cabins
There was one county in particular which went mad for the big beds. "County Waterford had very, very grand farmhouse furniture compared to the rest of Ireland", says Kinmonth. "We've got a lovely example there, which has got an arch top on the cupboard beds and it's a double bed so we think it probably would've been slept in by the parents or maybe even by several children top to tail inside. It's raised off, it's completely enclosed except at the front where it has panels and carved linen fold across the top and it's painted blue.
"It's in the Irish agricultural museum in Johnston Castle and it's just lovely. You can imagine if it was in an open thatched roof farmhouse, it would've been a very cozy space within a place that was possibly rather drafty. And it would've had lovely curtains across the front, which were closed at night to keep away the draft as well."
Kinmonth says the best bed in the house was the one nearest the fire. "In the one or two bedroom farmhouses which would've prevailed in the 19th century, if you're lucky you had a kitchen and you might have a fireside bed in the kitchen, and that was the warmest place in the house. The bed would be in an alcove on one side. It's curtained off and it's raised up and it's nice and warm near the fire. That would've been the best bed in the house and that was usually reserved for for the grandparents, the most senior members of the family.
By day, it was a long bench. At night, it folded down to create a double bed with its own bedding inside it
"If you had a parlour or extra room, you might have beds disguised as other things. During the day, it looked like you had a chest of drawers or a wardrobe or a press and then at night you opened the doors and down came a bed. It folded out in one or two hinged sections and it was a bed by night.
"The parlor doubled up as a bedroom at night and accommodated quite a few people. If there were important visitors, it just looked innocently as though there was a chiffonier or a press. They had brilliantly disguised beds, so they're really clever."
And if you think that sounds like your sofa bed, you're on the money. "The bigger farmhouses would've had a full repertoire of beds", explains Kinmonth. "But the most common thing that we find in all the farmhouses throughout all the counties of Ireland is the settle bed. That's the equivalent of our sofa bed today, but completely made of wood.
"My research shows that was used from as early as 1640 and it's a bench bed that was typically near the fire. By day, it was a long bench. At night, it folded down and forwards onto the floor to create a cleverly high sided floor level double bed with its own bedding inside it."
