[Margaret Pilkington]

We had a range in our kitchen when I was a child.
Our range had a hot water box...with a lid at the top(to fill the hot water box) and a tap at the bottom to draw hot water off.
I don't think there was any real way of knowing what the right temperature was for cooking food.......except you knew that when the fire was first made, the oven temperature would not be very hot....a blazing fire would mean a very hot oven....and stuff that needed a lower temperature to cook was placed at the bottom of the oven.
I'm sure it was all a matter of experience.

And yes, the metal shelves from the oven were used to warm the bed on cold winternights...as were bricks(these would have been in the oven for a few hours) both the metal trays and the bricks were put into flannel(we had flannel drawstring bags - made by my Grandma) so that we didn't burn ourselves on them...the metal tray was taken out of the bed before you got in...and the bricks were left in bed to put your feet on to keep them warm.