Domestic Bell - Museum of Bath at Work

A major difference in larger Victorian and Edwardian homes was the installation of domestic bells which allowed communication between the principal rooms of a home and the servants, accommodated in a separate part of the house. Akin to doorbells, the system of bellpulls (set into the plaster of walls) the stretched wiring and the system of bells at the opposite end, were installed by Bellhangers and represent a bygone approach to home management. Often the bells rang or 'trembled' when house mice ran across the wiring set behind the walls or under floorboards.