Only
minor variations in design occurred after about 1910, with the exception
of the more modern Open-lot. Even the home-made vans - 'peg-knife wagons',
supposedly shaped with the aid of that tool - tended to be along the same lines
as the professionally built wagons. It was not uncommon for a traveler to add or
remove features of an old wagon, re-mount a body on underworks other than its
own, or replace unsound wheels by ones that differed in weight, size or
structure from the original, thus altering the proportions.
There are six design types (of which the five extant ones, plus an
ancillary vehicle are illustrated above). They are known by various names but
are perhaps best called the Reading, the Ledge and the Bow-top. The Bow-top is
the most typically Romani; the now extinct Brush – characteristic of brush,
broom, rush and wickerwork makers; the Burton – most typically showman; and, the
more modern one, the Open-lot. There are two ancillaries, not properly living
wagons, the four-wheeled and the two wheeled tilted pot carts. Being
individually built, no two wagons are exactly alike. They vary according to
customer requirements, price, skill and location of builder and period. At the
same time they have certain exterior features in common, and with few exceptions
the interiors conform to a set plan or layout. Thus, the vardo is always one-roomed on four high
wheels, with door and  moveable steps in front (the Brush wagon the only
exception), sash windows, a rack called the ‘cratch’ and a pan-box at the rear.
Inside the wagon the atmosphere is snug and homely, and the finer vans
have an almost regal splendor. Almost everything one needs is to hand. Even in
winter you need never be cold. The fire in the stove, if built up with windows
closed for half an hour, will so heat the rails near the roof that they will be
too hot to hold. One of the Coopers once claimed that he could bake a cake in
his van by stoking up the fire, shutting the windows, and leaving the mixture in
the tin on the table!
Inside the wagon the cabinet work may be either dark
red polished mahogany or stained pine, and the walls are grained or scumbled in
light-golden brown. In the vans that have had a lot of wear and tear the
original wood finish has often been painted or grained over.
 Internal layout, which varies little from type to type or van to
van, has not changed for a century. The basic needs of the resident are the same
and, in such confined space, there is only one sensible way to meet them. The
entrance is frontal and half-doored. Through it, and on your immediate left, you
find a tall, narrow wardrobe and beneath it perhaps a small brush cupboard. The
fireplace stands next, and is always on the left as you enter, for on that side
the chimney pipe is in less danger from roadside trees. From a point about two
feet above the top of the stove, the fireplace is boxed in to form an airing
cupboard. On the front of this cupboard and above the fireplace is a
brass-railed shelf and next comes the offside window, and beneath a locker seat
for two.
To the right, as you enter, is a bow-fronted corner cupboard;
the top part , usually having glass doors, is probably used for displaying
china, and the cupboard below for boots and cleaning gear. Opposite the fire
there is another locker seat, and of a cold winter’s day it is good to sit
there, lean back and place your stockinged feet on the brass guard rail on the
front of the stove. Next to the seat is a bow-fronted chest of
drawers.
Filling in the back of the van is a two-berthed bed-place, the top
bunk just below the rear window, and beneath it are two sliding doors. These in
the daytime shut away a second, shorter bed-place in which the children
sleep.
Light is supplied from a bracket oil-lamp above the chest of drawers,
the surface of which is used as a table. More light may come from
candles.
©From The English Gypsy Caravan by C.H. Ward-Jackson & Denis
E. Harvey 1973 Edition
|
|
|
|
|