1-156-299 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Coal delivery, 1860. A footman collecting a scuttle of coal from the cellar under the pavement at the very moment when the coalman shoots a sack of coal from Newcastle through the manhole in the pavement above. Such cellars were a typical feature of British Georgian and Victorian towns and cities where the approach to the front was a few steps above street level and the kitchen, scullery and pantry were in a semi-basement. From Rhymes and Pictures. (London, 1860).