I grew up in a 3 bed semi council property which my parents ended up buying.

I can remember when we had no central heating we would get ice on the inside of the windows.

Bath water was heated in a "copper" by way of a fire.

I can also remember damping down the fire in the evening to "keep it in", if succesfull it would still be burning in the morning, if not then total clean out of the fire and "start up again".

Used to enjoy the open fires.