Lived as a kid in the North of England, all those chimneys in those rows and rows of houses were for burning coal. We cooked using gas but had no hot water or heat in the house without a fire in the living room fireplace.
In the evening we would all gather in front of it, which I would guess was how living rooms got started. No basements, everybody’s coal shed was out back in the tiny yard next to the toilet, delivered by brawny, sooty guys in hundredweight (112lb) sacks.
Plus we lived next to a rail yard where steam engines were still a thing, coal-fired. The smell of coal smoke and soot sure takes me back.
I was there five years back, all electric now of course, free of soot the houses are much cleaner than I remember.
