Genuine Beds in the UK

Where would we sleep if we hadn’t invented the bed?

I assume there was a time when we didn’t have beds. At least not the types of bed we now have access to. In its basic definition a bed is a piece of furniture upon which a person may recline or sleep. And yet since the earliest times and across all cultures, the bed was thought the most important piece of household furniture, and a great symbol of status and wealth.

In fact beds were used in ancient Egypt as more than a place for sleeping. Beds were also used as a place to eat meals and entertain socially.

The earliest beds were shallow chests filled with bedding. Eventually someone tried to create a little more comfort in the bed, and stretched ropes across a wooden framework. This would not be the bed as we know it today, but I suppose we would recognise the basic structure.

So what about that other component of the bed, the mattress? Well a typical bed of 1600 was simply a timber frame with rope or leather supports. Across this bed was laid a 'bag' of soft filling, most commonly straw or sometimes wool, covered by plain, cheap fabric. In the mid 18th century, things were becoming more sophisticated, so by this time the bed we know today was quite recognisable in this early form.

For a start the mattress cover was of quality linen or cotton, the fillings included coconut fibre, cotton, wool and horse hair. We now begin to see tufted or buttoned mattresses with side stitching adorning these beds, to hold the fillings and cover together.

In the late 19^th century Iron and Steel were also being used instead of timber. In 1929 a bed was created with a latex rubber mattress. These were by the very successful Dunlopillow. Pocket spring mattresses also began appearing on beds. These were individual springs sewn into smaller fabric tubes, linked together, and brought the bed into a whole new realm of quality and comfort.

We are now spoiled by the choice of beds. There are divan bed sets, futon beds, bunk beds, pine and many other types of wooden frame in the beds we can buy. But perhaps most exotic of all, and in many ways bizarre, is perhaps the waterbed?

Believe it or not the first beds of this type were created in Persia more than 3,600 years ago. They were simply goatskins filled with water.

It wasn’t until the 1960s that these beds became very fashionable, but it was way back in 1873 when waterbeds came into being. Then these beds were a tool in the treatment and prevention of pressure ulcers, commonly known as bed sores, as waterbeds allowed mattress pressure to be evenly distributed over the body.

Designed by Neil Arnott, it was Sir James Paget of St Bartholomew's Hospital who presented a modern waterbed for this purpose.

By 1895 a few waterbeds were sold via mail order through the famous Harrods department store. Unfortunately, it was not until the invention of vinyl, that the waterbed gained a wider audience and could be described as a bed for normal domestic use.

So when you complain about the massive range of beds available on the market today, just consider how the humble, yet vital, bed has changed over the centuries. Once seen as a family heirloom (Shakespeare left his bed in his will) now a bed of some kind is easily available at a price to suit all pockets.