Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Flat space on roof top, sometimes boarded over and leaded.
As post grads in London we all shared a flat in a grand old house in Holland Park, and it didn
Curious to learn more about the word “leads” in this context, and why it is different from a rooftop, and why it would concern a building manager, if the part of the roof was “private” and unnoticeable by others.
Is the word itself referring merely to the way, or access—it “leads” somewhere?
leads
It seems to me that the word refers to the lead (metal) plating that’s commonly used to protect this area of the roof.
Lead be plumbum not plumbeus[worthless], easy material to work, i.e malleable so that it could be used to seal the joints and spaces to prevent water seepage, otherwise roofs would be rotting away. Readily available, used on Churches , popular with thieves for a quick buck. Lead used in the 20th century, to keep copper telephone cables dry.
Bullus replies to two questions about his London days on the leads: did they call them the leads and was any lead/metal involved.
The answer to both your questions is Yes:
“the leads” is still in common usage (at least it was then) and I recollect we used it to describe our precious outdoor area - I guess the word “patio” didn’t creep into the language until much later, introduced perhaps by some enterprising Italian? (As in the Pizza Patio restaurant chain)
There was a bunch of metal lead around in the form of “flashing” (is that a Brit word? it is commonly used in N America to describe rain-protective metalwork) and gutter troughs between abutting slates, but I don’t remember thinking if there was any connection between metal lead and leads. It was so hot and soporific sprawled on those sun-baked stones that I don’t think much of anything entered our self-absorbed little noodles ha ha ha !
Is it pronounced “leds” (my guess) or “leeds” (my wife’s guess)?
Is it pronounced…
Well, although I always read it as “leeds” I assume it is “leds”. Bullus?
Pronounced “led” as in the metal lead (Pb) which covered the roof. I got this wrong when I first read it.
Pauline, “patio” is a Spanish word from “patio de recreo” = “playground.” The OED sez “patio” was used by Kipling in 1891, but then entered general use in English in the 1940’s and 1950’s: it was part of the vernacular then in Southern California where I was reared. So the “Pizza Patio” is, ah, bi-lingual (tho I hope one will suffice for its fare).
in 1550 they used lead pipes to take water from the roof:
The [said] parties ought of right at their equal costs and charges to make a lead party gutter … their said houses from the E end of def.’s house now new [built to] the jetty. And the parties at their equal costs and charges ought to make a lead pipe [to convey] the rain water falling into the gutters to the ground
From: ‘Misc. MSS Box 91 [C]: 1550-51 (nos 267-316)’, London viewers and their certificates, 1508-1558: Certificates of the sworn viewers of the City of London (1989), pp. 104-18. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36060&strquery=gate. Date accessed: 11 August 2005.
Sam talks frequently about “walking upon the leads”, often with his wife or with a friend. The discussion here has been of an area where one might sit, but not walk. Was Sam’s house in a terrace where he might enjoy shared access to a whole row of roofs? I don’t really see that either, given that he has just had his roof raised.