jennyann
Gone but not forgotten. R.I.P.
I have very good memories of visiting a herbalist in Inkerman Street
in the late l940's early l950's. My Mother had always followed the herbal medicine edict. However, it was against the the law from l941 onwards to sell herbal remedies although the law was never actually acted on. There were very few places to buy natural herbs. I would think most of them were "underground" although locals knew were they were. This information regarding the legality of selling herbal medicines and ingredients to make them, I did not find out for many years. This law was revoked in l968 and has recently been brought back into effect in a similar form since herbal remedies are making a come back and were unregulated until a couple of years ago. It's a somewhat "grey" area
even now.
From time to time we would visit this "front room" herbalists. It was the
most fascinating place. It was I'm sure located on Inkerman Street
and my mother must have heard about it from someone else who lived close by since she worked at Sun Cycle & Fittings around that time.
You could buy all kinds of medicinal herbs in there and they were sold
by weight. It was very dark inside the shop and naturally smelled
odd. It was also a bit scary for a small child. I remember being asked to wait outside on the scrubbed steps while my Mother went inside. She had to knock the door as I imagine the door was kept locked. There were bottles of strange herbs and potions on the shelves and a lady who
served up the goods.
The herbs were put into a heavy brown waxy type of paper bags after
being carefully weighed out. I remember my mother buying cloves
and senna pods in particular, and other herbs for making cough medicine,etc.
Does anyone else remember this place at all?
in the late l940's early l950's. My Mother had always followed the herbal medicine edict. However, it was against the the law from l941 onwards to sell herbal remedies although the law was never actually acted on. There were very few places to buy natural herbs. I would think most of them were "underground" although locals knew were they were. This information regarding the legality of selling herbal medicines and ingredients to make them, I did not find out for many years. This law was revoked in l968 and has recently been brought back into effect in a similar form since herbal remedies are making a come back and were unregulated until a couple of years ago. It's a somewhat "grey" area
even now.
From time to time we would visit this "front room" herbalists. It was the
most fascinating place. It was I'm sure located on Inkerman Street
and my mother must have heard about it from someone else who lived close by since she worked at Sun Cycle & Fittings around that time.
You could buy all kinds of medicinal herbs in there and they were sold
by weight. It was very dark inside the shop and naturally smelled
odd. It was also a bit scary for a small child. I remember being asked to wait outside on the scrubbed steps while my Mother went inside. She had to knock the door as I imagine the door was kept locked. There were bottles of strange herbs and potions on the shelves and a lady who
served up the goods.
The herbs were put into a heavy brown waxy type of paper bags after
being carefully weighed out. I remember my mother buying cloves
and senna pods in particular, and other herbs for making cough medicine,etc.
Does anyone else remember this place at all?
