Before smart switches, I know someone who wired all their lights like that. They didn't like ceiling or wall lights, so all the lamps were table lamps on round pin sockets, which were controlled by dimmer switches by the door. It was much better than fishing around trying to find the switch on the cord or under the shade.
(I don't remember if they were 2A or 5A)
Theo
A neighbour's house was a self-build (neither of the builders are extant). If you enter that house after dark, you have to blunder around for the full length of the hall (or kitchen, depending on method of entry) before you can even attempt to locate a light switch.
Thanks for all those replies. Interesting stuff!
The house I remember best growing up had a 5A three pin unswitched socket in each of the downstairs rooms and a 15A socket in the kitchen and no other power points anywhere in the property (and not even a light in the second floor bedroom). I was never sure what a 15A socket was for. We certainly didn't have anything we needed to use in the kitchen.
I used to play in bands in the 60s and 70s and I had one of those Fitall plugs (made in NI) fitted to my amplifier. Tended to swap it back and forth from 5A to 13A.
Electric kettle or iron are the most likely.
our 15 amp round pin was for Water boiler for washing clothes (copper)
The kitchen did have one of those (built in brick, but coal fired and with its own chimney). That house was more or less uninhabitable by current standards.
AAMOF, the house we have now (built as recently as 1962) also had a brick built copper boiler, though with a gas connection. We had it removed, and a new kitchen fitted, before we moved in (early 1990s). Its chimney has had to be repointed and trimmed.
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