ok,lets see if you clever folk on here can beat google-for years ive read books with reference to "area steps" i gathered these were steps or stairs leading from the pavement outside terraced houses,down to a basement room-i may be wrong-but ive eventually just googled it and got loads of useless woffle-can anyone enlighten me,please?am i right?just to put my mind at rest(haha-ive also just googled"what is corn pone"having read of it in books of a southern nature-now i know!xx

Yes I think you are correct about 'area steps' just found this ............. Does someone know what the translation of area steps is? They're described as "a sunken enclosure giving access to the basement of a building"....

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/corn-pone
Corn pone definition: a kind of corn bread baked in small oval loaves , or pones

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cornpone
: corn bread often made without milk or eggs and baked or fried.

www.wideopencountry.com/corn-pone-recipe/
14 Nov 2017 - This simple and delicious recipe for southern corn pone tastes just like what your grandma used to make.

Don't know if it was 'corn pone but I went to a xmas dinner at RAF Mildenhall (USAF) Sgts Mess some years ago and all the Brits were totally confused when the plates appeared with a large square piece of yellow corn bread as part of the turkey dinner - but no bread sauce

You're right, Colliepam

Here you go - fifth paragraph down:

https://fet.uwe.ac.uk/conweb/house_ages/flypast/print.htmhttps://fet.uwe.ac.uk/conweb/house_ages/flypast/print.htm

I remember learning this from reading "The 101 Dalmatians" as a child.  Area steps are mentioned in descriptions of the Dearly's house!  (Posh house in London's St John's Wood,  I seem to recall)  The things we remember from childhood!

XX

Ha, ha - tatty-eat - we've crossed posts!

here you go , corn pone is a version of corn bread ".corn pone (sometimes referred to as "Indian pone") is a type of cornbread made from a thick, malleable cornmeal dough (which is usually egg-less and milk-less) and cooked in a specific type of iron pan over an open fire (such as a frontiersman would use), using butter, margarine, shortening, or cooking oil."

yeah,i read that too,about the area steps,but was hoping for something a bit more conclusive-,why "area"for instance,why not "basement steps".im also going to have a go making corn pone-if i can find maizeflour,i dont think our cornflour will be the right stuff.thanks for replying-i think im getting very nosy in my old age-spose it beats looking through the net curtains!x

oh yes,i remember that!couldnt get the link to work,but thanks very much xx

thanks chris- im going to have a go at making it!xx

Form memory of corn bread its nice .