The humble man cave may seem like a particularly modern dwelling, but in one form or another, it has been around for some time. Ahead of our search for London’s ultimate man cave (watch this space!), we’ve been rummaging through the library books and digging out the true history of the man cave. We’ll be skipping cave dwellers, as they’re a little difficult to pinpoint (and a bit too obvious), so let us begin by taking an enlightened jump straight back to the dark ages.

See also…

• The ultimate man cave: 10 of the internet’s very best
• From she sheds to shedquarters – a cosy place to call your own
• Living bigger in small spaces: 5 space savers for London living

1481: a place to ‘kepe yn beestys’

If we take the humble shed as the original man cave, then it has been around since at least 1480, when it first made an etymological appearance as a ‘… schudde, hovel, swyne kote or howse of sympyl hyllynge [covering] to kepe yn beestys’. Beestys aren’t a familiar sight in the modern man cave, unless you count the owner, of course.

1693: the gentlemen’s cave

The first dedicated gentlemen’s clubs appeared in London in the 1690s, with White’s laying claim to being the world’s oldest. These were originally places for gentlemen of the aristocracy to get together and indulge themselves. Gambling, which was illegal in England at the time, was a common pastime. Dr Samuel Johnson, who wrote the first English dictionary, considered a man of dubious character to be ‘unclubbable’, meaning that no gentlemen’s club worth its salt would take him as a member.

1850: a place for ‘indelicacies’

Turkish tobacco became popular in Western Europe following the Crimean War, although the smoking of it was thought to be ‘indelicate’. And so the smoking room was invented. A direct ancestor of the modern man cave, these places were often decorated in ‘masculine’ styles – Turkish weapons were apparently popular – and women were forbidden to enter. Taking things to ridiculous extremes, the chaps inside the room would often wear smoking jackets and caps (apparently to keep the smell off their clothes and hair, but more probably just because they liked dressing up). We think this tradition should be revived immediately.

1943: a place for bats

Batman’s Bat Cave, designed by DC Comics

Bruce Wayne didn’t always have the ultimate man cave. The original ‘Bat Cave’ was merely a dusty tunnel to his garage. It wasn’t until 1943, nearly five years into Batman’s existence, that a properly kitted out underground crime-smashing bunker arrived, complete with false doors masquerading as grandfather clocks. The false door has been the dream of many man cave designers ever since.

1993: the man cave gets its name

The first real reference to a ‘man cave’, or a cave for men, is thought to have appeared in Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (John Gray, 1992), although it’s a metaphorical cave at this stage (and seems to involve mountains and race tracks, so we reckon these mental man caves must be somewhere outside the M25).

“[A man] becomes very quiet and goes to his private cave to think about his problem, mulling it over to find a solution. When he has found a solution, he feels much better… If he can’t find a solution then he does something to forget his problems, like reading the news or playing a game. By disengaging his mind from the problems of his day, gradually he can relax. If his stress is really great it takes getting involved with something even more challenging, like racing his car, competing in a contest, or climbing a mountain.”

1994: the man cave on TV

The ’90s saw a boom in ‘lad culture’, an ideal breeding ground for young man caves. Perhaps the most notable example was the much-celebrated hangout above Central Perk, where, for many happy years, Joey Tribbiani and Chandler Bing demonstrated exactly how it should be done. The clip we’ve chosen shows the two involved in highly intellectual pursuits, making the most of their man space, but we could have chosen any number of other clips. Those flip-back chairs, anyone? Weren’t they just living the dream?

2008: the man cave becomes the #mancave

officially procured the urinal for my #mancave today… it’s all coming together

— andy brudtkuhl (@abrudtkuhl) November 13, 2008

The earliest recorded example of a man cave getting its own hashtag was in a tweet by Andy Brudtkhul – a web developer and entrepreneur – who let it loose on November 13, 2008… to complete silence. Nobody applauded the procurement of his man cave urinal all those years ago, so we ask our readers to give him the recognition he now deserves as a shining light in the man cave timeline.

2015: the search for London’s ultimate man cave

In October 2015 London self-storage company Boxman will launch the search for the ultimate London man cave. The competition is set to run throughout November, with the winner – chosen via public vote – announced in early December. The winner is set to win a ‘Christmas-come-early’ box of tech goodies to kit out his man cave, as well as a pair of on-demand subscriptions from Boxman buddies, Honest Brew and Readbug. Keep an eye on this blog for further launch details, and – while you’re waiting – spread the word (you can get updates via the Facebook page) and get your man cave ready for entry!

And beyond…

The Skysphere, by Jono Williams

Who knows what the future of man caves might look like? Actually, that’s not a rhetorical question, because we think that New Zealand’s Jono Williams may have a clue. His Skysphere is a little blob of privacy perched on the top of a stick. Voice activated, app-controlled and biogenetically encrypted, it’s the hideaway to end all hideaways, and Williams should be very proud of himself. The only odd thing is that it looks like it was designed for The Jetsons. Our ideas of how the future looks may forever be stuck in the 1960s.