There's no need to rush. There will always be an easy way of turning off the water to the taps in the basin.
All you have to do to check you've turned the correct water off is to try running the taps for a few minutes and see if the flow slows and stops.
Cold tap: if there is a header tank in the loft (possible on a 1930s system), there will be a gate valve of some sort on the pipe coming out of the bottom of the tank. If the cold taps are all connected directly to the water main then turning off the stopcock for the house supply will do what you need it to.
Hot tap: Again, there will be a gate valve on the large pipe going into the hot water cylinder. Just turn it off and run the hot tap(s) to see if the flow slows and stops.
All taps and valves always turn clockwise to shut off the flow, and anticlockwise to turn the flow on again.
A little tip for stopcocks and gate valves: Don't leave them fully closed or fully open - when it won't turn any more, back off 1/4 of a turn. This can help to prevent the mechanism seizing when you want to use it the next time.
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