Elizabeth Barlow

What people wore

Limited wardrobes for the commoners

Many ordinary people owned only one set of clothes for daytime wear and lacked dedicated sleepwear, opting to sleep in their smocks and nightcaps.

Daily life

Open fire cooking and cookshops

Cooking usually took place over an open fire, often involving stews in a cauldron or roasting meat on a spit. Many poorer people lacked cooking facilities at home and relied on cookshops for takeaway food.

Work

Farming was the most common job

Farming was the primary occupation, with nine out of ten people living in rural villages or small towns.

Music

Paying Minstrels for Parish Festivals

Parish records show that minstrel hire for Whitsuntide festivities was common, with payments reaching up to 8s 4d for a single minstrel in 1533.

At the table

The poor used acorns to make bread

When flour was scarce, the very poor would grind acorns to make bread as a desperate substitute.

Getting around

Walking was the primary way to travel

Most ordinary people traveled on foot, as walking was the standard mode of transport and carriages were exclusive to the elite. A trip to the local market town often required an entire day to walk there and back.

What it cost

Cost of Basic Food Items

A loaf of bread (24 oz) cost 1 penny, and 1 pound of cheese cost 1 1/2 pence. A skilled worker could buy a dozen eggs for 4d and a pound of cheese for 1 1/2d with their daily wage.