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At the table

Pottage was a staple vegetable stew

Poor families relied on pottage, a thick vegetable stew often flavored with small amounts of bacon or meat when available.

What people wore

Practical stays for working women

Working-class women wore stays for warmth and practicality, and unlike elite versions, these were often made of leather or canvas and did not restrict movement or breathing.

Getting around

Walking and Horseback Travel Speeds

Most ordinary people travelled on foot or horseback, with pedestrians typically covering around 3 miles per hour and riders averaging 5 miles per hour.

What it cost

Supplementary income for rural families

During the Elizabethan and early Stuart period, many rural families supplemented their income by growing fruit and vegetables in cottage gardens or keeping pigs and cows.

Music

Music in daily trade and life

Music was ubiquitous, with tinkers singing catches, milkmaids singing ballads, and barbers keeping instruments like lutes and citterns in their shops for customers to play.

Daily life

Fetching water from public conduits

Most poor families collected water from public conduits or communal street pumps because private piped water was rare.