Daily life in a rural community was much more labour intensive than it is in these days of supermarkets, automatic washing machines and central heating systems. Life may have been lived at a slower rate, but they needed more time to get things done!
Living conditions for many rural families in the 19th Century were often cramped; couples could have 12 or more children, and elderly relatives usually lived with their offspring. The diet, it was observed in the 1843 Report on Child Labour…”consists much more of vegetable food than amongst the miners of the coal districts. Beer is not nearly so much drunk. In the parish of Hunstonworth… there is not a single beer-shop or public house of any sort.”
This section aims to give an insight into different aspects of everyday life, the things that changed over time – and the things that perhaps haven’t changed all that much…
