Less of the Same? Poor households in post-medieval England.

Summary

This paper draws on archaeological and documentary evidence for the housing conditions of the poor in England between 1550 and 1850. Focusing on those in relative poverty and able to occupy their own homes, rather than those in abject poverty who were destitute and homeless, this paper raises the question of whether the poor lived out comparable cultural changes to the affluent. Or, did the poor occupy a distinct sub-culture in their material lives and use of space? To what extent was the experience of poverty in post-medieval England a matter of less of the same, or a distinct and separate cultural trajectory? Did the poor maintain medieval life ways, or participate in the same cultural changes as the affluent? Focusing on North-East England and East Anglia, the paper addresses rural, urban and industrial contexts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Perspectives on the Rural and Urban Poor: Great Britain 1550-1950   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 565