Swarthmoor Hall and the Lifestyle of a Wealthy Country Gentry Family in the Early 17th Century Swarthmoor Hall was built in the 17th Century but since then a lot has happened to it. I both agree and disagree with the above statement due to the restorations, donations, etc the Hall has received. The great hall was smaller than I expected. The oak panelling on the walls was an expensive thing to have in the 17th century, so it was a way of showing your wealth and status. Although, there may not have been oak panelling in the room originally as we know that after Swarthmoor Hall fell into disrepair, it was done up by Emma Clarke-Abraham - it was her that had the panelling put in place. Any original panelling was possibly stripped and sold off. The Yeoman would have been unlikely to have any panelling, and the nobility would be likely to have more extensively carved panels. The table top is made from a different wood to the legs. The top has a smooth side for posh occasions and a rough side for everyday use. This shows wealth and status as they would have needed servants to keep the tabletop smooth, and it showed they did have important occasions. This is a Country Gentry style thing as the nobility would have had separate rooms for important occasions and their everyday use. The table legs were made of oak, but the table top was made of cedar, an imported wood - this shows a sign of wealth as it would cost a lot to import wood. The stools don't all match as they would have been gathered when they were needed. The chandelier shows how some of the evidence may not be completely reliable, as it is very unlikely a big object like that would be in a room the size of the hall. It is probably only there because it was donated by a Quaker. This will also be the same for other objects in the house, because the Quakers cannot insult someone by not showing their donated piece.
Davis gives various examples of the social norms that peasants lived under during the sixteenth century. When Sanxi, Guerre’s father, and his family decided to leave their village, Davis states that the majority of men who leave their village do so because they “were usually not heir to their family’s property, as was Sanxi Daguerre, but younger brothers who could not or would not remain in the ancestral household” (Davis 6). This highlights the idea that being the heir to the family’s inheritance is a great indicator of how one’s life as a peasant would carry on. It is very likely that if one is the heir, then the individual shall stay at their property and assume the role as head of the household once the “s...
Throughout the work An Account of the Travels, Sufferings and Persecutions of Barbara Blaugdone, there is a common occurrence of imprisonment. Wherever Blaugdone traveled, she seemed to come across some confrontation with the law. This should not be surprising, for in the time period when this work was written many laws, statutes, and acts had been established to thwart the spreading of unpopular Quaker views. Many acts were established primarily to prevent the ministry of Quakerism; however universal laws, especially those to prevent vagrancy, were also used against traveling Quakers.
Ros, Maggi. “Food and Your Lifestyle.” Life in Elizabethan England. 2008. 30 Sept. 2016. .
...e. … On either side of our new development were grand nineteenth-century houses and manors set back behind high hedges. … Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century stone Dutch houses still spotted the town and some quite fabulous nineteenth-century estates surrounded our new street” (50).
Burke, John. Life in the Castle in Medieval England. New York: British Heritage Press, 1983. Print.
In 1614, Fell Fox was born in Lancashire, England. She was born into the landed gentry, a level of society with both good education and breeding. In her late teens, she married an older man, a highly respected judge, by the name of Thomas Fell. Fell was politically involved in the society and several times was a member of Parliament. During their marriage, Fell inherited a house from his father and he and Margaret lived at the estate. The estate had been named Swarthmoor Hall by Fell’s father. During that time, Fell was often away from home on court circuits. Fell was well known in the region for his hospitality to travelers, and accordingly, the Hall was open to travelers. Fell Fox followed her husband’s desire for hospitality.
It is crucial to first define what exactly English culture was in the 17th century. In England, the most influential and prominent citizens were the noblemen. These gentlemen consisted of “by custom the clergy, university graduates, lawyers, physicians, military officers, and virtually anyone who ‘can live without manual labor’” (5) as wel...
It is not specifically known how Anthony Johnson came to own his “modest estate” or how he ended up in Northampton. Historians believe that his former master, Rirchard Bennett,...
It is made with maple, walnut, ash, beech, and cherry. It has a beautiful and simple design and has features of a typical type of a chair. More specifically, it has four legs and a back but it does not have arms on the two sides. The whole chair is made of solely wood cylinders in different sizes and kinds. The seat is made with sixteen pieces of woods in the same color and size. But for the rails on the back of the chair, three pieces of wood cylinders were used and each of them has different colors and widths. The top one has a brown color and It is the thinnest. The middle one is thicker and shows a light-yellow color with several repetitious wood grains. The lowest one is the thickest and has a smooth surface with a maple wood's color. From the colors and the grains of woods used for different parts of the chair, viewers could easily recognize that the chair is made with several different kinds of
In the Elizabethan Era, occupations were as varied as a bowl of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans. There was some much to do as the times were changing rapidly. Professions in this time and age ranged from rabbit catching to working with royalty. Making weapons, clothes, working in the house, working in the castle, selling goods in the marketplace, and healing others were just some of the more common trades of the time.
of the county in prosperity as well as in the depths of a depression” (Lee 170). The Ewells lived
In absence of today’s modern technology, people in the Tudor Era had to come up with creative ways to stay entertained. Entertainment in the Tudor Era consisted of executions and popular events that would be considered very gruesome today. During this time, they primarily focused on the enjoyment of the the upper class. This type of entertainment differs from today’s entertainment that is looked at from a completely different perspective.
In Thomas Carew’s country house poem “To Saxham” the speaker describes the prosperity of the estate and the experience people would have within it. The speaker in the poem creates the distinction that the people who remain on the exterior of the estate are poor and in a less prosperous position than those who live on the estate. The contrast that the speaker makes throughout the poem suggests there is a larger idea being formed by Carew in regards to the relation of spaces and social structure. The tone throughout the poem praises the estate and they way it provides for its inhabitants and guests, while suggesting that there are enough resources to accommodate unexpected guests. The speaker proposes that there is potential mobility between individuals that remain outside the estate
Gold, nothing can compare to this precious metal. A symbol of wealth and prosperity, it has been a value for explorers and adventurers and a lure for conquerors. Today it is vital to commerce and finance; popular in ornamentation, and increasing importance in technology.
The rural elite of Austen’s novels are members of the upper middle-class. They are not the aristocracy (although Mr Darcy belongs to the aristocracy), but their connections and education give them the right to mix with high society, as well as to marry with people of h...