Tomeki
Cover of Men at work

Men at work

labourers and building craftsmen in the towns of Northern England, 1450-1750

By Donald Woodward

0 (0 Ratings)
0 Want to read0 Currently reading0 Have read

Publish Date

1995

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Language

eng

Pages

324

Description:

This study redresses the north and south imbalance of much work on economic and social history by focusing on the lives and economic impact of the building trade in the early-modern period in the context of the change from rural economy to the eve of industrialisation. The period 1450-1750 witnessed substantial changes in England: in the size of national population; the range of industry practised; the commodity structure and patterns of overseas trade; in agricultural techniques; and in the proportion of population tied to the soil. The evidence analysed in this book uses the nature of building and labouring work to consider the variations in wages and living standards allied to studies of individual towns. Using many hitherto unworked sources from local archives, the author addresses conditions of work in the building trades, levels of remuneration, the characteristics of the life-cycles of male and female workers, gender differences in work, and relationships with employers - at times running counter to the prevailing orthodoxies.