Category Archives: C18th Norfolk

Georgian Agricultural Labour: “Learning about Capitalism”

Posted on November 7, 2018 by William Savage

  The ‘new’ agriculture required capital in ways that were unexpected. Capital to buy better livestock to improve your own. Capital to purchase marl and lime to add to the fertility of your land. Capital to bring marginal land into … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, C18th Norfolk, Georgian Society | 2 Comments

Scotch Runts in Norfolk

Posted on October 17, 2018 by William Savage

This is not a scurrilous attack on certain people born north of the border! The creatures I am writing about were cattle. Large numbers of mostly Galloway bullocks from the generally poor grazing areas of Scotland were driven south to … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, C18th Norfolk | 9 Comments

Poachers in the 18th Century

Posted on October 10, 2018 by William Savage

Much of what we think we know about poachers and poaching in the past derives from the 19th-century. That was when the conflict between the poacher and the game-loving landowner reached its peak, with considerable violence shown on both sides. … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Georgian Society, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Poachers in the 18th Century

Georgian Agricultural Labour: “Men as Machines”

Posted on June 13, 2018 by William Savage

During the eighteenth century, England’s agricultural lands and economy changed from yeoman and peasant subsistence farming to something not too different from what is with us today: professional, commercial, market-oriented production, relying on sufficient inputs of capital to sustain ever-increasing … Continue reading →

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Georgian Booksellers in Norwich

Posted on April 18, 2018 by William Savage

Those of you who have read my “Ashmole Foxe” series of historical mysteries will know that Mr Foxe is a bookseller in the city of Norwich during the 1760s. Nothing about him is inauthentic to the period, so far as … Continue reading →

Posted in C18th Norfolk, Georgian Society | 5 Comments

Cat Epitaphs

Posted on March 28, 2018 by William Savage

From the middle of the century, epitaphs for pet cats, usually in the form of poems, begin to appear in various newspapers and magazines. Here are some lines from one published anonymously in the London Magazine of 1733, obviously by a … Continue reading →

Posted in Textiles, Tid-bits | 7 Comments

Norfolk “Navigations”

Posted on February 28, 2018 by William Savage

Britain’s economy and population grew rapidly during the eighteenth century, accelerating as the century progressed. There was a tendency both for population and industry to become clustered in specific locations; firstly around suitable supplies of water for waterpower, then close … Continue reading →

Posted in C18th Norfolk | 3 Comments

John Money: Despair and Rescue

Posted on February 7, 2018 by William Savage

We left Major John Money, the balloonist, on Saturday, July 23rd, 1785, up to his waist in water and convinced it was only a matter of time before his balloon sank and he would be drowned. At first, he seemed … Continue reading →

Posted in C18th Norfolk, Tid-bits | 4 Comments

John Money Aloft

Posted on January 31, 2018 by William Savage

In the first instalment of balloonist Major John Money’s story, I dealt with the background and the arrangements made in Norwich for the balloon to take off. You will recall, that Money was to have gone up with two other … Continue reading →

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Living Conditions for the Georgian Rural Poor

Posted on January 17, 2018 by William Savage

Most of us assume that the rural poor in the 18th-century lived in cottages. But what is a cottage? Is it simply a small dwelling house, maybe with a single room? Is it a small house that stands by itself, … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, C18th Norfolk | 4 Comments