I hope Judith will not object to my posting a summary of British life in 1637, from a book I have just read. As an Australian, my and my wife's British ancestors lived in widely scattered parts of Britain, and I am shamefully ignorant of the way things were in those parts. Other Listers may be too, ignorant of the general circumstances of their ancestors' lives. There are other fascinating extracts I could give, but will not do so without Judith's permission. Gordon Barlow "At least half the King's subjects derived their living directly or indirectly from the sea... The mussel beds of the Cumbrian and Scottish shores yielded pale irregular pearls... the oysters of Colchester and Whitstable... Selsey cockles... sprats and eels of the Thames estuary... eels from northern Ireland and lampreys from the Severn estuary... pilchards from Plymouth and Penzance. "Berwick had long been famous for salmon and shellfish but had recently fallen on hard times. The fisher-folk, tempted by the possibility of a record haul, had broken the Sabbath and gone out in their boats. Since that time the salmon had deserted Berwick, whose present distress was held up as a warning to all who despised the commandments. "... fisher folk came from as far north as the coast of Durham and as far west as Lyme to sell their herring on the Yarmouth quays... the Scots were discovering the Greenland whale fisheries, but the English Muscovy Company disputed the fishing rights... Fishing rights in Scotland's own waters were savagely contested, for lowland intruders were opposed by the people of the Highland coasts and the Hebrides, and the aggressive Hollanders fell upon both alike. "Where the coasts were low-lying, hundreds of salt pans... refineries at Newcastle, Colchester and Chester. Where the coast was rocky, seaweed was carted inland to enrich the soil. On cliffs and sandhills men gathered samphire and looked for ambergris among the sea-drift, to sell to the kitchens of the rich... fresh-water eels from Abingdon, Severn greyling and Arundel mullet... "Minehead and Barnstaple exchanged wares and travellers with Tenby [Wales] and the ports of southern Ireland... Fifty sail from these ports put into the Severn estuary for the Bristol fair in July... A fleet of 300 ships carried Newcastle coal to London. Dumbarton and Whitehaven sent colliers to Dublin... Ayr and Irvine traded with France; Leith, Dundee, Aberdeen & Stonehaven with Norway, Denmark and the Low Countries...Cross-Channel traffic from Dartmouth and Exeter brought in flax and hemp from Normandy and Brittany and exported it again as sail-cloth and buckram. "From Bristol, Plymouth and Southampton ships sailed for the American colonies, with supplies of malt and meal, shirts and shoes, cloth and hardware. From there they turned north to Newfoundland for fish which they sold in Cadiz, and came home with Spanish wines. Between northern Ireland and the Western Isles native coracles plied a traffic in crude liquor and fugitive criminals. "London was first and foremost a seaport. Merchantmen from Antwerp and Amsterdam, Calais and Bordeaux, Lisbon, Leghorn and Cadiz, Bergen, Hamburg and Archangel, Constantinople, the East and West Indies, rode at anchor in the Pool... Fresh water had been brought within reach by the New River Company which had diverted the river Lea to Islington; but rosemary and jasmine were in constant demand to disguise the putrid smells of streets and houses. London children suffered badly from rickets, and the various epidemic diseases vaguely defined as plague caused ten thousand deaths in the bad year 1636."

Aah- I've suddenly become nostalgic about samphire- it doesn;t grow here in Tasmania. Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gordon Barlow" <barlow@candw.ky> To: <OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 7:52 AM Subject: [OEL] "Half the King's Subjects" > I hope Judith will not object to my posting a summary of British life in > 1637, from a book I have just read. As an Australian, my and my wife's > British ancestors lived in widely scattered parts of Britain, and I am > shamefully ignorant of the way things were in those parts. Other Listers > may be too, ignorant of the general circumstances of their ancestors' lives. > There are other fascinating extracts I could give, but will not do so > without Judith's permission. > > Gordon Barlow > > "At least half the King's subjects derived their living directly or > indirectly from the sea... The mussel beds of the Cumbrian and Scottish > shores yielded pale irregular pearls... the oysters of Colchester and > Whitstable... Selsey cockles... sprats and eels of the Thames estuary... > eels from northern Ireland and lampreys from the Severn estuary... pilchards > from Plymouth and Penzance. > > "Berwick had long been famous for salmon and shellfish but had recently > fallen on hard times. The fisher-folk, tempted by the possibility of a > record haul, had broken the Sabbath and gone out in their boats. Since that > time the salmon had deserted Berwick, whose present distress was held up as > a warning to all who despised the commandments. > > "... fisher folk came from as far north as the coast of Durham and as far > west as Lyme to sell their herring on the Yarmouth quays... the Scots were > discovering the Greenland whale fisheries, but the English Muscovy Company > disputed the fishing rights... Fishing rights in Scotland's own waters were > savagely contested, for lowland intruders were opposed by the people of the > Highland coasts and the Hebrides, and the aggressive Hollanders fell upon > both alike. > > "Where the coasts were low-lying, hundreds of salt pans... refineries at > Newcastle, Colchester and Chester. Where the coast was rocky, seaweed was > carted inland to enrich the soil. On cliffs and sandhills men gathered > samphire and looked for ambergris among the sea-drift, to sell to the > kitchens of the rich... fresh-water eels from Abingdon, Severn greyling and > Arundel mullet... > > "Minehead and Barnstaple exchanged wares and travellers with Tenby [Wales] > and the ports of southern Ireland... Fifty sail from these ports put into > the Severn estuary for the Bristol fair in July... A fleet of 300 ships > carried Newcastle coal to London. Dumbarton and Whitehaven sent colliers to > Dublin... Ayr and Irvine traded with France; Leith, Dundee, Aberdeen & > Stonehaven with Norway, Denmark and the Low Countries...Cross-Channel > traffic from Dartmouth and Exeter brought in flax and hemp from Normandy and > Brittany and exported it again as sail-cloth and buckram. > > "From Bristol, Plymouth and Southampton ships sailed for the American > colonies, with supplies of malt and meal, shirts and shoes, cloth and > hardware. From there they turned north to Newfoundland for fish which they > sold in Cadiz, and came home with Spanish wines. Between northern Ireland > and the Western Isles native coracles plied a traffic in crude liquor and > fugitive criminals. > > "London was first and foremost a seaport. Merchantmen from Antwerp and > Amsterdam, Calais and Bordeaux, Lisbon, Leghorn and Cadiz, Bergen, Hamburg > and Archangel, Constantinople, the East and West Indies, rode at anchor in > the Pool... Fresh water had been brought within reach by the New River > Company which had diverted the river Lea to Islington; but rosemary and > jasmine were in constant demand to disguise the putrid smells of streets and > houses. London children suffered badly from rickets, and the various > epidemic diseases vaguely defined as plague caused ten thousand deaths in > the bad year 1636." > > > ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== > OLD-ENGLISH Web Page > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/ >