Sharing session on Wednesday 27th March

The first activity invited participants to match pictures of seventeenth century domestic chores to their modern day equivalent. We discovered:

Seventeenth century domestic chore/appliance	Modern day equivalent
Women in a bleaching field*	Tumble dryer
Two wooden tubs, a dolly and a mangle board	Washing machine
A big wooden tub filled by hand	Bathing
Broom	Vacuum cleaner
Salt and sage would be rubbed onto the teeth to clean off dirt and freshen breath	Toothpaste
Flowers would be added to bowls of water	Washing hands
Wood ash and lime soap	Washing powder
Pomander (clove studded orange)	Air freshener

*        Bleaching fields were enclosed areas outdoors where sheets and linens would be left to naturally dry and bleach in the sun. 

After Sir Thomas Holte’s death…

After Sir Thomas Holte’s death an inventory was taken of all the items in his household and valued at one thousand and sixty one pounds. This was not as much as would have been expected from a grand estate, however Aston Hall had been ransacked after the Civil War. 

Servants in Sir Thomas Holte’s will (1637) provided from Rosie’s research 

Sir Thomas Holte requests that his heir, George Holte “keep his sister Elizabeth Holte, my daughter, with convenient diet and lodging both for her and her woman, until Elizabeth is married.”    

He requests that his funeral is “without worldly pomp but rather with charitable distribution to the poor with bestowing of blackes upon my children and serving men.”

To Mrs Anne Pennant, servant “in consideration of the good service that she hath heretofore done and performed not only to my wife, now deceased, in her lifetime, but also since then unto me…various plots of land.”

Sir Thomas Holte requested his executors raise enough money to build “one convenient Almshouse or hospital of brickworks in the town of Aston for the habitation of ten poor persons, whereof five shall be men and the other five shall be women.” He also left them two shillings a week, money for a new gown every year, a cart of coal every year, and money for sermons from a preacher.

He set aside money for making gardens, orchards, and bleaching grounds.

“I give and bequeath to every one of my household servants…that have dwelt with me for the space of four years at the time of my death one whole years wages; every one of my household servants…that have dwelt with me by the space of two years, one half year’s wages; and if any household servant dwelling with me who has served me for no wages, the trustee should decide how much to give them.” Every servant was also to be given meat, drink and lodgings for three months after he died.

Other servants named in his will:

Edward Mercer, clerk (chaplain): £10

Thomas Birch: £10

Richard Walter (steward): £10 


Research was also conducted into other household items used during the seventeenth century. We discovered several interesting items:

Cups made from cow horn

A block used when teaching children to read

A hair curler

The next activity saw the group split into two teams: the rich and the poor. Rosie held up cards with images of different food items and asked the group to decide which group ate which food.

Food	Eaten by the rich or poor
Tomatoes	Rich – tomatoes were very new to the country during the seventeenth century and were considered a strange food that people didn’t really know how to use. The acid from tomatoes also caused a reaction and stripped some of the lead from the pewter plates.
Sugar	Rich – sugar was extremely expensive during this period and was so precious it was kept locked in cupboards.
Fruit (apples, pear and cherries)	Poor – apples, pears and cherries were easy to grow in England and were in abundance.
Fruit (oranges and apricots)	Rich – they were imported from Spain and therefore an expensive fruit.
Meat	Rich – keeping an animal was an expensive business. The poor might catch some rabbits or hedgehogs.
Vegetables	Poor – vegetables were the main part of a diet for farmers. Rich people would eat vegetables but they were seen as an everyday food and would never be served to guests.
Potatoes	Rich – potatoes only came into the country one hundred years before Aston Hall was built. Sir Walter Raleigh brought them into the country for Queen Elizabeth.
Fish	Rich and Poor – everyone had to eat fish on a Friday in accordance with religious practices.
Honey	Rich and poor
Milk, cheese and eggs	Rich and poor – milk would be less popular with adults.
Cakes and sweets	Rich – sugar was expensive
Tea and coffee	Rich – tea and coffee had not long come into the country.
Water	Very few people – very few would have access to clean water. The only people with access to clean water would be those living by a stream, but the city’s water supply would have been polluted.
Beer	Rich and poor – as there was little clean water, beer would have been the main drink source. Children drank what is known as ‘small beer’, an, almost, non alcoholic beverage.

Ali then recapped some of the information Dr Chris Upton had discussed within his lecture, heard by the group on Inspiration Day. This would make the next activity easier and allow participants to develop some useful questions for interviewing a farming tenant character. The main points about Aston Hall and the Holte estate were:

*        The Holtes had five to six acres of land, however the land wouldn’t all be together, but spread put across Aston.

*        There was a wood settlement in the village

*        The farming tenant would work typically work four days on his land and then two days for the estate owner, in this case Sir Thomas Holte.

Les took on the role of Henry the farming tenant and was interviewed by the group. Henry details the type of work conducted on a seventeenth century family run farm. He rents his land from Sir Thomas Holte and pays his rent in service by working two days a week on Sir Thomas’s land. You can listen to the interview on our SoundCloud, simply click on the recording name: Les as Henry the farming tenant.

Research session on Wednesday 13th March

The session began with a trip to Aston Parish Church to discover more about the seventeenth century and working life. The first monument we discovered was a memorial to a servant from the Holte family.

The memorial from the Holte's to Henry Charles reads as follows: “Near/ To this Place / Lyeth ye Body of / HENRY CHARLES / Servant for the space of 33 Years to / Sr ROBERT HOLTE & Sr CHARLES HOLTE, / of ASTON, Baronets. / He DIED / On the 30^th of January in the / Year 1700 / And in ye 54^th year of his Age, / In Memory / of whose True & Faithfull Service / His Master Sr CHARLES HOLTE / Caused this Momument / To be / Erected.”    



Aston Parish Church exterior




Baptism pool




Church altar




Eagle Lectern




Parish pews




Stained glass windows





The group enjoying the tour



The group reconvened and were asked to create an image of their first job in Aston, drawing on the smells, feelings and images of the workplace for inspiration. A common image was that of the clocking in machine so participants began writing a poem with the beginning of the workday in mind. Other ideas included:

*        The noise of the radio filtering through the speakers from the office.

*        Piecework.

*        Everyone had to stop when the bell sounded for breaks as the factory was not insured for production line accidents during these periods.  

*        If you lived near a factory you would know what time it was from hearing the factory’s bell for different breaks throughout the day.

*        Everybody was paid on a Friday. Wage packets were brown envelopes containing cash.

*        You would put your wage packet in your pocket for security.

*        Most of the images conjure working life in a factory, but we discovered that many of the facts are also applicable to hospital work.          

The Factory Way

Clocking in and out:

Feeding the machine with your work card,

Biting and stamping.

Radio Luxemburg and Caroline

Calmly murmurs its mellow sounds

To the factory floor.

Your mind and your hands were busy,

But talk was limited.

Piecework meant you kept the pace up.

When the hooter sounds for break,

One stops, everyone stops.

Coffee, lunch, tea, home.

Working for Friday paypacket:

Little brown envelopes,

With name, number, payslip, pound, shilling and pence;

Overtime package always a little bit fatter.

Friday payday a happy day,

For some a time to put some by,

For others the money’s already spent.

For Mollie a time to pay back

Before she headed to the pub

For a martini and lemonade.

Research session on Wednesday 6th March

Session summary: The group met with Rosie Barker, a Community Learning Officer at Aston Hall and Birmingham Museums Trust. Dairymaid and housekeeper characters were created and interviewed by participants. Jenni’s research unearthed a poem about an eighteenth century servant that details the amount of pain a working woman was forced to endure.

The group began the session by conducting some research into seventeenth century working life. Rosie provided some key facts regarding servants, specifically those at Aston Hall:

*        Most of the staff at Aston Hall would have been male.

*        The highest male servant would have earned £30 a year and the highest female servant £27.

*        Only some servants would have been paid, the rest would work for bed and board. Servants relied on tips to supplement their income and though seventeenth century life seems extremely harsh in comparison to modern society, the servants would have viewed jobs at houses such as Aston Hall as an achievement and they did have the opportunity to move up the servant hierarchy. 

Rosie also brought some pictures and items to illustrate the realities of seventeenth century working life.   

17th Century wood ash and lime soap

Sheep fat candles

Pewter plate - the pewter will become the same colour as the spoon if cleaned and scrubbed enough.

The group then made a list of the staff positions a house like Aston Hall would have. They listed grooms, dairymaids, ale wives, gentleman servants, yeomen, falconers and gardeners.

Ali asked the group to pick a job from the positions listed to create a character. The occupation of dairymaid was chosen and participants decided she would be fifteen years old and named Mary Field. After learning that individuals could be hired at any age as long as they possessed the physical strength required for the role, participants decided Mary would have been working at Aston Hall since she was twelve and have been hired to work under somebody else. It was also suggested that Mary would have been responsible for making the butter and cheese, feeding the chickens and cleaning all the necessary equipment. Participants concluded that it would have been an extremely physically demanding role.

Rosie advised that Mary may not have done the milking, as a large house like Aston Hall would perhaps not have been able to keep as many cows as needed for the milk supply. The Hall was mainly self sufficient though as the estate could boast a fish pond, orchards, pigs and sheep. It was treats and unusual items such as wine and spices that would have been brought in from other suppliers. Rosie also identified the dairymaid’s working quarters as the courtyard where the café is now located. Mary would therefore not have needed to go up to the Hall itself. It was also suggested that her clothes would be dull and colourless.

Jenni also unearthed some research and discovered that an average servant in 1729 would be paid 6 or 8 pence a day. Jenni also found a poem written by Mary Collier in 1739 entitled ‘The Woman’s Labour.' This interesting poem details the pain and hardship of servant life. It brought to mind the inscription above the fireplace at Aston Hall. Servants definitely had to be “content to take some pain” if they were to succeed at their job.

Laura was then asked to take on the role of Mary the dairymaid and participants were invited to interview Mary. You can listen to the interview on our SoundCloud, simply click on the recording name: Laura as Mary the dairymaid. 

The character interview process was repeated with Rosie taking on the character of Elizabeth the housekeeper. Elizabeth detailed her employment responsibilities, Sir Thomas Holte’s expectations of his staff and working life at Aston Hall. Elizabeth explained how a housekeeper would have hoped to obtain financial security from the Holtes and to be cared for once she retired; however there were no guarantees that this would happen so staff were very much at the mercy of the Holtes. Rumours surrounding the cook’s death and the suicide of a young boy in Dick’s garret were also addressed with Elizabeth stressing her loyalty to Sir Thomas.  

You can listen to the interview on our SoundCloud, simply click on the recording name: Rosie as a seventeenth century housekeeper

Participants then interviewed Rosie and discovered how she became a Community Learning Officer at Aston Hall and Birmingham Museums Trust. She discussed her job role and how she engages the community with Aston Hall.

You can listen to the interview on our SoundCloud, simply click on the recording name: Interview with Rosie Barker, Learning Officer at Aston Hall and Birmingham Museums Trust.