What would life have been like for the families living in these houses, their servants and their tenants, 300 years or so ago? Fortunately a few inventories of household furnishings, livestock holdings, crops and farming implements survive from around this time and give us some indication of the way people lived. Such inventories were only made for the better off and however meagre the lists seem to us today, poorer folk would be living in much worse conditions with even fewer possessions. The following is an inventory of “all the goods belonging to Hugh
Rhodes in Dilworth” drawn up in 1727.
| £ | s | ||
| Item | Two cows and one stirk | 7 | 00 |
| Item | One mare | 3 | 00 |
| Item | In corn | 1 | 10 |
| Item | In hay | 2 | 5 |
| Item | One pack saddle and other things belonging to husbandry |
5 | |
| Item | One fire iron gridiron and odd things by the fire |
2 | |
| Item | One clock and table and chairs and other odd things in the house |
2 | 00 |
| Item | One bed and one chest upstairs | 1 | 00 |
| Item | House brass and pewter in the buttery | 5 | |
| Item | One chaff bed one chest and boxes | 15 | |
| Item | The deceased apparel | 1 | 10 |
| Item | In money | 15 | 00 |
| 34 | 12 |
Hugh Rhodes, probably a member of the family of millers, is listed as a Churchwarden in the Ribchester Parish Records in 1699 and was therefore a leading member of the community. Could his house have been in Dilworth Bottoms where the cottages were once known as Rodds Tenement?
Households had to be largely self sufficient, growing oats the staple grain, barley and a little wheat, fruit and vegetables as well as keeping animals and poultry. Clothes were made from the wool and linen produced, spun and woven at home. Heating of houses was by wood and peat - coal was scarce and expensive. Lighting was by candles or rush lights. Travel was by horse and transport by pack horse or cart.
For everyone there were recurring plagues and famine in times of bad weather. Death came early to many, the main killers being scarlet fever, typhus, typhoid and diphtheria. It was a cruel age with public hangings, savage sports, child labour and transportation.
In 1715 the local Catholic landlords and tenants took a very active part in supporting the Scottish Catholic Stuart, James’s claim to the throne, but they were defeated and suffered bitterly. A barracks was built on Jeffrey Hill near Chaigley and from it government forces hunted local Catholic supporters from their homes. Those caught could be tried and executed.
Two executions are recorded in the parish registers -
“October 3rd 1716 Jon Winckley de Alston executed for treason
Tho. Shuttleworth de Alston executed for treason in Ch”
Could these executions have taken place in Gallows Lane?