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it in the North ensured its swift completion. The Crown took all the rights and wealth of the abbeys and then granted the estates to courtiers and nobles or sold them off. At a village level this would mean a new landlord and a worrying future for those who had depended directly upon the monastery for employment or income. It also left a gap in the education system and in the support of the elderly and poor.
The villagers
    The most notable effect of the Black Death was the change in social structure due to the scarcity of labour. There simply were not the numbers of labourers required to work the land, so those who survived began to demand more money and rights, while lords of the manor might try and poach peasants from nearby villages. The tensions which grew between the labouring and ruling classes exploded in the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381, and despite the failure of this rising the continuing shortage in the workforce meant that the following century would see wages rise and peasants able to escape from the humiliation of servitude, which had been one of the rebels’ objectives.

    FIG 3.6 BINHAM PRIORY, NORFOLK: This monastic establishment’s nave, in this view with its later bricked-up west window, was retained for villagers as a parish church while the rest of its buildings fell into disuse .

    FIG 3.7 KERSEY, SUFFOLK: A village which grew rich due to the local cloth trade in this period. A number of large two-storey, timber-framed buildings from the 15th and 16th centuries are testament to the money which could be made (the village gives its name to a distinctive type of cloth) .
    The acquisition of land by ambitious villagers was made possible by changes in tenancy agreements forced on the landlords by the difficulties in attaining workers, and by a decline in the practice of passing down property by inheritance to family members. Rather than working the lord’s land in return for a sustenance living, they could now escape this feudal system and farm their own holdings to try and make a profit. Villagers could also supplement their income by offering their services for seasonal or part-time employment, which could include brick and tile manufacturing, quarrying and mining, iron working, and breeding rabbits. If you owned a cart or plough you could lease them out, while other members of the household could bake bread or brew beer to sell to the slowly increasing numbers of long-distance travellers. Within their own plots they could also grow apple, plum, cherry and pear trees, plant vegetables, peas and beans, and even cut grass for fodder. In some cases these trades became full-time as inns were established and small-scale industries became permanent in certain locations.

    FIG 3.8: A village scene from the end of this period with a large manor house in the background, an extended church in the centre and new houses for a select few to the left. A blacksmith’s workshop on the right is a recent addition as some trades become full-time rather than being seasonal or combined with farming duties .

    FIG 3.9 EXEMPLAR VILLAGE c1500: Our imaginary village is showing signs of decline. The owner of the house being erected in the previous view has taken over the two plots next to him as they were deserted by their owners, and he has removed the buildings and turned the land over to crops. The market which was held on the green to the left was short-lived, and this grassy patch is only used by peasants to graze livestock. The manor house and church have been enlarged, mainly due to profits the lord has made from sheep farming, the previously open fields on the hill in the distance are now enclosed with hedges for his flocks .
    By the 16th century the regional split of the previous period between the open arable fields of the lowland areas and the highland enclosed pastures was becoming more fragmented as selected villages in all parts changed the way they farmed. The appearance of settlements was also developing, with gaps