13. The Life of the People

The early records of Sutton are few, and what we have deal with the owners. We hear of men buying and selling land, of them receiving rent or bequeathing land to their heirs. We hear nothing at all of the ordinary people. From other village records however, we can gain a fairly accurate picture of what life would be like for these people.

The occupations of the people were, of course pastoral. They would each have a share in strips of the common fields. From these, all their simple needs of clothing, food and implements would be supplied by their own labour. It would be a hard life to make a small piece of land yield enough to keep a family.

Every member of the family would perform some task. The little boy would help his father to plough. When he was older, he would learn to plough and take his share in all the work.

There would probably be less than a hundred people living in Sutton. Except for the chief man and his family, they would all live in a collection of small huts. These would be gathered together on the sides of the streams where the present cottages now stand. The homes were small, unventilated and ill-lighted. There was one room only, and all the household duties were carried on there. Besides the family the pig and fowls which the man possessed, if fortunate, lived in the same room. The fire was in the middle, and the smoke had to find its way out as best if could, for chimneys were quite unknown. It is interesting to note that the first mention we have of a chimney in Craven is at Gargrave in the year 1350.