Men at work
Subtitle: labourers and building craftsmen in the towns of Northern England, 1450-1750
By: Donald Woodward.
Series: Cambridge studies in population, economy, and society in past time ;; 26
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Cambridge [England]; New York, NY, USA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 315
Subjects: Building trades -- England, Northern -- Employees -- History.; Construction workers -- England, Northern -- History.; Building trades -- England, Northern -- History.; Construction industry -- England, Northern -- History.; Wages -- Building trades -- England, Northern -- History.; Wages -- Construction workers -- England, Northern -- History.; Cost and standard of living -- England, Northern -- History.; Cities and towns -- England, Northern -- History.; England, Northern -- Economic conditions.; England, Northern -- Social conditions.; England, Northern -- Population -- History.
Description: This study redresses the north and south imbalance of much work on economic and social history by focusing on the lives and economic impact of the building trade in the early-modern period in the context of the change from rural economy to the eve of industrialisation.

The period 1450-1750 witnessed substantial changes in England: in the size of national population; the range of industry practised; the commodity structure and patterns of overseas trade; in agricultural techniques; and in the proportion of population tied to the soil. The evidence analysed in this book uses the nature of building and labouring work to consider the variations in wages and living standards allied to studies of individual towns.

Using many hitherto unworked sources from local archives, the author addresses conditions of work in the building trades, levels of remuneration, the characteristics of the life-cycles of male and female workers, gender differences in work, and relationships with employers - at times running counter to the prevailing orthodoxies.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 288-304) and index.