The Poor in Tudor Times

1. Describe the window in a poor person’s house.

2. What furniture might a poor person have had?

3. What were the walls made from?

4. What was the cheapest wooden frame called?

5. How many frames were needed for each house?

6. What was wattle and daub?

7. Why did the poor often share their homes with their animals?

8. Why were the houses often filled with smoke?

9. What was a midden?

10. What did Henry VIII do to help poor people?

11. Give the two ways that farm labourers were paid.

12. What could you do to supplement living off your land?

13. What was pottage?

14. Describe the bread. How does this differ from bread today?

15. Why do you think the death rate was so high?

16. Why do you think Tudors got up with the sun and went to bed with the sunset?

17. What do you think the benefit of children helping their parents would have been?

18. What would a poor person have worn on a cold day?

19. How big was a football pitch?

20. How do you think the poor Tudors felt about animals?

21. Why did many labourers loose their jobs when wool became important?

22. Give a modern synonym for vagrant.

23. What do you think is meant by ‘the dispossessed poor were forced to wander through the country'?

24. What were the punishments for stealing? How do you think these punishments compare with today?

25. How do you think the rich people felt about being taxed to support the poor?

Created by Val Scott and Rona Dixon - Contributed to Teaching Ideas (www.teachingideas.co.uk)