Categories
Make a Clean Sweep with this Broom Making Activity!
Let’s find out what it is like to sweep with your broom made of twigs. Practice sweeping outside in the dirt or on the sidewalk or driveway.
The Humble Broom
Chances are, if you give someone a broom, they are going to want to sweep with it! What better way to rid floors of dust, crumbs and debris?
Herbs Underfoot
Herbs were a big part of the spring cleaning routine. They were used in soaps for washing linens. Herbs were also an important component of perfumes, which were used to make people and clothing smell better.
Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite: Getting Rid of Vermin
Getting rid of bugs is a topic that comes up quite a few times in housekeeping manuals during this time. Most people lived on farms. Even city dwellers would often have a few animals.
Food and Medicine: The Kitchen and Herb Gardens
When most people think of the gardens at Agecroft Hall, they think of the tulips in the Sunken Gardens and exotic plants in the Tradescant garden. But when Agecroft was a manor in England, there also would have been gardens that provided food and herbs for medicine.
Meaning and Celebration of Lent and Eastertide Part 1: Lenten Traditions
The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, or Easter, is the holiest day of the Christian liturgical year.
Meaning and Celebration of Lent and Eastertide Part 2: Holy Week and Easter
Holy Week during Eastertide constitutes the week beginning on Palm Sunday and culminating in Easter Sunday.
Agecroft's Tiffany Clock
One of the many benefits of our self-guided tours is the ability for guests to spend more time in rooms and with our objects that interest them most. As our tour path has changed, some objects that have not been easily viewed now are, including one at the back of the Williams Library.
Tudor Fashionista: A Portrait of William Dauntesey
Why do we know more about the history and lives of the “rich and famous” than we do about commoners?
Dressing the Tudors: A Video Tour of Putting on Clothes
Now that we know what the Tudors were wearing, what do we know about how they got dressed?
Lower Class: How Did Farmer's Dress?
Farmers and other agricultural workers during this period probably didn’t have too many spare sets of clothes, if they had any spare sets at all.
Social Class and Clothing
During the Tudor period in England, which lasted from 1485 to 1603 and saw the reigns of three kings and two queens, clothes provided their wearers with a changeable skin that could be used to mark a range of different identities.
Middle Class: How Did Merchants and Artisans Dress?
Middle class men and women would have dressed noticeably different from the lower class farmers, shepherds, and other agricultural labors.
The Seamstress at Work: Tools of the Trade
There were a number of items that a woman or seamstress needed to keep in her sewing box.
All Sewn Up: Clothing Stitching and Repairs
Clothing for Tudors at all levels of society was extremely expensive. We can compare it to buying a car today! The largest amount of a Tudor’s income was spent on clothing.
"Cast off Cloaths": The Secondhand Clothing Industry in Early Modern England
Beginning in the Middle Ages, the business of selling secondhand clothing became an important trade in England. Clothing was an important marker of social status.
Sumptuary Laws
Between the 1100s and 1700s the English government passed a number of different laws restricting what different groups of people were allowed to wear.
Upper Class: How Did Kings & Queens Dress?
Now that we have seen how the lower classes and middle classes dressed, what about those at the very top of Tudor England's social ladder?
Milliners and Mantua Makers: Making Women's Clothing and Accessories
During the 17th century, milliners and mantua makers were increasingly recognized as important fashion professionals. Milliners make hats and other accessories for women, and mantua makers made dresses.
Sew a Tudor Coif: Intermediate Level Project
How to Make an Elizabethan/17th Century Coif