Victorian Britain - Country Life

1. Farming went through a great change in Victorian times.

2. Farms grew larger and began to use new machines in order to supply the food needed by the growing population.

3. Steam power was introduced and wooden implements gave way to ones made from iron.

4. Mechanisation, the use of the steam engine, reduced the number of labourers farmers needed.

5. Science was used to help improve Victorian farming, with fertilisers being introduced and best types of animals being studied.

6. The growth of the railways meant that the food produced could be transported to more areas of the country.

7. Victorian farmers ranged from those who were rich to those who earned only a meagre living.

8. Many were tenant farmers who paid rent to a landlord.

9. A typical Victorian village was small and comprised of a few streets, shops, houses, a school and a church.

10. Some villages had inns, some mills and some businesses.

11. The Victorians villages were surrounded by fields, a few farms and maybe the estate of a wealthy landowner.

12. The village shop would stock the basic things that the villagers needed, as people rarely travelled.

13. Village people worked hard as farm workers, labourers or craftsmen, like the blacksmith or the wheelwright

14. Country children worked in the fields picking up stones or scaring birds in all weathers

15. Many Victorian country people were poor

16. Poor homes in the country were very basic being small, old and dark

17. They comprised of one or two rooms in which everyone lived

18. The family would cook, eat and work in the room and the hearth was the centre of the home

19. Around the 1850’s some landowners began to improve the conditions their workers lived in and built them new cottages

20. The poor could not afford much food, but survived on bread, vegetables, cheese, dripping and a little meat

21. The rich had many rooms in their homes and servants to do the work for them

22. Victorian country landowners liked shooting, picnics and garden parties

23. Events for the poor might take place on the village green

24. Railways brought change for Victorian villages that had previously been cut off from each other

25. They brought goods to the countryside and letters, parcels and newspapers which travelled much faster.