ECHOES FROM RAWDON'S PAST

ECHOES FROM RAWDON’S PAST traces aspects of the town’s history from Anglo-Saxon times to the twentieth century. It discusses the life of the peasantry under the feudal system, the consequences of the Pilgrimage of Grace, the Reformation, the Northern Rebellion in Elizabeth’s reign and also reflects the impact of the Industrial Revolution.Taxes such as the poll tax, the hearth tax, the window tax, the tax on marriages and bachelors and the tithe are all examined.The town’s overlords, three Anglo-Saxon thanes, Robert the Bruce, the Laytons, the Rawdons, and the Emmotts, together with the clergy and a number of ordinary folk are also discussed.The reader is made aware of the provision, not always adequate, for education, apprenticeships and employment. The author also has an appendix on the history of Low Hall from notes collected by Judge Nevin who restored it after World War II.