People of Wateringbury 1650 - 1841

Who were the poor families? Who were the rich? How did the rich control the poor? and how did the poor control the rich? How did they interact? Some families remained poor over the whole period and others remained rich, but some changed their position in the village hierarchy. As families change their position they appear in different types of records and interact with others in different ways. Individual people also change their position in the hierarchy as part of their life cycle from single person to married person to old age. The book deals with different aspects of their lives in a chronological way. Some families can be followed from the beginning of the book in the 1600's to the end in the 1840's but Wateringbury was not an isolated village: it was in the county of Kent, not far from London so it is not surprising that people and families were moving in and out of the village the whole time. The book ends in the 1840's when the railway reached the village and the rate of movement increased.