Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

industry and ability which idleness had hitherto concealed.’ 11
Most parishes hereabouts
did not have their own workhouse, but from the 1830s the various union workhouses
dealt with the poor of this zone. 12
No doubt Rev. Heath’s observations regarding limited work opportunities locally
also applied to neighbouring villages. Perhaps some inhabitants migrated to Zone D, the
Needle District, where opportunities were greater, before returning to their home parish
in old age.
For most of the study period this zone was home to a slightly larger variety of
occupations than Zone B, but not as many as in the market town or the Needle District.
Parishes differed in their occupational structure according to size and function. Aston
Cantlow and Inkberrow had more occupations than many of their smaller neighbours, but
Inkberrow had much less variety than its similarly sized near neighbour, Feckenham.
This zone had more male occupations in probate in Period D than in Period C, the
increases in Arrow, Inkberrow and Temple Grafton being particularly noticeable. 13
As
noted in Zone B, the parishes with more occupations often also have greater population
densities, as their economy is less dependent on the land itself. 14
In Stuart times the
parishes in this wood-pasture zone were perhaps similar to Skipp’s settlements with
several non-agricultural by-employments, but none dominating. 15
Although this zone
11 Eden, The State of the Poor, pp. 806-7, (http://find.galegroup.com/ecco, 3.30 p.m., 22 Feb. 2010). This
source also reveals that Inkberrow had a Friendly Society for men which had started in 1791.
12 Appendix 1, the parish gazetteer, shows to which poor law union each parish belonged.
13 See Table 8.11 in Chapter 8. The increase could be because the number of males with known
occupations in probate increased from Period C to Period D. However, occupations in probate which
appear in Period D and not in Period C include many which probably reflect real growth: e.g. mason,
surgeon, shopkeeper, dealer. Skinner and tanner are noteworthy amongst those which disappeared in
probate after 1800.
14 See Appendix 24.
15 V. Skipp, Crisis and Development: an ecological case study of the Forest of Arden 1570-1674,
(Cambridge, CUP, 1978).
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