In Walter Skirlaw’s time, Skirlaugh was a small agricultural village within the village of Swine, split by the Lambwath stream (The Beck). North Skirlaugh was part of the Rise Estate which at that time was owned by the Nevilles (later the Bethels) and Rowton (the Fauconbergs). The Lords of the Manor for South Skirlaugh at that time were Swine Priory, Thornton Abbey (in Lincs) and the Wyton family.
Hit hard by the Black Death, like everywhere else, Skirlaugh in the mid-1300s would have been focused on the production of food in a time of bad weather and poor harvests.
The layout of a typical medieval village in Holderness consisted of a cluster of tofts – the site of a home and its outbuildings. Behind each toft were the crofts which were small enclosures which could be used for gardens, orchards or to pen in animals.
Many of the crofts ran back from the house as far as the edge of the open fields where there were often walls or ditches to prevent the animals straying.
The land surrounding the village belonging to the Lord of the Manor and was divided into three main divisions, arable, meadow and pasture. Most Medieval manor estates used the three field method of farming, There were two great fields around the village settlement which were used for crops. Wheat, barley, beans and oats were grown in one field, with the other one being left fallow and used as pasture for grazing animals.
Trades and employment
We know very little about individual lives in Skirlaugh in the Middle Ages, but we do know that villages like this were largely agricultural, focused on the production of food and wool.
As well as those who worked directly on the land (which at busy times like harvest would be almost everyone!), there would be the crafts and trades which supported them. These would include carters, blacksmiths, millers and people who could make specialist tools like Walter’s father.
According to a later tradition, Walter’s father was a sieve maker. This was a specialist craft, most likely related to willow weaving, but possibly incorporating metal working. Sieves were essential farming tools for removing stones and other unwanted material from grain.
As a skilled craftsman, Walter’s father would have had some status within the very broad category of ‘peasant’, which encompassed everyone who was not clergy or nobility/gentry.
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Everyday life
Life in mediaeval Skirlaugh would have centred on the village, with most people working at home or on the land.
People produced much of what they needed themselves, with women spinning thread every day to weave cloth that they would then stitch into garments or textiles for home use.
Rarer foodstuffs, or more specialist items, would be bought at markets in towns, or from itinerant pedlars who walked from village to village with large packs filled with everything from ribbons to pins to spices.
Survival relied heavily on cooperative effort in a community like Skirlaugh. At key points in the farming calendar, like harvest, everyone had to pitch in to ensure the wellbeing of the whole community in the year ahead.
The gap between survival and starvation could be very small, but life also had plenty of opportunities for merry-making, sports and celebrations. Many of these were related to holy days (the original ‘holidays’) in which normal work was suspended for feasting or fun.
Harvest was a community effort, often accompanied by celebrations once the harvest was safely gathered.
You can read more about medieval villages on this page about Wharram Percy. It may Inspire you to visit, and experience it for yourself.