The English Rural Poor, 1850-1914 Vol 5 by Mark Freeman

Author:Mark Freeman [Freeman, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General
ISBN: 9781000559668
Google: gBhREAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2021-12-16T02:48:43+00:00

A ROW OF HOVELS.

But I saw even worse than these a short distance further off from the gates of the stately home—a row of ancient hovels bulging out above as if about to topple over. The occupant of one invited me to enter the living room and kitchen combined. I could just stand up in it without my head touching the ceiling, but could scarcely turn round in the low, dark, narrow den, inferior to a Kaffir Hut. In one comer there was a door opening on to the grand staircase leading to a crib above—the bedroom. In this hovel an artisan and his wife live, not from choice, but of necessity, there being nothing better to be had.

The " kennels" is the local designation for these stately homes, but as I passed out I met the proprietress of one who queried ironically: " Been looking at our manors? " They are not owned by the Marquis of Salisbury, but by a wealthy tenant of his, who farms about 600 acres. There is not a single open space belonging to the people, the commons and the greens having been stolon long ago, though the tradition remains of their existence. The Marquis doles cut a few cottages, some are called the " rabbit hutches," to the favoured, but others are compelled to live in noisome hovels, denied even the opportunity for decency; and where consequently, as I afterwards learnt consumption claims its: victims; the young couples are unable to marry, and sometimes as many as three families live in a cottage barely large enough for one. So it will be recognised that there is a housing problem in Hatfield, and now we may profitably go and see the reason why.

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