In medieval times all the land belonged to the King.

He kept some of the land himself, the rest he let out to is Tenants in Chief.
Some of his tenants were noblemen who contracted to fight for the king
Others were Churchmen (Bishops and Abbots) who sometimes fought for the King but always prayed for him.

Lord€s, barons and knights loved to hunt.  Hunting was not only a pastime it provided food for the table and it kept the skills of squires and young knights sharp - ready to go into service with their lord. Bishops and priors also loved to hunt.

In 1256 King Henry 111 gave the Prior of St. Mary€s Worcester the Right of Free Warren on his estates in Lindridge.  This meant that he could legally hunt for game on his land.

Manors in the Teme Valley were really just small hamlets scattered around the cleared countryside.. Typically they included:
A manor house with buildings
The Home Farm or Demense with barns
A Church
A Mill
The smaller houses of the farming tenants
Cottages for villeins, borders and cotters.
The Bread oven

Click to discover who lived on the manor

Peasant lived in simple houses made of wood.
Before the 14th century bricks were rarely used, Timber framework filled with plaster held together with woven twigs, or clay in which staw had been kneaded formed thestructure.  Roofs were thatched and floors made of earth.  A ladder or rough staircase led to upper rooms, if any, under the thatch.

Peasants houses did not even have a chimney.  Blazing logs would give light after dark, very few people would have afforded the oil and fat needed to make candles.
Peasants were allowed to gather timber and sticks for firewood from their lords woodlands but if they were caught poaching they were severely punished.

People lived close to their animals and kept each other warm.

Farming was hard work, everything had to done by hand. Ploughing, harrowing, harvesting, carting, thatching, ditiching and many other tasks around is lord€s estate.  Seed was scattered by hand and weeding, a never ending task, was back breaking and often meant working on hands and knees.  Even the plough which was pulled by up to 8 oxen had to be quided by hand.  This meant that the ploughman would have had to walk behind the plough and someone else would have had to guide the animals. People worked all day, everyday in the fields - except on Sundays and Holy Days.

Peasants had to feed themselves and their families
As well as working on the lord€s land everybody had to grow enough food to feed themselves and their families.   Wheat, oats, barley, peas and beans would be grown on their strips of land in the common fields, they might have a few sheep and cows and keep pigs in pigs sties.
Eggs, cheese and butter were all important and often it would be the job of the lady of the family to feed the hens and make the butter and cheese

The village Priest was unlikely to be a learned man, he tended his crops in the fields like everyone else.  He was assured a good standard of life:

Do you know the Seven Deadly Sins?  You would if you had lived in Arthur's time - he did and so did nearly everybody else!  Most children did not go to school but they did go to church. Everyone was a Christian and it was the priest's job to make sure that everyone knew about their faith.  Click to find out more..

When the first stone churches were built in Norman times (early 12th century) they were often short rather dumpy buildings.  The walls were thick and needed flat buttresses to strengthen them up.  Roofs were thatched and inside the earth floor would have been covered with rushes.  They must have been dark, rather airless buildings.  Click for more

Click to take a look at this information sheet. Information about windows.pdf.
Cut out the windows and stick them on the windows timeline.