straw. They were generally of one story, the sleeping apartment being mostly a separate room on the ground floor. Both compartments were open to the roof, and but ill-supplied with light or air. Several dwellings of this description were remaining in Holebottom, Oldham, as late as the last century; and there are still a few examples of habitations which closely approximate in their main features to the cottages in the reign of Elizabeth. A few of the latter class of dwellings, slightly improved in some respects, are still existing at Copsterhill, near Oldham, and Hunt-lane, Chadderton.

The sustenance of the people to the time of the Reformation was chiefly oaten bread, animal food, and milk; but in the reign of Henry the Eighth the poor as well as the rich began to make use of fruits and vegetables. Oaten bread was then in general use amongst all classes of the inhabitants of the parish, and it is by no means banished at the present day. Not long before this period, beds were formed chiefly of straw, spread on rough mats, covered with a single coverlet, and a log of wood to serve for a bolster or pillow. The domestic utensils and vessels were principally of wood, few platters being of pewter, or spoons of tin; and yet, notwithstanding these plain habits, the farmers were "scarcely able to live and pay their rents at the usual periods, without the selling of a cow or a horse, or more, although they paid but four pounds at the uttermost by the year." In the reign of Elizabeth, however, " by the increase of trade, the better sort of farmers and manufacturers begun to have store of tapestry, Turkey work, pewter, brass, fine linen, and costly cupboards of plate." A penny a night was then the usual charge paid by travellers for lodging at inns. Wlhen the comparative value of money is considered, this charge was somewhere near the same in amount as that which is now paid by travellers for similar accommodation at respectable inns.

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