Homes of the poor revisited.

In my blog from yesterday on the homes of the rural poor in Flintshire during the 19th century I should have included the following image from Caerwys. It is exactly what was described in the lecture. The small cottage would have consisted of a room or two and often shared with the animals. The floor was possibly stones slabs, but more likely hard compacted mud.

This cottage was on North Street Caerwys (the remains are still there). Look closely and you can see that the man is on a donkey. This photograph was taken in 1875 by a man called John Thomas. He travelled around Wales capturing this type of scene. One can only assume that conditions in this cottage were fairly primitive, especially during the winter months.