Shrewsbury’s High Street in Tudor times; some of the half-timbered houses survive today the promise of an affluent lifestyle, though the increased population also brought with it the classic problems of overcrowding; disease, squalor, poor sanitation and increased crime While the market towns represented a large step in the country’s economic progress, its apex lay with the country’s major ports In the early 1500s, almost half of England‘s wool, and most of its cloth, passed through London’s docks, shipped to the Low Countries where an abundance of cloth-finishing industries would refine it before it Tudor education Though affected by the volatile religious climate, the Tudor era saw huge steps taken in the provision of education to the common citizen Access to education, although intended more for boys than girls, was much more available in Tudor times than it had been during previous periods Villages and small towns often had a local parish school where children could be taught to read and write (using hornbooks that featured the alphabet or the Lord’s Prayer), while the sons of the middle and upper classes were able to attend, for a fee, ‘Petty’ (for children aged four to seven) and grammar schools, and perhaps go on to attend university at Oxford or Cambridge Schools opened six days a week, often from 7am until 5pm, and taught returned to England to be sold for a higher price The relocation of the navy from Portsmouth to the capital saw an explosion in shipbuilding, along with the associated suppliers and trades Larger ships were built and trade beyond the traditional trading partners of Western Europe became possible, increasing the flow of money into the city By 1603, England’s international reputation as a major cultural, industrial and economic power was well established; a reputation only made possible by the combined efforts of its people a range of subjects including Latin, Greek, religious doctrine and arithmetic The daughters of middle and upper class families usually received private tuition, while the majority of lower-class girls had a more practical education at home, teaching them skills that would aid them in running a household once they married Any scholarly education they received would likely have been passed on to them by their parents or male siblings Education suffered during Henry VIII’s closure of the monasteries and the schools that were often attached to them, but realising the value of an educated populace, Henry refounded many of the closed schools as ‘King’s Schools’ Accessible education received another boost during Edward VI’s reign with the founding of free grammar schools, raising the standard of learning available to those who had previously found the fees required to send their sons to school too prohibitive © DK images, Alamy Shrewsbury’s markets led to local complaints at the wear and tear on nearby roads caused by the everincreasing number of visiting market-goers Town residents made their livings by opening shops that sold goods from the ground-floor windows of their houses, while inns provided bed and board to those that had travelled from afar, as well as a place to relax, socialise and conduct business meetings Entertainment became important, with the popularity of plays held in the street leading to the construction of the first purpose-built theatre in London in 1576 and heralding an era where attending performances would become a popular pastime for rich and poor alike The rural crook house evolved further in the towns and cities into the iconic ‘half-timbered’ Tudor houses The box frames allowed construction of two or three storeys, vastly increasing the available living space for the families living within – a desirable feature in the cramped urban streets where ground-floor space was limited and costly Better-quality furnishings were more apparent, with four-poster beds becoming as much a status symbol as a comfortable place to sleep Thatching was replaced by clay or stone tiles, which in cities lowered the risk of widespread damage in the event of fire; glass windows, though expensive, became more popular as the period wore on The towns and cities were busy, noisy, thriving places, drawing people from rural communities and abroad with 119