New Hall's History

Life in a Tudor gentry house would have been quite luxurious by the standards of the time. The gentry were a social class just below the nobility and they were wealthy landowners who enjoyed a high social status. In a Tudor gentry house, you would have found spacious and comfortable living quarters, with large fireplaces to keep the rooms warm in the winter months. 

The house would have been furnished with luxurious items such as tapestries, fine china, and ornate furniture. The gentry would have employed servants to take care of their daily needs, such as cooking, cleaning, and tending to the gardens.

In addition to the comfortable living quarters, a Tudor gentry house would have had a great hall where the family could entertain guests and hold feasts. The house would also have had a chapel for religious services, as well as a library for reading and study.

Life in a Tudor gentry house was very different from the lives of the common people, who were often poor and lived in much more basic conditions. The gentry enjoyed a privileged lifestyle and were able to afford the best food, clothing, and other material possessions. However, life in a Tudor gentry house was not without its challenges. The gentry were expected to maintain a certain social status and adhere to strict codes of conduct, which could be stressful at times.

What meals would have been served in a tudor Gentry house?

Meals in a Tudor gentry house would have been quite elaborate, with a variety of dishes served at each meal. The gentry were able to afford the best ingredients, so the food would have been of high quality.

Breakfast  For centuries the daily routine of mediaeval monastic life had shaped when people ate. Breakfast would have been eaten shortly after rising, but not before those who could had attended morning Mass. With work to be done in the fields and livestock to look after, farmers and country folk would not have had the time for such services, but pious townsfolk, the gentry and their servants often did attend chapel daily.

It is thought the word 'breakfast' entered the language in mediaeval England and meant 'to break the night's fast'. Breakfast was a small, simple meal generally consisting of cold foods as the cook fires were just being lit as the household was rising. Leftovers, eggs, butter, bread and small beer commonly formed breakfast.

Dinner  Church services aside, daily life was governed by daylight. The entire Tudor day was structured differently with most people getting up much earlier and going to bed much earlier than today. Ordinary working men and women most likely rose at dawn to maximise the available daylight. By midday labourers would be hungry after toiling in the fields from daybreak. They would take a short break to eat what was known as a 'beever' or 'noonshine' usually consisting of bread and cheese. The farmer would either have his food brought to him as he worked in the field or he would have taken it with him in a bag. A Tudor craftsman would close his shop and go upstairs to his lodgings, where his wife would have the meal waiting for him, his labourers and apprentices.

Since breakfast was eaten relatively early, those who did not rise early did not eat it. Unless traveling or hunting, the nobility generally dispensed with breakfast in favour of a hearty mid-day meal. Thus nobles, gentlemen and merchants would sit down for their main meal, commonly called dinner, around eleven or twelve o’clock. For the Tudor nobility and gentry, dinner could be the beginning of a round of feasting that might last all day, or it could be a simple and unpretentious repast, depending upon the occasion and the temperament of the diner.

Dinner in a large household might consist of two, or possibly three, courses typically consisting of several different dishes. Unlike today where all diners expect to get a portion of everything, not every dish would be within reach of every Tudor diner. Instead guests were expected to select the things they liked best from the nearest 'messe', a set of dishes usually containing several bite-sized portions to be shared between 2 to 4 people.

Slow cooked soups and pottages, usually made from beef, oatmeal and peas, were served first accompanied by bread. Boiled and roasted meats and pies formed the second course. After the meal, diners in the early Tudor period would have stood and drunk sweet wine and spices while the table was cleared, or 'voided'. To escape the noise and disturbance of clearing away, it became increasingly popular for the top table to withdraw to another room where special luxuries, or banquettes, could be enjoyed. Today we think of banquets as a full meal, but when banqueting became fashionable in Elizabeth I's reign, the word applied only to a final course of fruit, cakes, biscuits and sticky preserves, all of which featured sugar in varying degrees.

Supper  The final meal, eaten at the end of the working day (between 5 and 8 pm), would be supper. For the common man, this would often be the most elaborate of the day, though 'elaborate' is an inappropriate adjective for the peasant's daily fare. However, unlike dinner, which would often be eaten in the fields, the evening meal would be eaten at home at the common table.

You are what you eat  The fare eaten at Tudor meals would vary greatly depending upon the wealth and rank of the diners. The gentry and wealthy townspeople dined upon the more expensive 'brown meats' such as beef, venison, mutton and pork. Although farmers raised the livestock that would become the beef, pork and other expensive meats, they were unlikely to keep much for personal consumption. Put simply, more money could be made from selling meat to their wealthier patrons.

Consequently, common folk generally ate 'white meats', which contained precious little meat and consisted primarily of such things as milk, cheese, butter, eggs, breads and pottages (soups). This fare might occasionally be supplemented with locally caught fish, rabbits or birds. The poaching larger game in the forest was still punishable by death, however.

Most meats were prepared by 'seething' (boiling). Since there was no refrigeration to keep food from going bad, meat and fish was generally eaten fairly soon after slaughtering or catching. Game meats might be aged for a few days or weeks to tenderise them, however. Smoking, salting or pickling were common practices to preserve food.

Social dining  All social classes loved to feast. For the common man and woman, feasting was reserved for holidays or weddings, while for the rich every meal could be a feast. Such meals would generally consist of two ‘courses’, the first being what we would today call appetizers. For the second course, in ‘The English Housewife’, Gervaise Markham includes two pages worth of dishes. First are the ‘grand sallat’ (salad), the green sallat, the boiled sallat and smaller compound sallats, which are followed by ‘fricassees’, ‘boiled meats’, ‘roast meats’, ‘cold baked meats’ and ‘carbonadoes’. This elaborate menu is clearly a feast fit for a wealthy man. For a more humble meal which ‘any goodman may keep in his family for the entertainment of his true and worthy friends...’, Markham recommends only sixteen dishes:

...first, a shield of brawn (pressed pork) with mustard; secondly, a boiled capon; thirdly, a boiled piece of beef; fourthly, a chine of beef roasted; fifthly, a neat's tongue roasted; sixthly, a pig roasted; seventhly, chewets baked; eighthly, a goose roasted; ninthly, a swan roasted; tenthly, a turkey roasted; the eleventh, a haunch of venison roasted; the twelfth, a pasty of venison; the thirteenth, a kid with a pudding in the belly; the fourteenth, an olive pie; the fifteenth, a couple of capons; the sixteenth, a custard.

Markham then advises the addition of sallats, quelquechoses (inventive sweets), fricassees and so on making perhaps ‘no less than two and thirty dishes’. Such a quantity of food was clearly intended for a special occasion, perhaps a wedding or Christmas feast. For their daily meal Tudor diners would have to be content with somewhat fewer of the delicacies listed above.

Dining was one of the Tudors' principal amusements. So, even when there was no special occasion, all social classes would put as much food on the table, in as many varieties, as they could afford. For the rich man, this might mean numerous dishes, some elaborately decorated and intended entirely for show, served according to an elaborate ritual by household servants. For the common huswif (housewife), this meant a daily challenge of trying to make the same old stuff seem new and different. All but the very poor, however, would bring to the table more than they could eat. This meant that the leftovers, or 'broken meats', particularly in wealthier homes, would feed the household servants or, by giving 'alms to the poor', keep the destitute of the realm from starving to death.

This food section was sourced from this website

The Demographics in the time of New Hall

• 1470: England had a population of about 2.5 million people. The majority of the population lived in rural areas, with a small percentage living in towns and cities. The population was relatively young, with a high fertility rate and a relatively low life expectancy.
• 1500: England's population had grown to about 3 million people. The population was still primarily rural, but the number of people living in towns and cities was increasing. The growth of the population was fueled by improvements in agriculture and the expansion of trade and industry.
• 1540: England's population had grown to about 3.5 million people. The population was still mostly rural, but the number of people living in towns and cities had increased significantly. The growth of the population was fueled by improvements in agriculture and the expansion of trade and industry.
• 1600: England's population had grown to about 4 million people. The population was still mostly rural, but the number of people living in towns and cities had continued to increase. The growth of the population was fueled by improvements in agriculture and the expansion of trade and industry.

It's important to note that these numbers are rough estimates and that the actual demographics of England during this time period would have varied depending on a variety of factors, including location, social class, and occupation. 

How would the gardens have looked?

Tudor-style houses often have formal gardens that are designed to complement the architecture of the house, with features such as topiary, rose beds, and fountain features. These gardens are often designed to be enjoyed from the inside of the house as well as from the outside, and may include outdoor seating areas or terraces.