Before the industrial revolution society was largely a ‘feudal’ system, and comprised of two class structures; the lower class or peasants and the upper class or gentry. Society was based around agriculture, farming and the cottage industries (e.g. quilt making), centred around small parishes in rural regions. Most people lived in the countryside in villages and there were few towns and cities. The gentry owned the land and employed the peasants to work and farm the land. These working class peasants’ lives usually revolved around the seasons, with heavy workloads occurring at certain times of the year; like at harvest time. There were very few periods of rest or holidays and time for recreation often only fell on Saints’ days. Life was very harsh in these times as pay was irregular; society was violent and much less civilised than it is today. There was widespread illiteracy throughout the lower classes due to limited education.
Feudal System
Feudal system is the term used to describe how society was made up of two classes; the upper class gentry and the lower class peasants. The term ‘Feudal’ originates from the time when peasants would be given land to live on or farm in exchange for promising to fight for the gentry should the situation arise.
Cottage Industries
Cottage industries is the term used to describe when people work from home often manufacturing articles from raw materials to be sold at market towns as a means to earn extra money. Quilt and lace making are examples of cottage industries.
Popular Recreation
Popular recreation is a term used to classify sport and leisure activities that were common among people of Britain before the Industrial Revolution.
In the 1800's, popular recreations would often follow the agricultural and religious calendars. Land was used for crops and post-harvest provided a natural space to play; a period of free time would follow the months of labour. The majority of the peasants worked for long hours and had limited time to pursue leisure activities. Other annual holidays would include religious dates such as Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday when ‘mob games’ would take place.
These activities are often referred to as ’mob games’ because they were played by large, ‘mob’ like crowds and were unorganised, the games would often involve everyone in a village and it was very difficult to distinguish between the participants and the spectators. Spectators would often join in if the ball came close to them, for example in Royal Shrovetide Football, the Uppers from the village played against the Lowers. Mob games were force rather than skill based and reflected the violent nature of society in these times. They were habitually fuelled by alcohol and resulted in many injuries, even death, so it is unsurprising that mob games were only played by lower class males as a way to show their virility and manliness.
The lack of free time among the lower class meant popular recreations were occasional, occurring on holy days; but became a huge form of entertainment for people allowing them a catharsis to let off steam. It also provided wagering opportunities, and in some cases, received upper class patronage.
Compared to our modern definition of sport these popular recreations were extremely unstructured, not only in the numbers involved and the distinction between player and spectator, but also in terms of boundaries. Being a rural society, boundaries could range from a river bank to the natural edge of the village signified by a row of trees thus using the entire village as a playing area. There would not be a time limit to these events, often lasting all day ending with the loss of natural day light. As the lower classes played these games, equipment had to be low cost and could often be something natural and easily available such as the bladder of a pig to serve as a ball.
These games reflected society in other ways; the limited education and illiteracy meant that the rules had to be basic and easy to understand. Those who played them could not read or write, which meant that there was no way to formally record the rules and the games became un-coded. For this reason and the lack of transport available to the lower classes, popular recreations became localised with variations between villages.
There were a limited number of days in the year where peasants didn't have to work, far fewer than the full weekends, bank holidays and holidays that there are today. A common event in the pre-industrial calendar would be a festival, fair or wake. Usually falling on holy days they allowed a social gathering which involved feasting and drinking, quite often this would be linked to the farming calendar. There was also courting and an opportunity for gentry to hire lower class workers. It was also a time that popular recreations would take place including mob games and other the violent activities such as single sticks and wrestling. Although it is thought that there are earlier versions of the game, cricket became more prevalent, especially in the 1700's. The sport was played at such events, often on the ‘village green’. Jingling matches, gurning contests, chasing greasy pigs and climbing greasy poles were regular folk activities. Races included smock and sack races and blood sports played involved cruelty to animals such as baiting and cock fighting. Other events might have included archery competitions and pedestrian events.
As villages, and later towns, were usually close to a river, the festivals were often held on grassy land beside the river banks. This meant that on hot summers days bathing was common, and swimming became more prevalent as a recreational activity during this time. Some would argue that nothing has changed but the local pub played an important role in recreations. Often being built beside the village green or by an open space (most likely so people could sit outside when the weather was hot or so their children could play) it meant people could spectate if games or sports were taking place. It is almost certain that the alcohol flowed freely and this was also a major contributing factor for the peasants frequenting there. Just like any trade, pubs would need to market their business and this often involved the landlord providing prizes for competitions, like the smock races or pedestrianism.
The influence of the church varied but in some periods it strongly influenced the types of activities that went on. In the 16th and 17th Centuries there were clashes between the various churches in England. The Puritans were a protestant group who believed that Sunday, the Sabbath, was a day of rest. They followed a strict religious and moral code and were opposed any activity on a Sunday. King James I had the book of sports printed in 1617 and 1618. The book contained information about which sports were permitted; allowing some activities (e.g. dancing, archer, leaping and vaulting) but banning others (e.g. bear bating and bowling [the latter because it was interfering with the peasants archery practice]).
Court games were exclusively played by the gentry, examples include ‘real tennis’ and badminton. These non-contact games needed specific, purpose built facilities and often took place in the royal court making it a fashionable sport with the upper classes; needing specific equipment like hand-made rackets. They were an expensive activity thus restricting access to the poorer lower classes. In addition the complex rules and sophisticated scoring required an education to understand and play these games.
Real Tennis
Compared to the brutal and barbaric nature of mob football and some other sports of the pre-industrial Britain, the characteristics of real tennis contrasted greatly. The game was very exclusive, known as a courtly game because it was initially played by the aristocracy. The game developed in France and had complex and structured rules. It was an activity that was not violent and players needed to show high sporting etiquette to compete. As well as being a sophisticated sport, it was a game that required skill, tactics and finesse and being a non-contact sport there were few injuries; contrasting considerably from the mostly physical and violent sports played by the lower classes. This meant the game was seen as being respectable, unlike most other rational recreations. To play real tennis required expensive equipment and a specialist purpose built court which restricted all but the wealthiest of the country from playing the game. As the rules were written and complex, to a certain degree this restricted the participation of the illiterate lower classes, however, the cost and availability of courts was the main barrier to peasants playing the game. The privileged upper classes who could afford to play had more free time, many of them born into money and wealth, and this meant play was more regular. The upper classes had transport so could travel to play so games did not have to be local. Similar to other rational recreations wagering would have been common at matches but there would have been a limited occupational aspect as the upper classes did not need to earn money from playing the game.