We will be following our recent event on Luddism, which explored aspects of rural culture in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, by this talk about poaching & poachers.
At The Sparrow’s Nest (St Ann’s – Nottingham).
We will be following our recent event on Luddism, which explored aspects of rural culture in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, by this talk about poaching & poachers.
In Nottinghamshire, with its large estates, poaching was a widespread everyday practise during the period. Poachers contradicted the game laws, drawn up to ensure that only the wealthy landed gentry had the right to take game & wild animals like hares and rabbits, and the whole range of game birds from grouse to partridge.
The laws were widely ignored, and the taking of game by the working class was not regarded as real crime by country folk. Poachers, be it countrymen who poached singly or large gangs from towns as well as rural areas, ranged widely over the gentry’s game preserves. They frequently fought bloody battles with gamekeepers and watchers and risked imprisonment and even transportation for their activities.
Rosemary Muge has undertaken extensive research into the subject matter and is preparing her PhD thesis, which promises to be a most fascinating read.
For directions please contact us: peopleshistreh [at] riseup.net
THERE WILL BE TEA.
THERE WON’T BE PHEASANT.
THERE MAY BE CAKE.
Free event (donations welcome!). Venue wheelchair accessible.
People's Histreh 
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