Life in Tudor Kirklees was physically demanding, with slow economic growth and ongoing hardship for most people. The average life expectancy was around 35 years, mainly because many babies and young children did not survive. However, people who lived past childhood often reached much older ages. Many families lived in small, simple cottages with one or two rooms, earth floors, wooden shutters, and open fires used for both cooking and warmth.
Wealthier families such as the Nettletons of Lees Hall or the Armytages of Kirklees lived in large timber-framed houses, with decorated rooms, glass windows, and separate quarters for family and servants.
Life of the Wealthy
Lees Hall in Thornhill Lees was built around 1412 and expanded in 1530 for the Nettleton family, important local landowners. The house featured large oak beams, a spacious open hall used for meals and gatherings, and an upstairs chamber decorated with plaster reliefs of unicorns, lions, flowers, and other symbols of wealth and status. The T-shaped house had a staircase tower linking the main hall and east wing. The carved wooden beams and detailed decorations reflected the family’s power and the skill of Tudor builders.
Children in wealthy homes might learn to read, write, or play music, while poorer children usually worked from an early age, helping on farms or in home-based cloth production.
The wool and cloth industry was central to the local economy. The hilly land limited farming productivity, so spinning, weaving and fulling cloth supported incomes. This was supported by plentiful raw wool and fast-running streams of soft water. For centuries, cloth production was based in homes or small mills powered by upland streams. This trade allowed families like the Armytages and Batts to rise in social status.
Tudor leisure included church festivals, fairs, feasting days, and seasonal celebrations. Music, dancing, and storytelling were popular. Sports such as archery, bowls, and wrestling entertained the community. In wealthier households, children might be taught Latin, manners, and how to read religious texts.
Education
Education changed in Tudor England, but these changes mainly benefited wealthier families. A key local example is King James’s Grammar School in Almondbury, founded in 1547 as a chantry school. In 1608, three local men secured a royal charter, which turned it into a grammar school.
Pupils were taught reading, writing, Latin, and religious studies. However, only a small number of boys, usually from well-off families, could attend, as poorer children needed to work to support their households.
The school still exists today as King James’s School, continuing its educational role more than four hundred years later.