English Village 1830s

So we're talking the North Sea coast? Then yeah, the buildings will be made of thick stone because of the easterly wind which is always cold.

Have you looked for any images of villages of the time?

The population could be a few hundred or fewer. Don't forget the ferry. I would imagine that the vilage would line the little harbor. If there are fishing boats, then there would be a store, a gin mill, and other things appropriate to fishermen. Decide whether they would run their catch to the market on the mainland or have a wholesaler with a place on the island.

Something else just occured to me.... is this story set in an alternative world or ours? Cos I'm not sure there are any islands off the Borders....

Let me check my big map.

I found this one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_May

Obviously, someone native to the area will know better. But most of the Scottish isles are to the north and west.

DavidZahir said:

As far as I know there are no islands this size in the specific area I describe. Not that I care particularly.

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So you're planning to publish this only in America?

DavidZahir said:

North Island (not really its name) I'm seeing as about 40% the size of Catalina--roughly five or six miles long and averaging two miles wide. It lies off the Scottish/English eastern coast.

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Which side. I ask because this will determine a lot about the weather, and as such the general layout and possible industry on the island - if it's on the west coast then it will be more sheltered, on a trade route and with reasonably calm waters for fishing. If it's on the east coast then it will face much harsher weather conditions etc.

I was figuring the bulk of the work on North Island stems from fishing and from sheep. The Manor Farm has a few cattle as well. The local squire is the major landlord, although his family also has other sources of income--most likely from a sugar plantation or two.

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Um. Sugar doesn't grown here. I assume you mean that they own sugar plantations elsewhere, although that would then raise the question of why they still live in a cold, weathery climate.

2 miles by 5 is a decent sized island, probably averaging a main farm and perhaps two or three tennant farmers, with a small village. Population likely to be only a couple of hundred.

Sheep are pretty hardy and will live almost anywhere, but they aren't a great source of income to be honest, with the return being pretty low.

Fishing is a good source of income in coastal waters, with the work opportunities being quite vast in those areas - aside from fish you have lobsters and oysters and muscles and cockles and eels - some slightly specialist, but which will provide a solid source of income for a whole community.

What I'm trying to do is picture the local village. It is a fishing village mostly. There's a church with a perpetual curate (yeah, I know there weren't that many of those). Given the climate, I'm imagining the houses would mostly be of stone, presumably white-washed. But it also seemed to me (or maybe I'm just hoping) some kind of general store or two, a simple tavern, a blacksmith, as well as a few other specialists.

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Stone houses for the most part - we don't really do timber here the same way they do in the states. It just doesn't cope with the weather. A resident curate is perhaps not so unusual if the island is remote enough and if he has enough ties in the area, or if the landowners are wealthy enough.

In england, not ireland though (we are stone cottage all the way) there are a lot of wattle and daub houses dating from the Tudor period- which were houses constructed on a timber frame, with walls made of woven panels plastered over - a building method dating from roman times.

So again, it depends on where the island is located to be honest.

we also don't really have 'taverns' on this side of the bay, they would be 'inns' or 'pubs' - although I can't speak for the english and scottish counterparts.

You're blacksmith would most likely have a secondary job on an island that small, as there is unlikely to be enough work for him.

There will most likely be someone with some midwifery experience - though sheer necessity if nothing else, although probably not a doctor. Again, it depends on how close you are to the mainland etc.

I KNEW that I heard this question before:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=200640

Back in the 1830s, sheep were worth a lot more than they are now. All the woollen mills in the north of England kept the price up.

You should find episodes of Downton Abbey it is a great TV series set quite a while after your timeline, but close enough you'll get some ideas (things did not change as fast in those days). Below is a cobbled together series of quotes from one of the fantastic characters in the series, played by Head of Gryffindor, Prof. McGonagal.

http://videosift.com/search?q=dowager

The wikipedia entry on the series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downton_Abbey

Errr no. Don't do that. It's a TV programme and therefore nowhere near reality. Especially not the reality of living on an isolated island.

Unless of course Drachen is just being humorous and I've missed the joke......

Where are the fishermen selling their fish? They would need to land them at a mainland port, or process them and then transport them to their market.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_east_coast_fishery
A lot of the cottages would have their own vegetable garden and quite possibly keep a pig.

DavidZahir said:

No, but Americans know there's no such place as Gotham City nor Metropolis.

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Ermmm..... that wasn't my point but what the hey.

mirandashell said:

Errr no. Don't do that. It's a TV programme and therefore nowhere near reality. Especially not the reality of living on an isolated island.

Unless of course Drachen is just being humorous and I've missed the joke......

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You think dead-honest reality sells?

Hmm.... Interesting.

I thought he wanted interesting characters, not real ones.

You might just avoid saying which coast it is off. There are lots of islands around there, but they just happen to be on the West and North sides.

"Lobsters and oysters and muscles and cockles and eels."
Um, I think that on any and all possible coasts that's spelled 'mussels'. The shellfish, right? : )

Fishing communities of Britain in the 1830s -- a simple Google question throws up numerous details.

Fish were plentiful, not just mussels and lobsters etc. Cod, sardiines and herring. The income from fishing might have been supplemented with linen weaving and kelp processing. The fish oil needed for lamps would be made locally. What would the sheep live on -- grass would not be abundant on such an exposed island and there might only be enough grass to support a few herds. There would be ongoing boat repairs, net mending.

Coal or peat fires to warm the stone cottages. A diet supplemented with gull eggs and samphire gathered from rocks at low tide. Seal skins used as rugs and for cloaks. I spent some time on the Aran islands and found that history interesting -- potatoes grown with seaweed fertilizer, sheep protected within stone wall enclosures.

I'd put a monastic ruin or a castle on the island. Adds character, and realistic.

Yeah, a lot of the technology driving force pre the enlightment was done by monestaries and convents, and they were all over Europe. A fishing village in the 1830s with a few hundred people should at least reach back to medieval times, if not longer, and therefore populations will often have congregated near towns or monestaries. Of course, the reformation would have emptied the convents and monestaries, and left the peripheral ones as ruins. But the populations would most likely have stayed put.

At least that is how it was in Sweden. The forces should be somewhat similar in the UK.

Maxinquaye said:

Of course, the reformation would have emptied the convents and monestaries, and left the peripheral ones as ruins. But the populations would most likely have stayed put.

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The vast majority of our priories and abbeys are ruins. The Protestants under Henry VIII destroyed them.

Monastery yes - the manor could have been previously a monastic site that the ancestors of the current owner received when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.

Sheep - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soay_sheep

There is an absolutely brilliant (and funny) old movie you need to watch to give you a great idea of small village/island life off the coast of Scotland in bygone times. It's called Whiskey Galore and it's a black and white. You'll get loads from it!

ETA: And there is a TV show called Cranford that is only a few years old and set during your exact time frame and in a small english village--will be great for a visual on clothing, transport and the medical and social issues of the time. All good stuff!