1-155-728 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Three generations of women, 1814. A cottager is spinning wool, using a simple wheel without treadle, while her mother reels yarn. Her daughter stirs a cast iron pot standing on an open fire. There is no staircase and the upper floor of the cottage is reached by a ladder. The floor is of flagstones and the casement windows are fitted with leaded lights with diamond panes cut from crown glass. Homeworkers such as these would either spin wool from their own sheep, or would be supplied with fleeces by an agent who would pay them by piecework. From The Costume of Yorkshire by George Walker. (Leeds, 1814).