There were a few craftsmen that nearly every village needed, before these days of mass production and easy transport. The crafts were usually undertaken from workshops in, or next to, their own homes.
The water mill at Flatford, made famous by the artist, John Constable. The mills referred to in Domesday Book (1086) are all water mills. The windmill was introduced to this country about a hundred years later.
Villages would also have had at least one shop, and some ale- houses or an inn, where home brewed beer was sold.
Some trades were related to the needs or products of a particular locality - e.g. weavers, brick-makers and shipwrights. Other craftsmen were more likely to be found in larger villages and market towns - men such as the saddler, cooper, cobbler and tailor; women like the dressmaker. These people would also have had their workshops at home.
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