Note 89 — OLD COUNTRY LIFE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

So harvest suppers were called in Derbyshire. The labourers at Renishaw were sometimes entertained earlier in the year:—

£ s. d. “30 June, 1666. For 20 men’s Dinners att Stones att 8d. per man 0 13 4 ”For ale then 0 6 8.”

Ellen Stones (her husband was a blackmith) kept an alehouse in Eckington. At these dinners or suppers John Hunt, who was the oldest labourer in Mr. Sitwell’s employment, took the chair.