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The Dark Ages

The Guillemot Egg Collector
Farming could be unpredictable and food scarce, so guillemot eggs were an important source of protein in the Saxon peasant’s diet. The only trouble being that guillemots nest on ledges, precariously balanced on cliff sides, so collecting them meant risking life and limb hundreds of feet above jagged rocks and raging seas. And if this wasn’t dangerous enough, angry birds were likely to attack anyone trying to steal their precious eggs.

The Churl
In Anglo-Saxon times, the churl, or peasant, came lowest down the pecking order. His job was farming a small piece of land keeping his family alive on the food he produced. Ploughing the land with oxen and a wooden plough was essential but difficult and backbreaking work. On top of farming, the churl had to put a roof over his head, which meant building a hut made of wattle and daub. Wattle was made of long, slender hazel branches that were painstakingly woven together to make walls and once these were in place the daub was slapped on to stop the wind howling through. This was a messy, smelly job because daub is made from water, mud, straw and dung!

The Bog Iron Hunter
The Saxons needed vast quantities of iron for tools and weapons. The Bog Iron Hunter did exactly what his title says; he hunted for iron ore in bogs. In all weathers, he poked around in soggy bogs trying to find up to 40kgs of ore a day for the smelters.

The Coin Stamper
There was no pay involved, just bed and board and particularly nasty punishments if he was tempted to steal the silver he was making into coins. Stealing just the shavings was punishable with castration and if a whole coin went missing the guilty party’s hand was cut off and nailed to the workshop door!

The Monk
Monks didn’t live in monasteries during the Saxon period; they had to build their own wattle and daub huts, just like the churls, and farm the land to feed themselves. On top of the daily grind, which literally meant grinding grain to make flour for the monk’s daily bread, they had to pray up to eight times a day, including during the middle of the night. Monks also copied manuscripts in meticulous, tiny handwriting in freezing, draughty rooms, which made their bodies and eyes ache horrendously.

The Viking Warrior
Before they could rape and pillage, Viking warriors had to get from their homeland to Britain. This meant long voyages across stormy seas, rowing for hours on end. Life on board a Viking ship was cramped and uncomfortable, wet and cold with no toilet facilities. Rather than sail round a headland, Vikings would often haul their ships across it, with the help of wooden runners. The runners had to be greased to ease the ship along and the most common grease used was made from pulverised fish. Bearing in mind that the fish had been kept for days after they were caught, this would have been an exceptionally smelly job.