Column by historian Roger Bingham of Ackenthwaite:

MOST country people enjoyed a house sale, with its unique opportunities for making disparaging remarks about a neighbour’s possessions while bidding for bargains at the same time.

The 1710 sale of the goods of William Hawkrigge, a deceased Grasmere yeoman, was spread over four days. Anything costing below 10 shillings required immediate payment but higher sums were allowed a year’s credit. Apart from farm stock - like a mare sold to James Benson of Ambleside for £3:14s - most items made less than £1.

The dearest domestic lots were a feather bed sold to Rowland Atkinson for 18s:3d and a clock and case for £1:17s:8d.

Furniture - like lathe-turned ‘throwen’ chairs - fetched only 6d or 8d. 10 pewter plates, or ‘dublers’, brought only a shilling, and a tankard 1s:2d.

The late yeoman’s ‘apparel’ sold for even less. Hopefully George Braithwaite was pleased with a vest costing 5d and William Braithwayte of Sawrey with a pair of shoes which went for 8d, and Edward Partridge with a pair of breeches obtained for 10d.

A few archaically named items, such as mattocks (a pickaxe) and gavelocks (a crowbar), are still in use. Others, such as a ‘rake wimble’ (a drill), have gone. Some, such as ‘screenhge’ for syringe, are merely spelt differently, while others, such as ‘a wood brisset’, cannot be identified.