This wide-ranging book traces the development of popular culture in England from the Iron Age, when it first became apparent as a whole, to the eighteenth century. The book deals in depth with the essential foundations—shelter and housing, warmth and security, furnishings and domestic convenience, food and its preparation, and ultra-familial and ultra-communal relations. A separate chapter is devoted to the culture of towns. The text is illustrated throughout by objects, artifacts and structures, many of which are visual representations of earlier cultures, notably in sculpture and decoration.