Sparrow Catching in Mattishall, Norfolk in the Early Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This short note examines the role of payments for sparrow catching in the parish of Mattishall in Norfolk in the 1820s. Payments for sparrow catching were made by the poor law authorities to those who otherwise had no income, or an insufficient income to subsist. They were part of the economy of makeshifts. A plausible interpretation of the evidence is that the overseers of the poor in Mattishall felt that it was important that paupers do some work in exchange for their dole money, if suitable work could be found.