Do: Before reading the list of goods for sale, make a list of the goods you would expect to find in a shop in Wooler in 1830.
Do: Read through the list and create a table. On one side list the items that you recognise, on the other list the items that you don’t recognise.
Do: Using the list of items that you do recognise, create a second table showing items you expected to find in a shop in Wooler in 1830 and items you didn’t expect.
Do: Compare the list to items in your local shop. How many can you find?
Do: Choose several items from the list that you don’t recognise. Research what they are, where they come from and how they were obtained in 1830.
Do: Plot the items on a map showing where their origins are.
Do: Look at Wooler on a map. In one colour mark out trade routes you expect reached Wooler in 1830, in a second colour mark the trade routes you expect reach Wooler today.
Do: Research British trade routes in 1830. Update your map with a third colour showing actual trade routes. How does this match your expectations?
Do: Research the most imported items coming into Britain during the mid-nineteenth-century. Add them to your map showing where goods were exported from.
Do: Highlight any locations on your map where enslaved labour was part of the production of the goods.
Do: Make a spider diagram of what you associate with the word “luxury”. How does this compare to the words you would associate with conditions on enslaved plantations?