This History video introduces teachers to the use of Tudor inventories as a primary source for investigating people’s lives in the past. In Tudor times, an inventory was a list of a person’s possessions, sometimes including debts, created after their death to accompany their will. Inventories give historians valuable insight into the jobs, houses, and clothing of people from the period, and can reveal whether someone was rich, comfortably well off, or poor. In this lesson, pupils examine inventories from the Worcestershire archives, which have been transcribed and supported by a glossary for accessibility.

This video is part of Kapow Primary’s History scheme – Tudor. It supports teachers in guiding pupils through analysis of inventories, including those of Richard Lilly from Bromsgrove, who died in 1558, and Catalina of Almondsbury, a black woman living near Bristol. By comparing possessions, pupils infer wealth and occupation, learning that Richard was comfortably well off, possibly trading containers and brewing beer, while Catalina’s possessions, such as decorative tablecloths, pewter candlesticks, and a cow, show she made a living producing butter. The lesson concludes with pupils creating a fictional inventory for John Blank, a black trumpeter at Henry VIII’s court, using historical evidence and prior knowledge of Tudor possessions to make realistic interpretations.

History, Upper key stage 2, Year 5, *New* British history 5: What was life like in Tudor England? Lesson 5: What can inventories tell us about life in Tudor times?