Houses in the village were rented by groups of men who, when they had finished their work, then "shopped it", or took it, to some central depot in the village, and were usually paid each trip. Sweaters, or child labour, were often exploited, and regularly after a period of drunkenness these sweaters were compelled to sit working all night with their elders to make up for lost time. Many worked from the age of eight or nine, in the local term "got more kicks than half pence."