Prior to the 17th century, history does not record much detail of the domestic lives of ordinary people. Even with more prominent historical figures their day to day lifestyles and household arrangements can usually only be inferred from occasional references in documents dealing with more important events. So far as Ewyas Lacy is concerned even these are sparse, and so it must be presumed that more general conditions of feudal social and domestic arrangements documented elsewhere applied locally. However, these were almost certainly strongly influenced [for the worse in most cases] by the relatively lawless character of the border area and the depradations of more or less constant military conflicts.
From the early 1600s on, wills and other probate records have survived that begin to paint a fuller picture of local life. These still do not address domestic lifestyles directly, but much can be deduced from household inventories that are often given, and from the size and nature of legacies. The names and descriptions of beneficiaries also provide insight into family and social relationships of the time. These are not necessarily representative of the whole population, however; it must be borne in mind that many people had little property and did not go to the trouble and expense of making a will.
In more modern times, census data and wider documentation of social history, supplemented by photographic and oral records, provide a fuller picture of life in Ewyas Lacy.
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