This book uses the Shaw family of the Chapelry of Bradfield in South Yorkshire to open windows into the lives of yeoman farmers who lived for at least six centuries on the eastern side of the Pennine Hills. The family are first recorded in 1288 and struggled to survive famine, pestilence and severe weather conditions through the following centuries. As in all families, some stood out by refusing to conform to the life of their peers and were early adopters of new religions such as Quakerism, Puritanism and Dissention. Others left the area to seek new lives. They suffered persecution, fear and hardships but had stories to tell that demonstrate the upheaval lived by so many following the Reformation of Henry VIII's break with Rome.