In re-ordered form, more accessible to the mobile user, here is my collection of historical prices. Whenever I see a price in a book or on social media, so long as it’s reasonably specific, accurate, and in the context of social media, verifiable, I will include it here. The idea is not to form a arithmetic understanding of inflation, but a cultural and personal understanding of what prices were really like in the past.

• The dark ages and medieval times (up to the end of the Plantagenets)
• Tudor and Stuart times (to the end of the 1600’s)
• Stuart and Georgian times (to the end of the 1800’s)
• 19th century
• 20th century
• 1950’s onwards
• 1970’s onwards

Medieval times

1065     Annual tax paid by one of the 240-odd “citizens” or burgesses of Derby, £24    (From The Book of Derby, Anton Rippon)

1135     The King’s Chancellor, paid 5s per day plus simnel cake, wine and candles. A watchman, 1.5d per day plus beer and candles                         

1173     Oxen, 3 shillings a head                   

1196     Sheep, between 6d and 11d a head     £25-£50 in 2024   

(All from Domesday Book to Magna Carta, A.L Poole)    

1207     Ordinary Seaman, 3d a day, galleyman (?rower) 6d a day. Considered “high wages” by Poole. The master of the esnecca, the Royal Yacht in effect, had 12d per day       

1210     (in King John’s reign) ale sold wholesale at 2-4 gallons per penny depending on location          

(All from Domesday Book to Magna Carta, A.L Poole)                                                   

1208     A year’s pay for a craftsman blacksmith, 8s 6d. For a carpenter, 6s 8d. For a maid, only 2s 6d alas. NH: The gender gap hasn’t changed much!   

A brand new cart with iron-rimmed wheels cost 5s 7d.  Consider the relationship today between the cost of a new car and a year’s wages of the average person. New car: £20,000;  Average wage £31,000 (From The pound, David Sinclair)                                        

1239-1307         In Edward I’s reign a labourer earned a penny a day, a skilled craftsman, four times as much (from The Hidden springs of Englishness, Robert Winder)

1250     Draught horse, 10-20 shillings (50p-£1)  (Today: £10000) (www.horsemart.co.uk)

1279     Pepper, 12d per pound – in effect about two weeks wages of a labourer (about £1600/kg in 2023’s minimum wage) From Medieval prices web page   Today? about £7/kg (Healthy Supplies website)

1309     A large tiled barn – property value, £83   Medieval prices page  

1331     “Good” wine from Gascony 4d/gallon; “good” Rhenish wine, 8d/gallon               Medieval prices page  

1340     A cheap sword, 6d         Medieval prices page  

1350’s  Riots happened when the price of beer, following the Black Death, rose to 8d a gallon (don’t remember where I read that!) Today? £20-£40 depending on location

1390     A mason’s wages, £8 a year      From the History of England website  Today: £37000 p.a (Indeed.com)

1450     Average earnings of peasant £5-£10/yr; a labourer 4d/day;  a skilled craftsman 5d-8d/day.

Milk or beer 1d a gallon, Red Wine 10d/gallon, Sugar 1s 6d (17.5p) per pound, Pepper 2s/lb

(All from Lancaster and York – the wars of the Roses, Alison Weir)      

1480     leather shoes, between 5d and 15d the pair   

Tudor and Stuart times

1580’s  A good shirt, £1   Mass Historia  

1580’s  A loaf of bread, 2d; a chicken, 1d, a bottle of wine, 2 shillings, a tankard of beer, 1/2d.      Mass Historia              

1601     A squire, George Carey, paid £2000 to build a pier and “diverse houses and cellars” much improving the village of Clovelly and creating the only harbour between Boscastle and Appledore    (From The making of the English landscape, W.G Hoskins)

1648     Nether Mill, Wirksworth, made £41 profit from lead smelting over half the year.

1663     Nether Mill, Wirksworth: A well paid worker earned 3s/7d a week. Six men and two women earned £20 13s 4d per quarter.  (All from Lead miners heyday, by Ron Slack) 

1667     Purchase of 45 ton sloop “Nonsuch”, at London, £290 (From Honourable Company of Adventurers, Peter C. Newman)           

1672     Gunpowder, 10d per pound  (From Lead miners heyday, by Ron Slack)  Today: US$35/lb (Quora, 2019)

1675     Stipend of the Constable of Windsor Castle, Prince Rupert, 10 shillings a day (considered meagre)

1682     Prince Rupert’s carriage horses sold after his funeral for £6 10s apiece.  

(Both from Prince Rupert the last Cavalier, Charles Spencer)     

1693     License to operate a stage coach (“Hackney carriage”) for one year, £8 – Carriage rates 10s per day, reckoning 12 hrs. Or 18p per hour for the first hour and 12p/hour thereafter!  (From Peakland roads and trackways, A.E & E.M Dodd)       

Stuart and Georgian times

1699-1715         53000 deer skins exported from the South Carolina colony for £30000 (from American Colonies, Alan Taylor)        

1700     Workington salmon sold in London, 2/6 to 4/ per pound (from Daniel Defoe, quoted in A.E Dodd’s Peakland roads and trackways)

1701     A Peak District lead miner, with luck, might earn 5p a day, and that considered poor and inadequate wages deserving of charity (from A tour thro’ the whole island of Great Britain, volume 8, Daniel Defoe)

1717     Cost of one-way fare to migrate across the Atlantic to the American colonies – £7 (From Daniel Boone – the long hunter, Lawrence Elliot)

1756     At the time of the Seven Years War, a Royal Naval rating could earn 12p a day, at a time when a farm labourer might earn 3-4p/day (from The Wooden World, N.A.M Rodger) 

1762     Groceries expenses for maintaining the family of an agricultural labourer, Lancashire. 7s 4d/week  (From Labor in Europe and America – a special report – US Bureau of stats              

1768     £1 profit on a 250kg “load” of lead from the very profitable Hubberdale Mine, Flag, in the White Peak (From Lead mining in the Peak District, Ford & Rieuwerts)

1777     Stagecoach from Derby to London, £1.40 (more than a weeks wages for a farm labourer) (From Industrial Derbyshire, Michael E. Smith  Today: £100-£200 train fare

1780     Sending a parcel from Macclesfield to Ashbourne, 1 shilling (from Industrial Derbyshire, Michael E. Smith) Today: £5

1783     1758-1783 Gregory Mine, Ashover, produced lead to the value of £106,000, approx 1511 tonnes annually. Sold therefore at around £2.80 per tonne, considered “vast wealth” by contemporary writer Pilkington (From The Peak District, Milward & Robinson)

1787     £32000, the “staggering” cost of Hardcarr Sough 4.5 miles under Stanton Moor, though costs were “recouped in [mine] profits in the first two years”. (From The Peak District, Milward & Robinson)

1789     Private school fees at Matthew Spencer’s school, Green Lane, Derby, 13 guineas per annum (From The book of Derby, Anton Rippon). Today: £20000/p.a

1789     Pratt’s night classes in Bridge Gate, Derby, for working men, 3d/week (From The book of Derby, Anton Rippon)

1792     Clerk of the Works (or Project Manager in today’s language) for the construction of the Derby Canal, Salary £150 per annum. Book-keeper for same project, £105 per annum. (From Industrial Derbyshire, Michael E. Smith)         

19th Century

1800     Travel time, New York to Lake Erie, 2-3 weeks (see 1830, 1860) (From The Jacksonian era, Glyndon van Deusen)           

1803     $15 million, cost of the Louisiana Purchase, about 4 cents an acre for 800,000 square miles (From Daniel Boone the long hunter, by Lawrence Elliot)       

1803     Cost of the Lewis and Clark expedition: $38000+$11000 extra. 1803-1806 (From Lewis and Clark’s actual journal)

1803     A sergeant of U.S Army on the Lewis and Clark expedition, $15/month.             (From Those tremendous mountains, David Freeman Hawke)      

1803     U.S Army private, $10/month, Lieutenant, $360/year, a Captain, $480/year (From Those tremendous mountains, David Freeman Hawke)    

1804     $5, value of a long-barreled hunting rifle west of St Louis  (From Daniel Boone the long hunter, by Lawrence Elliot)   

1805     Fully rigged and fitted 74-gun warship, £80,000 (From War as an economic activity in the long eighteenth century, a learned paper by N.A.M Rodger)

1805     Meerbrook Sough, 3km tunnel, cost £44,000 (literally, ruinously expensive)  (From Lead mining in the Peak District, Ford & Rieuwerts)        

1805     US$6, equivalent of what Lewis and Clark paid for a horse from the Snake indians  (From Lewis and Clark’s actual journal)

1812     Wages of schoolmaster in Derby, £75 per annum (From The book of Derby, Anton Rippon)           

1816     Market boat from Swarkestone to Derby (a days walk), day return, 6p (From Industrial Derbyshire, Michael E. Smith)  

1820’s  Expenses for a journey from Blackburn to London by stagecoach, £2 13s 6d.  (From Peakland Roads and trackways, A.E Dodd)

1825     A labourer digging the Ohio canal, $15/month (From The Westward Expansion – a history of the American frontier, Ray Allen Billington)   

1825     Cost of land transport for bulk items, New York to Buffalo, $100/ton (see 1850) – so about six months pay of a labourer, so upwards of $20,000/tonne in today’s money. (From The Jacksonian era, Glyndon van Deusen) Consider: Bulk freight rates in the USA in 2020 were between $95 and £214 per tonne. Air freight costs $4000-$8000/tonne today, and freight to low earth orbit costs $2720 per KILO

1829     Mission San Gabriel, California: “thousands” of acres, home to 30000 cattle, cultivated land yielding 3000-4000 bushels of wheat p.a., generating (in addition to supporting a thousand Indian workers), US$55000-60000 per annum income from farm produce of one kind or another (From Kit Carson, by Thelma Guild and Harvey L Carter) 

1829     Omnibus Paddington to Bank, 6p (From Cathedrals of Steam, Christian Woolmar) Today: £3

1830     Travel time, New York to Lake Erie, 10 days (see 1800, 1860)   (From The Jacksonian era, Glyndon van Deusen) 

1830’s  Shooting powder, $2 per pint in Saint Louis (From Life in the far West, G.F Ruxton)            

1832     $400 “a good annual wage for a master trapper” (from the authoritative Across the wide Missouri, Bernard de Voto)       

1833     Cheap “whiskey”, bought at 15 cents a gallon, sold at 2-4 dollars a PINT by the Rocky Mountain Fur Company (from Across the wide Missouri, Bernard de Voto)             

1838     Train London Bridge to Greenwich, 8p, considered “steep”  (From Cathedrals of Steam, Christian Woolmar)

1839     Derby to Birmingham train fare with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, 50p first, 35p second and 25p third class.  (From Industrial Derbyshire, Michael E. Smith)

1839     Cost of construction of Clay Cross Tunnel, £140,000 (£86,000/km) (From Midland through the Peak, Brian Radford. The North Downs tunnel on HS1 cost £28 million/km (2001)

1839     1839-1845 5s/8hrs wages of navvies driving the Woodhead tunnel, considered “good” by Milward and Robinson From The Peak District, Milward & Robinson) 2025: a “ground worker” might earn £80-£150/day (Google)

1840     North Midland Railway train fare Derby to Leeds 2nd class 12s (From Rail centres no. 7 Derby, Brian Radford) 2025: Derby to Leeds train fare £28-£35. Consider the relationship between a day’s pay and the train fare, now and 180 years ago.

1840  72 miles of the North Midland Railway from Derby to Leeds, with 200 bridges and 7 tunnels, cost £3.3 million to build (From North Midland – portrait of a famous route, Bob Pixton)

1842     Fremont hires Kit Carson as a mountain guide at $100/month From Kit Carson, a pattern for heroes, Guild and Carter)

1843     Midland hotel in Derby, bed 4 shillings, tea 2s, breakfast with meat and eggs 3s (From Industrial Derbyshire, Michael E. Smith)   2025: Hotel breakfast from £8.50-£24 depending on location

1845     Flour from Oregon $20/hundred weight (considered “exorbitant”), cattle $5-$12/head, horses $15-$25/head at Fort Hall in the wilderness (From Palmer’s journal)

1847     Cost of construction of Fallodon station (up and down platforms on the East Coast Main line in rural Northumberland) £696 (From a local information signpost)

1849     First class train travel one way Euston to Birmingham £1.50. Second class, £1. (From Cathedrals of Steam, Christian Woolmar) (about £125 in 2020)

1850     Cost of land transport for bulk items, New York to Buffalo, $8/ton (see 1825) – about two weeks pay for a private soldier (see 1866) so about $1200 in modern money. So bulk freight costs fell by an order of magnitude from $20000/ton to £1200/ton in 25 years.        (From The Jacksonian era, Glyndon van Deusen) By comparison, bulk freight rates in the USA in 2020 were between $95 and £214 per tonne. Air freight costs $4000-$8000/tonne today, and freight to LEO costs $2720 per KILO with a Falcon 9, but cost $54500/kg with the Space shuttle).

1851     Coal in London halves in cost from 30s/ton to 17s/ton  (From Cathedrals of Steam, Christian Woolmar)

1853     Sheep driven from Fort Laramie to California sold there at $5.50/head, roughly 2000 sheep (about $11000) providing three men “a substantial return” for eight months work. (From Kit Carson, a pattern for heroes, Guild and Carter)      

1859     A “square meal” for 50c, Virginia City, Nevada territory   (From Wondrous times on the frontier, Dee Brown) 2025: $14-$22 at the Red Dog Saloon Food — Red Dog Saloon • Virginia City, Nevada

1860     Travel time, New York to Chicago, 1 day (see 1800, 1830) (From The Jacksonian era, Glyndon van Deusen) 2023: by air, 2 hrs, by car, 12 hrs, by train or bus, 20 hrs or more

1860’s Average wage of “railway labourers on the permanent way” – navvies – 16 shillings a week (From Victorian and Edwardian railways, Jeoffrey Spence)

1861     (or “before the Civil War”) to post a letter from the mid-west to the Pacific, 25c. About half a days pay for a private soldier. (From Wondrous times on the frontier, Dee Brown) Bear in mind that someone has to physically carry a piece of paper across 1500 miles of rough country…

1862     Train fare Rowsley to London, one way, £1 (From Midland through the Peak by Brian Radford)

1864     Estimate for building the Union Pacific railroad across the plains, $30000 per mile. (From Hear that lonesome whistle blow, Dee Brown)         

1865     A years rent for a six “roomed” labourer’s house with kitchen near London, £28 (From The subterranean railway, Christian Woolmar)     

1865     Five tenders for building the Duffield to Wirksworth branch railway (8 miles or so) – between £39000 and £50000. (From The Wirksworth branch, Howard Spenger)        

1866     Breech loading rifle, $30, about two months pay for a private soldier (From The Fetterman Massacre, Dee Brown)  An SA-80 assault rifle costs around £1300 which is less than a months pay for a private soldier today

1867     Tender price for 2984 yard Dove Holes tunnel, £175000, £136000 on completion, very complex build. (From Midland through the Peak, by Brian Radford)   

1869     First class train fare Omaha to Sacramento, $100. In coach – $75 (From Hear that lonesome whistle blow, Dee Brown) Roughly equivalent to a business class long haul airfare today – about a months wages for a skilled worker. Time taken? 4-5 days by express, 6-7 days ordinary. 

1860’s  An officer earning $130/month paid $1300 for a return trip from the frontier to “the states” (From The Fetterman Massacre, Dee Brown) $4681/month (Lieutenant, US Army – indeed.com). That would be travel costs of $50000!

1870’s  $25/month, pay of junior cowboy (From Wondrous times on the frontier, Dee Brown)

1870’s  $60/month, wages of transcontinental train drivers, minimum mileage 2500/month (From Hear that lonesome whistle blow, Dee Brown)           

1872     The wages on offer to the miners who dug (Blea Moor) tunnel in 1872 were 5s (equivalent to £22.49 in 2019) to 5s 6d (equivalent to £24.37 in 2019)[2] per day.[3] –    Wikipedia          

1873     Full board in the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras, 14 shillings (£1.40) (From Cathedrals of Steam, Christian Woolmar). Today: £500

1874     2s 6d, price of admission to Peak Cavern, Murray’s Guide quoted in Milward & Robinson, (about half a days wages) (From The Peak District, Milward & Robinson)           

1877     25c, immigrants meal in segregated dining room on a station on the Union Pacific (From Hear that lonesome whistle blow, Dee Brown) About $16 by modern standards (modern US train driver taking $4000/month)

1880’s  A low-ranking maid in London in the 1880’s might earn £12-14 per annum From: Kipling 

1889     Mutton 9d-11d per pound at Redcar, Yorks  (From Queen of the desert (the life of Gertrude Bell), Georgina Howell)

1890     A new bicycle, £12, a months wages for a skilled workman (From The old roads of Derbyshire, Stephen Bailey)  Interesting bust here between Kipling’s prices for a London maid in the 1880’s and Bailey’s prices for a “skilled workman” in Derbyshire in 1890. So much so that only one will be right. My money is on Bailey.

1900     A skilled ironworker or a clerk in the UK earned £100/year (From Queen of the desert (the life of Gertrude Bell), Georgina Howell)

1900 Bottle of champagne in the dining car on a Great Northern Railway train, 8-10 shillings (From Victorian and Edwardian railways, Jeoffrey Spence) (If this is correct and Georgina Howell above is correct, it must be VERY good champagne, or, being sold at enormous mark-up on the train, considering the relationship today between the cost of labour and the cost of champagne)

Twentieth century

1909     Northern line tube train driver pay per diem 9s 1d, porter 2/10, booking clerk, 4/6 (From The subterranean railway, Christian Wolmar)

1919     A consul general in New York earned £5000 p.a (From The Life of Wilfred Thesiger, A. Maitland)            

1925     Gertrude Bell’s government salary £825/year (From Queen of the desert, the life of Gertrude Bell, Georgina Howell)

1932     Cost of building original City Hospital near Derby, £15,000 (From an information sign in the Kings building)

1942     Wage of British “ordinary seaman” £22/month.    American seamen made $90/month  – almost twice as much – that’s unionisation… (From Bitter Ocean, David White)

1949     32 Highdale Avenue, Clevedon, Bristol, valued at £1765 for estate duty purposes  (from inherited historical documents)    

1950’s

1958     Wedding reception food and drink for 39 pax, £23 10s 10p (£23.60) – “luncheon 8s/head” (40p) (From a social media post with sight of actual bill of the time from the Markeaton Hotel, Derby)             

1962     Living wage of labourer in England, £8/week. Bar of chocolate, 3d. (From Falling towards England, Clive James) 

1963     Price of Evening Standard, 3d   Sight of actual copy      

1970’s

1971     Tin Heinz baked beans 4p, Box of Rice Krispies 11p, jar of honey 16p, Leaf tea 125g 7.5p,  1lb Cooking fat (“lard”) 8.5p, Bag of flour (not sure on size) 10p, “Family size” tin of soup 10p (All seen on actual newspaper adverts of the time posted on social media)

1972     Footex day trip by air from Derby to Sarajevo to see the Rams play, £23.50 (Seen on actual newspaper adverts of the time posted on social media)     

1971-72    £1 (20 shillings), grilled T-bone steak w/trimmings, baked potato and choice of dessert  (Seen on actual menu of the time from Ramsden’s tavern, Derby)

1971-72    £1.20 (24 shillings) bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape (most expensive bottle on menu, £1.73p (34s), least, 80p (16s).   (Seen on actual menu of the time from Ramsden’s tavern, Derby)

1972     price of Daily Mirror, 7p -sight of actual copy      

1976     Fish and chips 21p, “fish” 13p, chicken 30p, bag of chips, 8p, peas 5p, curry, 5p (All photos of actual price lists of the time posted on social media 

1978     £1.50, ticket to see Jasper Carrot, Derby Assembly Rooms  (actual price of the time posted on social media)

1991 88p, pint of Shepheard Neame’s “Spitfire” ale (Social media post)