... demand for food by the rising population caused food prices to sore. The prices of cheaper food, which the poor people, previously, could afford, tended to rise quicker than the more expensive food. This caused an increase in the number of poor people and vagrants, as they could no longer afford to buy food. A.G.R. Smith argues that prices rose more quickly than the rate of population growth. Wage rates suggest that they did not keep up with the demands of agricultural productivity due to the demands of the population; therefore the number of poor and vagrants grew. Due to increased poverty a system for poor relief was established, an act of 1536 provided relief for the poor, but compelled beggars to work. Each parish was responsible for its' own poor, paid for by a parish tax. In 1552 parish registers of the poor were introduced, and in 1563 and 1597, ...

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