This article demonstrates the varied and unpredictable nature of earning in the nineteenth century. Using 12,000 fortnightly pay entries from Townley Main Colliery in the north-east of England as a case study, it explores the extent to which the availability of work fluctuated between years, and how workers reacted to this phenomenon. It then considers the frequency with which these individuals undertook the work which was available, and discusses the implications for our understanding of the length of the working year.

This paper is offered as a contribution to facilitating the integration of qualitative and quantitative analysis in historical study. The method of input-output modelling is applied to the study of the evolution of the cities of England and Wales between 1851 and 1911. The construction of input-output accounts for each city (or city region) is based on ‘heroic’ data assumptions, which enable the construction of a demonstration model illustrating a new iterative approach to historical analysis. In its current application, the model enables estimates to be made of meso-level trade between cities, which enhances our analysis of urban evolution in this period.