The Richins family survived by hard work and industry. The Enclosure Act seemed to not affect Ebworth Park. Perhaps it was already enclosed. Even though ownership of Ebworth changed several times during that time period, the Richins family was retained as laborers.

William was unable to attend school under those adverse economic conditions, so he began his training as an agricultural laborer at an early age. There was a good relationship between Henry and his sons. Some of William’s fondest memories were of hunting and fishing with his father and brothers. There were woods and groves teeming with deer, rabbits and game birds. The streams that separated Ebworth Park from Sheepscombe had pools and holes full of fish just waiting to be caught.

Like his brothers, he confessed to poaching and fox hunting in the Game Park and the Lodge Farm. Sir Francis Jermingham owned the ancient Lodge, which consisted of about 400 acres. Most of the land of the original Painswick Manor had been sold and many of its trees cut down for lumber. Sir Jermingham retained the Lodge and Lodge Farm for his own pleasure. He did not usually reside there, but did go there to hunt and fish. He often brought noted gentlemen and members of the Royal family to enjoy hunting and fishing. He preserved 22 acres of forest for a game park’ he also held 18 acres of the Longridge Forest.

For young William, who loved hunting, it must have been hard to concentrate on bunching hay or digging potatoes when the sound of the bugle and braying of the hounds announced a hunt at the Lodge. Sometimes the laborers were allowed to watch the beginning of the hunt, since the Lodge was adjacent to Ebworth Park.

When the hunt was concluded and Sir Jermingham and his guests had departed, the Lodge and farm were returned to the care of the gamekeeper and overseer. It was then that the Richins boys probably planned their own escapades in the game park. Sometimes their hunts were successful and sometimes they considered themselves lucky to have outrun the gamekeeper!

When William reminisced about his boyhood days in Sheepscombe he told of tending a sheep and cattle on the Commons and the nearby green hills. He recalled lazy, peaceful days where he laid on the soft grass, chewing a tender blade of grass and looking up at the bright, blue sky through the spreading limbs of the tall beachnut trees. He could hear meadowlarks in the woods and see the swifts circling and darting above him.

The cows were feeding on the lush grass trying in vain to swish the flies away and the lambs and sheep carefully nibbling the grass so that by summer’s end, the pasture looked like a well-manicured lawn. In the evening William drove the sheep home as the sun dipped below the skyline. Then the cows had to be milked. This milk furnished milk, butter and cheese for their own use, as well as some extra to sell at the weekly market held on the Lodge farm. Each spring the sheep were sheared for their wool. A small amount was carded and spun into yarn to make warm winter clothing. The rest of the wool was sold o bring in a little extra income for the family. In the spring the leaves of the beachnut leaves were bronze, but turned brilliant green for summer and by fall the leaves were a blaze of scarlet.

Sometimes William felt a longing for his native homeland across the Atlantic Ocean, but with all the good memories, there were also many memories of hard work, lean times and a constant struggle to provide the necessities of life. While spring, summer and fall were fun and full of adventure, winter brought cold, bleak days to the Ebworth farm. On those days the sun did shine, it provided a little warmth, but more often it his behind a fog bank and turn the landscape bleak and dismal. The wheels of the farm cart squeaked and groaned over the frozen ground and the horses’ breath could be seen like small clouds in the crisp, cold air. The beachnut trees were bare and only the Scotch pine gave any color to the woodlands. Wintertime was best spent at home with the family around a warm fire.

Since neither William or his parents could read or write, they had to get their information from people rather than books. They depended on what they heard and saw around them. In the evenings they exchanged news and rumors they had heard during the day. As they struggled through the dark years they witnessed many changes. Many of the mills along the Sheepscombe and Painswick streams were forced to close because their water-driven looms could not compete with the new steam-powered operations. Steam engines were also used for the first railroads and steamships. The unemployed thronged to the industrial areas, only to find housing shortages and unsanitary conditions. Times were indeed very bleak.