Peasant cottage

History How it was built

Most families lived in small houses made from local materials. The frame was timber, often made from pairs of curved beams called crucks. Between the posts, builders wove thin sticks into panels (wattle) and covered them with a sticky mix of clay, dung and straw (daub). The roof was thatched with straw or reeds.

A thatched roof kept the rain out well, but it could catch fire easily, so towns sometimes made rules against thatch.

History Inside

Many cottages had just one or two rooms. A fire burned on a hearth in the middle of the floor, for warmth and cooking, and smoke drifted up through the thatch. Furniture was simple: a table, benches, a chest and straw-filled mattresses. In some longhouses, the family lived at one end and the animals at the other in winter.

Outside was a yard and garden for vegetables like cabbage, onions, leeks and beans.

History What archaeologists found

At Wharram Percy in Yorkshire, archaeologists spent decades studying a village that was abandoned around 1500. They found that peasant houses were rebuilt every generation or so, because timber and clay did not last forever.

Think about it

1. Why build with local materials like clay, sticks and straw?
2. What would it be like to live in one room with a fire in the middle?
3. Why might a house need rebuilding every generation?

Key words

Wattle and daub

Woven sticks covered in clay, used for walls.

Thatch

A roof made of straw or reeds.

Hearth

The floor of a fireplace, or a fire on the floor.