How were village houses constructed?

Most village houses would have been of a poor quality, not built to last. This is why we do not have many remains of this kind from the medieval period. Before the 13th century, most village cots (the houses of cottars, the poorest people in a village) would have consisted of only one room, around 5m x 3.5m in size. By the 13th century a room may have been added on, but no examples from this period survive. These houses were mostly built of timber and in-filled walls such as wattle and daub construction. If the wall-posts were set on flat slabs of stone as opposed to being put directly into the earth, they would last for about 50 years without rotting.

In wattle and daub construction, twigs of hazel, willow or cleft oak were intertwined and daubed on both sides with a muddy mixture of earth, chopped straw and dung, with chalk or lime added if available.

Hedges were an important resource in medieval Herefordshire. Hazel was a particularly useful source of wood, especially for peasants who did not often have (legal) access to managed woodlands. Hedgerow species can help us to interpret the age of the hedge.  

The construction of a cot cannot be called timber frame, as the timbers were not worked into joints and the timber posts were rarely set in straight lines. In fact the lord of the manor kept the best wood for himself, so only inferior, slender posts would have been used. The result was flimsy and not very durable. The untreated wood would soon decay and the building collapse. 

Manorial court records are a good primary source for the kinds of trouble that villagers could get into. During a court session on 29th August 1451 (during the reign of Henry VI), Joanna Mascald, a tenant at will, and Henry Noke were accused of wrongly and without permission cutting down two oaks and selling them (Arkwright Manorial Records, A63, Herefordshire Record Office). In this case we have two people who cut down trees belonging to the lord. These trees were then sold, presumably as timbers or ceiling rafters for building. 

The roof construction of the cot was equally flimsy. If rafters were unavailable, which probably more often than not was the case, then bundles of branches were lashed together and interlaced with smaller bits of wood to support thatching. Straw, if available, was the preferred material for thatch. After harvest, when the first frosts had made the remaining corn stalks brittle, they were snapped off and used for thatch.

The geology of the western side of Herefordshire differs to that of the rest of the county. More stone, such as sandstone and - in the northern areas - limestone, is available to be used as building material. Even lower status houses (the houses of the poor) would have been built using stone in a drystone wall construction and using stone tiles on the roof instead of thatch. Availability of building materials, and perhaps even weather conditions, would have influenced how houses were built. On the Welsh borders it is windy and very wet, and stone roofs would have been more durable than thatch. Unfortunately no buildings survive, but the building platforms in sites of deserted villages look lumpier and more uneven if the houses were constructed with drystone walls.
 
Even though cottages did not have chimneys, some houses had stone hearths in the centre of the room, which would have made for a very smoky environment. Sometimes, due to the fire hazard, the cooking facility was outside in a makeshift external kitchen. (Thanks to Mr. J. Tonkin and Mr. P. Gibbons for information about construction of medieval houses.)

The floors of the cottages were made of beaten earth or clay. Rushes or straw were sometimes put on the floor to provide comfort and warmth. Toilets of course were not part of these simple houses - a hole at the back of the yard would have been a possible medieval solution.

There is no evidence remaining for what sorts of doors were used, but we do know that poor people would not have had glass windows. Wooden shutters on a simple hinge would have been the height of luxury. Single room dwellings often did not even have window openings.

Furniture is mentioned in documents, but no peasant furniture from before the 16th century survives. The best way to find out what sort of furniture villagers and smallholders owned, and what kind of lifestyle they had, is to read descriptions in primary sources.

Gerald of Wales, a scholar and churchman, went on a journey around Wales in 1188. The purpose of this trip, which set out from and ended in Hereford, was to accompany Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury on a preaching mission to convince men to go on crusade to fight the "infidel".  

On his journey Gerald kept a diary, and from it we can find out lots of information on how the Welsh lived. If we consider that many people of Welsh origin also lived in parts of Herefordshire, we can certainly draw parallels. Gerald describes the simple manner in which many people lived:

"... there are no tables, no tablecloths and no napkins... Alongside one of the walls is placed a communal bed, stuffed with rushes, and not that many of them. For sole covering there is a stiff harsh sheet, ... They all go to bed together. They keep on the same clothes which they have worn all day, a thin cloak and a tunic, which is all they have to keep the cold out. A fire is kept burning all night at their feet, just as it had done all day, and they get some warmth from the people sleeping next to them. When their underneath side begins to ache through the hardness of the bed and their uppermost side is frozen stiff with cold, they get up and sit by the fire, which soon warms them up and sooths away their aches and pains. Then they go back to bed again, turning over on their other side if they feel like it, so that a different part is frozen and another side bruised by the hard bed." (Gerald of Wales, The Journey Through Wales/The Description of Wales, p. 238, translated by Lewis Thorpe, Penguin Classics, 1978)

Despite the lack of furniture and comfortable bedding, the Welsh took great care of their appearance. This is what Gerald says of how the Welsh look after their teeth:

"Both sexes take great care of their teeth, more than I have seen in any country. They are constantly cleaning them with green hazel-shoots and then rubbing them with woollen cloths until they shine like ivory." (Gerald of Wales, as above)

Archaeological evidence points to the use of cooking pots and cauldrons, not spits for roasting. This backs up the theory that villagers ate mostly soups and porridge, and perhaps stew.

The villeins, marginally better-off than the cottars, usually lived in houses of three rooms, often in the shape of longhouses. These longhouses had two living rooms at one end and a room for animals and farm stores at the other. Again, few long houses had chimneys, although some had smoke holes. The hearth would have been in the centre of the house and daily family life would have taken place in this area.

A rare example for a probable longhouse in Herefordshire is Llangunville Farm in Llanrothal (Historic Environment Record reference number 12195).

After the 13th century more prosperous villagers built separate buildings for their livestock, often at a right angle to the longhouse.

A good source of information on more substantial medieval houses is: J.W. Tonkin, "Medieval Houses in Herefordshire", in D. Whitehead and J. Eisel (eds.), A Herefordshire Miscellany, Lapridge Publications, 2000.

[Original author: Toria Forsyth-Moser, 2002]