Medieval houses free#

Some common features of medieval peasant homes in Southern England were the open hall and the lack of a chimney or upper floor, evidenced by soot from the central hearth. The norm for peasant homes was customary tenure or copyhold tenure, though the particulars of legal status were often not as important in practice as the agricultural resources made available by the land.

Medieval houses free#

Legal instruments įew peasant landholders were free tenants. It is, however, usually not possible to link a specific home with a particular historic holding but some general observations may be possible like the house was part of a yardland farm. Smaller houses of cruck construction found the Midlands are believed to belong to peasants of more modest means. The Wealden buildings in Kent are associated with a rising and prosperous group of yeomen.

A Description of England 1577) some time after what is generally considered Medieval. It is important to remember that glass and lime cement only became available midway through the 1500s (Rev. By the 15th century wealthier sub-classes of peasants were beginning to emerge under the manorial estates in the rural countryside of at least some parts of England, notably in the pastoral areas more than the heavily agrarian areas of the Midlands.

The label 'peasant' encompasses a wider range of social classes than previously thought. Historians have generally had low opinions of peasant houses describing them as 'hardly more than crude huts' and 'primitive.for the most part (houses) were small, with one or two rooms for people and animals alike.' Historians had long held the view that peasant houses were not built to last and would not last more than a generation but new evidence has proven this false and it is now accepted by historians and archaeologists that 'later medieval houses survive in their thousands'. Background A sketch of a medieval cottage There was almost always a fire burning, sometimes left covered at night, because it was easier than relighting the fire. Peasant homes in medieval England were centered around the hearth while some larger homes may have had separate areas for food processing like brewhouses and bakehouses, and storage areas like barns and granaries.