Editing ALVATIA: Cottage Styles (section)

==Contents==

One bay of all but the smallest cottages will be the byre (12' by 12' to 15' by 15'). Chickens, pigs, oxen and other animals are stabled here, in three or four flimsy stalls separated by wicker dividers. Another wicker, or wattle-and-daub, wall divides the byre from the rest of the cottage; sometimes a doorway will be left in this wall. The space above the byre is used as a storage loft, with a crude floor of branches and split timber. Sickles, a flail, a scythe, an iron-rimmed spade, a billhook, yokes, a stone maul, a weeding crook and hook, some baskets, a pair of leather gloves, a pitchfork, a wooden rake, a seedlip (seeding-basket with shoulder strap) and other agricultural tools are kept here. If the cottager owns a plow or harrow, they will often be kept in an unused stall. A ladder made of flimsy rungs tied to two fairly straight branches is used to reach this loft. A rough door, wide enough for an ox to use, leads outside from the byre. The dirt floor of a byre in use is thick with mud, hay, and manure at all times, adding to the aroma from the walls and the roof. The byre never has a window.

The center bays of the cottage form the hall (12' x 12' to 15' x 30'). The hard-packed dirt floor is covered with fresh rushes or reeds once a week in most villages. A hearth, built from flat stones, is set into the floor directly under the ridge-beam; the roof beams and thatch above the hearth are quickly darkened with soot from the fire. An iron tripod (wooden in the poorest families) supports an iron cauldron over the hearth. A circular pottery "firestopper" is used to put out the fire. One or two trestle tables are set in the hall, along with a few wooden stools and chest benches. These chest benches hold, among other things, the bedding (of fabric, leather, or skin). In households that work with wool, a floor loom, distaff spindles, shears, iron, dyes in small pots, and carding brushes will be here. If a "main" door outside exists in the hall, it will have a flat stone set in the threshold, to keep the entry from become a mud puddle in winter. Windows are unglazed, but have wooden shutters fitted on metal hinges. With the low eaves of the thatch roof, much of the light within the hall enters through the smoke-hole. Hooks, pegs, and small shelves on the wall and roof beams provide storage for utensils and some foodstuffs.

If more than three bays exist, the last bay will be a pantry (12' x 12' to 15' x 15'). Doors to the outside, front and back, open into this bay, forming a cross passage. They, too, have stone thresholds, to prevent puddles from forming on the dirt floor; in smaller houses, these are the main front and back doors for the family. Windows are rarely built for this bay. The pantry bay (if present) is usually divided from the hall by a wicker, or wattle-and-daub, wall with a door set in it. One side of the pantry (the pantry proper) is used for food storage, and has a few shelves built onto the outside walls; the simple cooking implements are also kept here. The other half of this bay is the buttery, where ale and dairy products are kept in barrels, jars, nets and tubs. A wicker, or wattle-and-daub, wall often separates the pantry and buttery.