Cottage (residential building)
Cottage is a vaguely defined term used in the British Isles for old, mostly small houses, which are mainly to be found in rural areas and are characterized by a traditional construction method with historical building elements. Characteristic of cottages are, for example, thatched roofs, slate roofs, wooden doors, wooden window frames, half-timbering, natural stone walls, and more rarely red brick or lime plaster. Typical features of the interior of a cottage are low ceilings, exposed ceiling beams, wooden floors or open fireplaces. A cottage garden is typically attached to the cottage, a small, overgrown garden in which native ornamental and useful plants are often allowed to spread freely.
Many cottages were built mainly from natural stone and thatched with thatch (“thatched cottage”). Since straw a shorter lifespan than Reet has Reet was later used in turn, in recent times due to durable granite shingles or corrugated iron was replaced.
Originally the cottages were inhabited by tenants, simple farmers and fishermen with their families. Until the middle of the 20th century, these houses had neither electricity nor running water. Traditionally, the only source of heat was the fireplace, which was not efficient due to a lack of thermal insulation; however, there was no alternative. It was heated with peat , which according to a centuries-old law can be mined free of charge in the moors up to the present day . The cottages often only consisted of a kitchen and living room and a bedroom. In the old days, the few cattle were often kept in the house as they provided an additional source of heat in winter.
Many of the old cottages have been renovated in recent years and modernized to the latest standards. They are often used as holiday homes or rented out to tourists.
literature
- Karen Sayer: Country Cottages. A cultural history. Manchester Univ. Press. 2000. ISBN 978-0-71904752-7
- N. Jennings, Clay Dabbins: Vernacular Buildings of the Solway Plain . Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. Extra Series Vol. 30. 2003.
See also
Web links
- Vernacular Architecture ; contains a detailed bibliography.