The Coniitrv Gciitlcmaiis Magazine 



55* 



ilraim ;^viiiitecture ani) (fnaiuccriiui. 



NOTES ON COTTAGES WITH COTTAGE PLANS. 



CHAPTER THE SKCOXD. 



"^ T TE now come to the considerations 

 VV connected with the second division 

 o( our subject — \iz., AccoiiiDiodaiion in the 

 totiagt\ or the number of roo/ns it should eon- 

 tain. 



On this subject there are a variety of 

 opinions. The following remarks on it are 

 made by the Association for Promoting Im- 

 l)rovement in the Dwellings and Domestic 

 Condition of Agricultural Labourers in Scot- 

 land : — " Some maintain that a kitchen and a 

 bedroom, with a milk-house, is quite suffi- 

 cient, and to give more is an error, as a 

 l)loughman can only furnish one apartment. 

 But very little furniture will suffice. In a 

 small bedroom they must have the requisite 

 number of beds, and it seems quite as easy 

 to have them in separate rooms as to have 

 two in the same room. All the addition, 

 therefore, that is required is a small table, a 

 couple of chairs, and, if thought necessary, 

 a small basin-stand. It is plain that if there 

 is a large family living in such a house as that 

 mentioned — namely, a room and kitchen — 

 there cannot be a proper separation of the 

 sexes. On the other hand, it is asserted that 

 there should be no beds in the kitchen, and 

 no fewer than four separate apartments ; one, 

 the kitchen, or living room, a bedroom for 

 the parents, and two smaller bedrooms for 

 the children, and this seems the proper 

 method, if there is to be a due separation of 

 the sexes, and no beds in the kitchen. There 

 is, however, a strong prejudice among the 

 ]>loughmen themselves against removing the 

 beds from the kitchen, and it may be w'orth 

 while to consider whether something between 

 these different methods might not answer the 

 same purpose. By allowing one bed only in 



the kitchen, and having two bedrooms be- 

 sides, three separate sleeping apartments can 

 be obtained (as in the former case) without 

 violating the prejudices of the inhabitants so 

 much, as if the beds were entirely removed 

 from the .kitchen. This method is liable, 

 however, to the objections urged against 

 sleeping in the kitchen. Each house should 

 also have a milk-house or pantry ; a scullery 

 (if properly used) will also be a great con- 

 venience for washing, &c., as by this means 

 the kitchen may be kept in a much cleaner 

 and more orderly state than it would other- 

 wise be. To decree, therefore, the ends above 

 mentioned, it appears that at least three 

 apartments are necessary, two of these being 

 used exclusively as sleeping apartments ; the 

 other, the kitchen or living-room, for cook.- 

 ing, &c., and also as a sleeping apartment; 

 and if the kitchen is used for cooking and 

 eating only, four apartments will be required. 

 There should also be attached to each cottage 

 an ash-pit and privy. These may be placed 

 either in a small court at each end (as in a 

 pair of cottages), or at the back, leaving a 

 clear space of at least ten or twelve feet be- 

 tween them and the cottage. The piggery 

 shoald be built as far as possible from the 

 house." 



On the accommodation of the cottage, the 

 following hints will be useful : — Every fa- 

 cility should be given to the mistress of the 

 cottage to keep things tidily arranged. As 

 to the cultivation of habits of order and 

 tidiness, it is folly to talk of their ab- 

 sence in the houses of the poor, where 

 there is a complete absence of all those 

 conveniences by which alone this tidiness 

 is assisted, and by which, we ma\- here 



