58 LITTLE HUCKLOW : ITS CUSTOMS AND OLD HOUSES. 



In the fourteenth century houses were estimated by the 

 number of gavelforks (" crucks ") and couples of siles which 

 they contained. Thus the " fire-house," or dwelling-house, 

 mentioned in the last footnote contained five couples of siles 

 and two gavelforks — i.e., one gavelfork at each end of the 

 building. In other words, it contained six bays, and they, we 

 may presume, were of uniform size. It will be seen that, whilst 

 a gavelfork, or " cruck," extends down to the ground (fig. i), 

 resting only on a stone, a sile rests on a tie-beam which serves 

 as a joist for the chamber floor (fig. 2). These two kinds of 

 coupling — viz., "crucks" and siles — were often used in the 

 same building ; but " crucks " were the rule in this neighbour- 

 hood, and this is the only " couple of siles " which I have 

 seen. 



This divided house, as I have called it, may remind us of 

 the old days when equal division of real property was the rule 

 after intestacy.* According to the Laws of Cnut, if a man died 

 intestate his wife and children took the inheritance, probably 

 following the Roman law.t And in the Laws of Cnut we 

 have this enactment : " Where the husband dwelt without claim 

 or contest, let the wife and children dwell in the same."! 

 When, however, they continued to live in the house of the 

 dead husband and father, they parcelled it out amongst them. 



II. — The Undivided House. 



I have now to describe another type of house, which differs 

 essentially from those which have just been examined, and 

 only resembles them in the fact that it consists, as they do, of 

 a house-place, scullery, or pantry, and two chambers. Such 

 are its present, and such were its original, contents, but the 

 building was enlarged on the north side at a later time. This 

 house, which belongs to me, is a colour-washed dwelling, built 



* Si quis paterfamilias casu aliquo sine testamento obierit, pueri inter 

 se hereditatem equaliter dividant." — Laws of William the Conqueror, c. 33. 

 The French version renders " pueri " as " les enfans." 



tC. 71. 



tC 73- 



