A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



perhaps originally for defence, but preserved later to restrain straying cattle. 

 The openings in it were closed by ledyates or lydegates, and the duty of keeping 

 the lydegates and the intervening stiles in repair was incumbent upon the holders 

 of certain lands. ^ The houses lay disposed in ' rows,' often known as North 

 Row, South Row, &c. about the village green. They varied in size from 

 the manor-house, the ' manerium ' of the rolls, inclosed in its own court- 

 yard and ditch, to the humble shanty of the widow ; but they were all alike 

 in being built of wood and thatched. Even the village church in pre- 

 Norman times was often built of wood, although some indisputable Saxon 

 church architecture has come down to us, such as the church at Escombe or 

 the tower of Billingham church. Perhaps the priest's house might be a little 

 more elaborate as time went on, but apart from the rectory and the manor- 

 house, all dwellings can be grouped under two headings, the messuage and 

 the cottage, the former being the home of the more substantial villager, 

 who developed into the later yeoman, the latter being the home of the cotter, 

 who at first held a few acres in the common fields or in a ' croft,' but 

 degenerated into the landless free-labourer. Hedge-bote and house-bote 

 were not privileges of the Durham peasant under either the bishop or the 

 prior, but permission could be obtained from the steward to cut down trees 

 or to take underwood for the purpose of building or repairing a cottage.' 

 To take such materials without permission was a grave offence.^ The 

 tenant was bound to leave the cottage in as good a state of repair as he 

 found it,* but if his goods were not valuable enough to distrain upon the 

 halmote ordered the lord's bailiff to make the cottage habitable,^ or else the 

 incoming tenant was allowed money or a remission of rent.* We are told 

 of cases where anything portable was carried off by the villagers from an 

 empty house.'' If the lord seems to have been hard on the tenant, we 

 must remember that the latter was often very careless, and fires were not 

 uncommon when the houses were all of wood. In any case the damage to be 

 paid by the tenant was assessed by the village jury, and was generally none 

 too severe. 



We are told little about the actual arrangements of the house, but pro- 

 bably the messuage differed but little from the cottage save in size, which is 

 indicated by the number of 'syles ' in it. Two couples of syles were found in 

 the smaller cottage, and were the ' sills ' or main beams which rested on the 

 ' ribbs ' or wooden posts which formed the outline of the house. Probably 

 the wooden house in Durham resembled a similar structure elsewhere. The 

 space between the ribbs would be occupied by rough planks nailed or tied to 

 them on either side, and between the planks the interstices would be filled up 

 by a sort of mortar made of chopped straw or brushwood and clay. Across 

 the opening between a pair of syles the joists or 'firsts' were laid, and upon 

 each of the other pair of syles a ' gavilforc ' or triangular gable frame of 

 wood was placed. The tops of the gables supported a beam still called the 

 rig-tree in parts of the north country. From the rig-tree to the syle on either 

 side ran the ' spars' or rafters, and upon them the thatching was placed. If 



' Dur. Halmote R. (Surtees Soc. Ixxxii), 51, 142; Bp. Hatfield's Surv. (Surtees Soc. xxxii), 83 and glossary. 



' Dur. Halmote R. (Surtees Soc. Ixxxii), 34. 



» Ibid. 98. ' Ibid. 26, 114. ' Ibid. 27. 



* Ibid. 42, 146. ' Ibid. 42. 



198 



