VILLAGES 



Buildings are always worth studying ; they 

 have a great deal to tell us about the customs 

 and the skill of those who built them. We may 

 learn something from noting the materials of 

 which they are made ; whether of stone, brick, or 

 timber ; and how they are covered over, whether 

 by tiles, slates, or thatch. Each part of the 

 country has some peculiarity of its own, either 

 in materials or workmanship. We find thatch 

 used where corn is grown, and good straw is 

 therefore easily to be had ; and timber is seen 

 where woods and forests have been plentiful. 

 Bricks are common in districts where there is 

 clay out of which to make them, and stone 

 houses are to be found wherever a suitable rock 

 is to be quarried. 



Of all the buildings in a village, the one of 

 greatest interest is usually the church ; because, 

 as we said before, it has been the centre of the 

 common life from the earliest times, has been 

 added to and improved when the people were 

 prosperous, and has fallen into disrepair and 

 been neglected when they were poor or care- 

 less. So by studying the church attentively it 

 is often possible to trace out the ups and downs 

 of a village- 

 Let us go into some village church-yard and 

 see what we may learn. Around us are the 

 burial places of the former inhabitants, whose 

 grandchildren and great-grandchildren are play- 

 ing in the lanes, using the same words and 



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