House and Garden 
CROSS-SECTION OF TYPICAL EARLY YORK¬ 
SHIRE HOUSE 
tered. Sometimes the intervals between the 
spaces were filled in with “mud-wall,” a 
material composed of chalk or clay mingled 
with chopped straw.' The floor was the bare 
earth, or it was sometimes pitched with flints. 
There were chimneys, and a few panes of 
glass in the windows. The bedrooms under 
the thatched roof were reached by means of 
a ladder or rude staircase. Sixty years ago 
houses of this de¬ 
scription, relics of 
the past, existed in 
St. Mary Bourne, 
Hampshire. 
The home of the 
farmer in the fif¬ 
teenth century had 
neither chimney 
nor windows, the 
smoke escaping 
where the light 
came in, an un¬ 
comfortable ar¬ 
rangement which 
still exists in some 
of the poorer cab¬ 
ins of the peas- 
antry in the 
Western Islands of 
Scotland. The 
wood fire burnt on 
a hearth of clay. 
When the long winter evenings came round, 
the glowing embers of the fire alone gave 
light to the inhabitants of this cheerless 
dwelling. No candle’s glimmering light was 
seen therein, as the fat required for making 
them was very costly, being four times the 
price of meat. Rushlights, which were made 
by drawing a dry rush several times through 
heated tallow, and then allowed to cool, were 
the only means of illumination. I hese when 
used were supported by a sort of tongs which 
enabled tbe holder, with safety to himself, to 
cast a few fickle gleams about the dark abode, 
and upon tbe faces of the farmer’s family. 
Ruder still was the house of‘the laborer. 
At tbe beginning of the fifteenth century, it 
cannot be denied that the houses of the peas¬ 
ants were hovels of poverty and filth. Villages 
were clusters of mud huts covered with reeds 
and straw. There was sometimes only a sin¬ 
gle apartment, and “ Piers Plowman ” tells of 
the dank smoke that came from the turf fire 
which could find no vent, but through the 
window holes and the chinks of the door, and 
“Plowman” complained that 
“ Smoke and smothre smyt in his eyes.” 
In Northumberland the roofs of the old cot¬ 
tages were made of “forks” which rested on 
HALF-TIMBERED HOUSE AT BRENCHLEY 
AN OLD 
93 
