A Peasants Life - Their Home

The home of the average worker consisted of wooden supports with spaces consisting of a mixture of material called wattle and daub. The lumber was mostly oak, purchased from a lumber-jack or cut down by the family. The wattle of the house consisted of mainly willow or oak sticks woven together to form a type of mesh which stood up to all the elements and provided some sort of insulation in the winter. The daub was applied to the wattle to seal it and make it waterproof. Daub was made from mud, clay, horsehair, and the dung of the animals in the area. The floor was dirt, covered by a layer of reeds which provided some cushioning for the tired workers' feet. The roof was made of a similar type of woven reed/daub combination or shingles made of wood or slate . It was usually sturdy as well as waterproof. These homes, however, were not known for their durability or security. Thieves often broke into the home by digging and cutting holes through one of the walls, because it was much easier and quieter than trying to break through the locked door. The house could either be one or two stories high, and if there was a second floor, it was usually a loft or attic of some kind, used mainly for storage and occasionally for sleeping. A cooking fire of peat or wood burned drearily day and night in a clearing in the middle of the dirt floor. The smoke seeped out through an opening in the roof, called a louvre, allowed the smoke to escape. In almost every craftsmen's home, from where most of them distributed their goods, there was a large frontal window with two horizontal shutters, which folded out to create an awning and a small counter to sell their items from. It was much less expensive to be a craftsmen if you did not have to pay for the additional expense of another separate building to work in.