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Medieval Villages: Agriculture and Work. Classic Three Field System/Open Fields Manor. Artist’s rendition of an English village (East Meon in Hampshire) c. 1086. Weald and Down Open-Air Museum (Wales). Eleventh-Century Manor House. Manor house (Leicestershire, England).
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Artist’s rendition of an English village (East Meon in Hampshire) c. 1086
Wharram Percy: Deserted medieval village in Yorkshire (village plan c. 1400) • Each peasant house at Wharram Percy had a small "yard" surrounding it called a toft (red on the map) and a croft (green on the map) which served as a small "garden" to supply the family with root crops, legumes and, perhaps, grain. The houses were spread out on the western edge of the valley from south to north interrupted by the two manor house enclosures (blue on the map). In the floor of the valley -- north of the church -- there is a row of smaller tofts/crofts. There is also a group of house sites across the "head" of the village; these houses run east and west. At its largest the village was made up of about 37 houses. Using an arbitrarily chosen number of 5 persons per house, the population could never have been much over 185 souls. • This arrangement -- houses on both sides of the central street with a group heading the village -- is not unlike many other English villages with a central grassy common. • The map shows the village at its largest about 1400. • Prof. Ken Tompkins.http://loki.stockton.edu/~ken/wharram/houses.htm
Wharram Percy: Peasant’s House (interior) • The basic peasant house in the 13th century was about 15 feet wide and might be twice the length; houses of the 14th century were about 20 feet wide and 80 feet in length. This latter type -- the long house -- had an attached "byre" or barn which might have housed farm animals or could have been used for storage. The central room was long and open with no partitions. There would have been an open fire pit with a smokehole in the roof above. At the end, farthest from the byre, there frequently was a separate half-height room used, probably, for sleeping. An artists conception is shown below. • Ken Tompkins http://loki.stockton.edu/~ken/wharram/peasant.htm
Peasant’s House: construction • Peasant houses had low foundations of chalk blocks; indeed, at House Site 6 the chalk had been quarried in the croft of the house site itself -- out of the peasant's front yard, so to speak. The crucks rested on large padstones built into the foundations. Between the crucks, the walls were generally "wattle and daub"; daub was a mizture of mud and straw. Another possible wall covering was called "cob" which was 3 parts chalk and 1 part clay mixed with straw. Basically, the wall was a frame with small vertical posts woven with smaller, flexible sticks to form a base for the daub. This woven frame is the wattle. The daub was then plastered on the wattle, inside and out. • Ken Tompkins http://loki.stockton.edu/~ken/wharram/peasant.htm
Heavy plow (Anglo-Saxon calendar, ca. 1030)Plowing of fallow field would begin in late March or early April
Broadcast sowing: Duc de Berry’s Belles Heures c. 1400)Spring crops (barley, oats, beans, vetches) were typically sown in AprilWinter crops (wheat and rye) sown in the fall
Shepherds with flock: Anglo-Saxon calendar (May), Wincester c. 1030s
Cutting and loading wood: Anglo-Saxon calendar (July), Wincester c. 1030s
Anglo-Saxon calendar (Sept): men feeding hogs; huntsman with dogs (Winchester, c. 1030s)
Pruning vines from an Anglo-Saxon calendar from Winchester, c.1030s
Harvesting from an Anglo-Saxon calendar (August) from Winchester, c. 1030s
Threshing with flails (September): separating individual grains from the ear
