Early Town Houses
Houses in towns have been more frequently rebuilt and altered in
various ways than those in the villages. The chief material used in
building was wood, as it was in the villages, and one of the great
dangers in the Middle Ages was that of fire. In the towns this
danger was greater than in the villages, and fires happened more
frequently.
The leading men in a town had more money to spend, and the increase
of business, or a desire for change, led them to improve their
houses. It was easier for a wealthy townsman to get leave from the
"corporation", or guild which ruled the town, to rebuild his house
than it was for the villein in the village to get the leave of the
manor court.
The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries all saw a great
growth in architecture; they were the Early English, the Decorated,
and the Perpendicular Periods of architecture. In most of the old
churches, and in many of the old mansions, we have specimens of
all these periods; but not very many of the town houses founded
in the Middle Ages, and still standing, are much earlier than
the fifteenth century. In that age there was a great development
of woodwork, and there is hardly one old town which has not some
woodwork of that time in some of its old houses.
The rich and prosperous townsman rebuilt his house according to
the fashion of his time; but through all the three centuries the
general arrangements of the dwelling-house did not alter very much.
In some parts of London, and in many country towns, you can see
that some of the very old-fashioned shops in the main street are
reached from the pavement by a little flight of steps. Below the
shop there is a big light cellar, and the small boy or girl who
wants to look in at the shop window has to "tiptoe" very much in
order to do so. Now, that arrangement is just a little relic of the
old town house of the Middle Ages.
The house was usually quite narrow, and had a gable facing the
street. It was built over a cellar of stone, often arched and
vaulted very much like a church. There were steps from the street
down to the cellar, and these steps had to be protected, or
accidents were certain to happen to careless foot-passengers. Then,
too, there were steps up to the room over the cellar, which formed
the shop and workroom in one. The front of the shop would be open,
like a stall, and there would probably be a passage through to the
back of the house.
Above the shop would be another room or rooms, over which, in the
open space under the roof, was the great attic running through the
house. This attic was often kept as a store-room, and goods were
hoisted from the street by a crane; but in later times it would be
formed most likely into little sleeping-rooms, very small, very,
dark, and very unhealthy. Very often they led one into the other,
and had no windows or means of proper ventilation.
Most of the work would be done in the shop, where the master, his
workmen, and apprentices all did their share. The apprentices would
sleep in the shop at night, and very probably the workmen as well.
It was quite a usual thing for all the establishment to work and
live and sleep on the premises. The rooms occupied by the master
and his family at first were few in number; separate bedrooms only
came into use very gradually indeed.
The walls of the house above the cellar were usually of wood, and
the front towards the street was often skilfully and beautifully
carved. In some English counties still there are very fine
specimens of these old town houses; those at Chester, Shrewsbury,
and Ludlow, for instance, are famed all over the world.
[Illustration: _Shop of the Middle Ages now standing in Foregate
Street, Chester_]
We must not suppose that all the houses were equally splendid, or
equally well built; there was then, no doubt, bad building as well
as good. In fact there must have been some very careless building
in early days, and especially so in Norman times. It is a curious
fact that almost every big Norman church tower tumbled down because
it was badly built, even though Norman work looked very massive and
substantial, and was very imposing.
Merchants and wealthy tradesmen took great pride in their houses,
and the woodwork and furniture in them were splendid. Kings and
nobles were no better housed than these wealthy townsmen, nor did
they have more of the comforts of life.
But the poor! There were always the poor and the outcast in every
town; but they did not exist in the enormous numbers of later
years, or of the present day. Their wretched little hovels were
huddled together in close alleys, and life in them must have been
very cheerless and unwholesome. It was, however, _somebody's_
business to look after them. The religious houses, the churches,
the colleges, all did their part in distributing food at their
gates daily. Many wealthy people, both nobles and citizens, did
likewise, and to give alms to the poor was a work of charity which
no self-respecting citizen thought of shirking. Then, too, the
guild or corporation kept a sharp look-out upon the poor; strangers
were turned out of the town, and the people punished who had taken
them into their houses without having the consent of the town
authorities. In old town records we often come across instances of
people being punished for "harbouring inmates".
[Illustration: _A Cradle of the Fourteenth Century now in a
London Museum_]