Image ID: 19657

Main Street showing cruck house (left), Sutton Bonington, 1908

Costock
England

Exact location unknown. Cruck houses date back to the 15th century. They had a wooden frame onto which was plastered wattle and daub. This was a mixture of mud, straw and manure. The straw added insulation to the wall while the manure was considered good for binding the whole mixture together and giving it strength. The mixture was left to dry in the sun and formed what was a strong building material. Cruck houses were not big but repairs were quite cheap and easy to do. The roofs were thatched. There would be little furniture within the cruck houses and straw would be used for lining the floor. The houses are likely to have been very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. Windows were just holes in the walls as glass was very expensive. Doors might be covered with a curtain rather than having a door as good wood could be expensive. At night, any animal you owned would be brought inside for safety.

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KeywordsHousevillageruralfieldviewlandscapebuildingstreeslanestreetroadrooftopschimneystackpotchurchreligiousbuildingbelltowerbelfry

West Bridgford Library