English vernacular architecture is the vernacular architecture built in England, especially between the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution. Vernacular architecture is that designed and built by people without formal academic training, following local precedents and using locally available materials. This includes manor houses, farmhouses, cottages, agricultural buildings, mills, some industrial buildings and chapels, but generally excludes castles, palaces, factories and churches. Due to the great geological and economic variation within England, vernacular buildings in different regions of the country appear very different.
History
While earlier examples exist, English vernacular houses begin to survive in large numbers after the Great Rebuilding. This hypothesised event was when farmers began to construct their houses in materials durable enough to survive to the present, due to increased wealth and security. It is believed to have begun in the prosperous south-east in the 16th century, and to have lasted in the poorer north-west into the 18th century. The ephemeral buildings before this time have been referred to as 'primitive architecture', though the developed nature of the plans of surviving vernacular buildings suggests that the Great Rebuilding reflected changes in building materials, not form. The boundary between 'primitive architecture' and surviving vernacular architecture is the 'vernacular threshold', while the boundary between vernacular and 'polite' (professionally-designed) architecture is the 'polite threshold'. Both these thresholds are blurred, as archaeology has show that some medieval peasants' houses were solidly built, while polite architecture could still exhibit local variation, due to fashion or available materials. Both thresholds also varied by social class, such that most houses of the nobility were polite by the 16th century, and farmhouses by the 19th century, whereas in some regions labourers' cottages seldom survive before the 19th century. In addition, houses were generally built in a permanent form before agricultural or industrial buildings, giving them an earlier vernacular threshold.
Early vernacular architecture was based on medieval Gothic architecture, i.e. ornamented features like doors and open roofs used pointed arches. Houses were generally based on a full-height hall, heated from an open hearth. The introduction of Renaissance architecture in the 16th century was largely ignored at the vernacular level, but there were important changes. The increased use of chimneys and fireplaces meant that the open hall could be ceiled over, creating a house of multiple floors and enclosed rooms.Brunskill 2000, pp. 122-123 From the 17th century, printed architectural pattern books became widely available to craftsmen (who would both design and construct buildings), disseminating classical details. However, the proportional systems behind classical architecture were misunderstood by local builders, leading to the sub-medieval or Artisan Mannerist styles, which freely combined Gothic, Classical and wholly invented forms. In the 18th century, the growth of the professional architect and the publication of more competent pattern books led to middle-class Georgian houses looking increasingly similar, though still with the variety that came from using local materials. Following the Industrial Revolution, mass-production of materials and improved railway transportation meant that similar building materials were used across the country, particularly brick and Welsh slate, meaning that vernacular building generally ceased in the 19th century.Brunskill 2000, p. 226
Materials
Timber In most parts of England, timber was historically abundant and was the most common structural material, though its susceptibility to decay means that it is now under-represented in surviving buildings. In the vernacular period, timber was used as a structural frame, rather than in logs walls like Scandinavia. Most regions used box framing, in which the roof structure sits atop the walls. The gaps between the timbers were then usually filled with wattle and daub, though other materials like brick could be used. In eastern England, the timbers were set close together so that these panels were long and thin, while in the west the panels were usually squarer.Brunskill 2000, p. 58 Western England also used cruck framing, in which paired timbers formed A-frames carrying a steep roof, with low, structurally independent side walls.Brunskill 2000. p. 56 Timber framed walls could be finished with a variety of treatments, including plain limewash, pargeting, tile-hanging (in a variety of patterns), slate-hanging, mathematical tiles (to simulate brick) and weatherboarding.
Masonry
For its size, England has a great variety of building stones. The country is diagonally divided by a belt of good limestone, running from Dorset to Yorkshire. To its north-west, there are sandstones in Devon, the West Midlands and Durham, and then hard volcanic granites and slates in Cornwall and Cumbria. To its south-east, there are soft chalks and unworkable flints, overlaid by clay. In vernacular buildings, stone was generally used as rubble, though many better-quality houses had ashlar walling, and the Cornish even cut granite into neat blocks, for example at Cotehele.Clifton-Taylor 1972, p. 150 Because south-east England lacks good building stones but has abundant clay, it was the first part of the country to make bricks, starting on a small scale in the 12th century (Coggeshall Abbey, Essex), but expanding after the 15th century. As well as superseding timber framing, brick began to displace stone, due to its ease in construction and use in high-status buildings like Hampton Court Palace.
Earth As well as being used for various forms of daub and plaster, earth was used in some regions to make walls, including cob in the West Country, clay dabbins in north Cumbria, mud and stud (a crude variant of wattle and daub) in Lincolnshire and Lancashire, clay lump (adobe) in East Anglia, and wychert in Buckinghamshire.Brunskill 2000, pp. 52-53, 70 Except for cob, earth walling was generally used for lower-quality buildings, and has not survived well. As earth walls have less structural capacity than masonry, they were often combined with cruck roofs.Brunskill 2000, p. 52
Roofing Traditionally, reed or straw thatch was the main roof covering in England. However, its flammability and short lifespan led to other materials being sought. Where stones that could be split were available, these were used: genuine slates in Cumbria and the West Country, flagstones in the north-west, and various stone 'slates' (such as Horsham in Sussex and Collyweston in Northamptonshire) elsewhere. Where suitable stone was not available, clay tiles (south-east and central England) or pantiles (east and north-east England) were used.Brunskill 2000, p. 208 When a pantiled roof is steeply pitched and has flagstone courses at the eaves, it has often replaced a thatched covering. Timber shingles are now seldom seen, except on some church spires around Sussex.
Regional variations Ronald Brunskill divided English vernacular architecture into thirteen regions, each with their own distinct architecture, as follows:
South-East England
The lack of good stone meant that brick generally followed timber framing (though also some flintwork). Chequered flint and chalk walling can be seen in some parts of Dorset and Wiltshire. Bungaroosh, a loose agglomeration of rubble and brick which has been described as "the worst building material in the world", was used around Brighton in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Wealden house was a common late medieval form, efficiently combining hall and side chambers under one hipped roof, often with gablets to allow the smoke to escape. Medieval buildings also often had decorative crown post roofs. Timber could be clad in various forms of tile hangingBrunskill 2004, pp. 134-135, though in Tenterden weatherboarding was used even on Classical-style buildings. The oast house was a common industrial building, used for drying local hops; many examples have now been converted to houses.
South-West England In Devon, cob and rounded straw thatch were common.Brunskill 2004, pp. 136-137 Roofs were often half-hipped, rather than gabled. Jointed crucks (where the curved blade is formed of two timbers, not one) were used in east Devon and west Dorset and Somerset.Brunskill 2000, p. 203 There could be distinctive bulbous projections from chimney-breasts, to house ovens. Houses with chimneys on the front wall were concentrated in north Devon.Brunskill 2000, p. 209 In Cornwall, some manor houses used massive, laboriously cut granite blocks, though sandstone was more common. Even stone walls were often covered with slate hanging, to protect against the Atlantic weather. Early farms were often longhouses, with people and animals under one roof. Chall barns (a form of bank barn) were occasionally used to combine crops and livestock. The ruined engine houses of former tin mines are a UNESCO-listed feature of the Cornish landscape.
East Anglia Churches and other high-status buildings were generally built of flint, due to the lack of better stone. This could be combined with expensively-imported freestone to form ornamental flushwork patterns. Most houses were timber framed with close studding, which could be used decoratively, as at Paycocke's House, Essex. Roofs were steep and gabled. Suffolk is distinctive for its 'Suffolk pink' limewash, coloured with berries or oxblood. Limewash could also be decorated with incised pargeting, or even moulded plasterwork, as at the Ancient House, Ipswich. Brick was used early, and could be used to dress flint walls or infill timber framing, as well as on its own. In the Fens, brick production combined with trading connections to the Low Countries and extensive use of pattern books to give rise to the 'Fen Artisan' style in the mid-17th century. The baffle-entry house plan, in which the front door leads to a lobby beside the central chimney, was common from the 16th century.Brunskill 2004, pp. 138-139 Barns, of which Essex has some very large and early aisled examples, were weatherboarded and tarred. Thatching was steep, of Norfolk reed, a prized material.Clifton-Taylor 1972, p. 338
The low-lying nature of the Norfolk Broads means that water must be pumped out to keep the land dry; this was traditionally done by windpumps (often erroneously termed windmills), of which the surviving examples are brick tower mills. Earlier 'true' windmills in the region could also be timber post or smock mills.
Home Counties
The Home Counties combined the features of the surrounding regions, with poor flinty or chalky stone often covered with limewash.Brunskill 2004, pp. 140-141 Wychert, a mixture of chalk, clay and straw, was also used.
The Cotswolds and the Limestone Belt
This region has the best building stone in England, including the Portland, Purbeck, Ham, Bath, Cotswold, Barnack, Clipsham, Ketton, Ancaster and Tadcaster limestones. These vary in colour from the rich gold oolitic limestones of Bath to the near-white magnesian of Tadcaster. Much of the region has also been prosperous throughout its history, giving a consistent series of high-quality vernacular buildings, concentrated in towns like Stamford, Lincolnshire. The better farmhouses could even be built of ashlar, where a nearby quarry kept stone transport costs down. Roofs were generally of steeply-pitched stone 'slates', such as those mined at Collyweston. Windows were mullioned, often with hood moulds. Chimneys were square, and could come in pairs or groups.Brunskill 2004, pp. 142-143
West Midlands