From en.wikipedia.org:
[date=October 2021] [Dwelling type] [the small house or dwelling] <!--0px|A
typical thatched cottage in Yealmpton, Devon, England, built many centuries
ago. Although it looks attractive, it was built as a purely functional
building with no thought given to aesthetics]]-->
A COTTAGE, during England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager
(known as a cotter or _bordar_) of a small house with enough garden to feed a
family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide some form of
service to the manorial lord.[1] However, in time cottage just became the
general term for a small house. In modern usage, a cottage is usually a
modest, often cosy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location and
not necessarily in England. The cottage orné, often quite large and grand
residences built by the nobility, dates back to a movement of "rustic"
stylised cottages of the late 18th and early 19th century during the Romantic
movement.
In British English the term now denotes a small, cosy dwelling of traditional
build, although it can also be applied to modern construction designed to
resemble traditional houses ("mock cottages"). Cottages may be detached
houses, or terraced, such as those built to house workers in mining villages.
The tied accommodation provided to farm workers was usually a cottage, see
cottage garden. In England the term holiday cottage now denotes a specialised
form of residential let property, attracting various tax benefits to the
owner.
The holiday cottage exists in many cultures under different names. In
Canadian English and American English, "cottage" is one term for such holiday
homes, although they may also be called a "cabin", "chalet", or even "camp".
In Australia, the term "cabin" is common, cottage usually referring to a
smaller pre-modern period dwelling. In certain countries (e.g. Nordics,
Baltics, and Russia) the term "cottage" has local synonyms: In Finnish
_mökki_, in Estonian _suvila_, in Latvian _vasarnīca_, in Livonian
_sõvvõkuodā_, in Swedish _stuga_, in Norwegian _hytte_ (from the German word
_Hütte_), in Czech or Slovak _chata_ or _chalupa_, in Russian _дача_
(_dacha_).[2]
In places such as Canada, "cottage" carries no connotations of size (compare
with vicarage or hermitage).
** Etymology
The word _cottage_ (Medieval Latin _cotagium_) derives from Old English _cot,
cote_ "hut" and Old French _cot_ "hut, cottage", from Old Norse _kot_ "hut"
and related to Middle Low German _kotten_ (cottage, hut). Examples of this
may be found in 15th century manor court rolls.[date=November 2020] The house
of the cottage bore the Latin name: "_domus_",[3] while the barn of the
cottage was termed "_grangia_".
** England
*** Medieval
The word originally referred to a humble rural detached dwelling of a
_cotter_, a semi-independent resident of a manor who had certain residential
rights from the lord of the manor, and who in the social hierarchy was a grade
above the slave (mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086), who had no right of
tenure and worked full-time to the orders of the lord. In the Domesday Book,
they were referred to as _Coterelli_.<ref name="elmes178" /> The cottage had a
small amount of surrounding agricultural land, perhaps two or three acres,
from which the resident gained his livelihood and sustenance. It was defined
by its function of housing a cotter, rather than by its form, which varied,
but it was certainly small and cheaply built and purely functional, with no
non-essential architectural flourishes. It would have been built from the
cheapest locally available materials and in the local style, thus in
wheat-growing areas, it would be roofed in thatch, and in slate-rich
locations, such as Cornwall, slates would be used for roofing. In stone-rich
areas, its walls would be built of rubble stone, and in other areas, such as
Devon, was commonly built from cob.[4]
*** Industrial Revolution
In England from about the 18th century onwards, the development of industry
led to the development of weavers' cottages and miners' cottages.[5] Friedrich
Engels cites 'Cottages' as a poor quality dwelling in his 1845 work _The
Condition of the Working Class in England_.
*** Enclosure acts
[Enclosure] Over the years various English acts of Parliament removed the
right of the cottager to hold land. According to John Lawrence Hammond and
Barbara Hammond in their book _The Village Labourer_, before an inclosure act
a cottager was a farm labourer with land, and after an inclosure act the
cottager was a farm labourer without land.[6]
*** Legal definition
In the law of England and Wales the definition of a cottage is "a small house
or habitation without land".[7] However, originally under an Elizabethan
statute, the cottage had to be built with at least [4] of land.<ref
name="elmes178" />
** Wales
The Welsh _Tŷ unnos_ or "house in a night", was built by squatters on a plot
of land defined by the throw of an axe from each corner of the property. In
Welsh a cottage is known as _bwthyn_ and its inhabitant _preswlydd_.[8]
** Scotland
In Scotland the equivalent to cottager would be the crofter and the term for
the building and its land would be croft.[9]
** Ireland
Irish cottages, known as [ga], were historically the homes of farmworkers and
labourers, but in recent years the term has assumed a romantic connotation
especially when referring to cottages with thatched roofs ([ga]). These
thatched cottages were once to be seen all over Ireland, but most have become
dilapidated due to newer and modern developments. However, there has been a
recent revival of restoring these old cottages, with people wanting a more
traditional home. Today, thatched cottages are now mostly built for the
tourist industry and many can be let out as accommodation.[10]
** Modern usage in Britain and Ireland
In popular modern culture, the term _cottage_ is used in a more general and
romantic context and can date from any era but the term is usually applied to
pre-modern dwellings. Older, pre-Victorian cottages tend to have restricted
height, and often have construction timber exposed, sometimes intruding into
the living space. Modern renovations of such dwellings often seek to
re-expose timber purlins, rafters, posts, etc. which have been covered, in an
attempt to establish perceived historical authenticity.
Older cottages are typically modest, often semi-detached or terraced, with
only four basic rooms ("two up, two down"), although subsequent modifications
can create more spacious accommodation. A labourer's or fisherman's
one-roomed house, often attached to a larger property, is a particular type of
cottage and is called a _penty_. The term cottage has also been used for a
larger house that is practical rather than pretentious: see Chawton Cottage.
** Outside Britain and Ireland
*** North America
[date=February 2021] Although the _Oxford English Dictionary_ states that the
term _cottage_ is used in North America to represent "a summer residence
(often on a large and sumptuous scale) at a watering-place or a health or
pleasure resort," most Americans expect a cottage, particularly a summer
cottage, to be a relatively small, possibly unfinished house. Various
editions of the quintessentially American _Webster's Dictionary_ define it as
"a small house; any modest country or suburban dwelling," (fifth edition) with
the eleventh edition describing even a vacation cottage as "a usu. small
house for vacation use."
In North America, most buildings known as cottages are used for weekend or
summer getaways by city dwellers. Cottage owners often rent their properties
to tourists as a source of revenue. In Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands, most
cottages are vacation rentals used for weekend or summer getaways. In
Michigan, a cottage normally means a summer residence farther north near or on
a lake. An example of a colonial era cottage in North America is a small
fieldstone house called Boelson Cottage in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia—one of
the oldest extant houses within the city (c.1678–84).
In the jargon of English-speaking Quebec's real-estate industry, a cottage is
any two-storey house, as opposed to a bungalow. However, "cottages" in
Eastern Canada are generally located next to lakes, rivers, or the ocean in
forested areas. They are used as a place to spend holidays with friends and
family; common activities include swimming, canoeing, waterskiing, fishing,
hiking, and sailing. There are also many well-known summer colonies. Cottage
living is one of the most popular tourist draws in Ontario, Canada, parts of
which have come to be known as cottage country. This term typically refers to
the north and south shores of Georgian Bay, Ontario; Muskoka, Ontario;
Haliburton, Ontario; and the Kawartha Lakes, Ontario; but has also been used
to describe several other Canadian regions. The practice of renting cottages
has become widespread in these regions, especially with rising property taxes
for waterfront property.
What Eastern Canadians refer to as "cottages" (seasonal-use dwellings), are
generally referred to as "cabins" in most of North America. This is most
notable in the Midwest and the Western United States, and Western Canada. In
much of Northern Ontario, New England, and upstate New York, a summer house
near a body of water is known as a camp.[date=September 2011] In the 1960s and
1970s, the A-Frame house became a popular cottage style in North America.
In the 1920s and 30s many gas stations were built in the style of Old World
cottages. Comprising about a third of the stations built in the United States
in those years, cottage-patterned facilities evoked a picturesque homeyness
and were easier to gain approval for than the more stylized or
attention-grabbing designs also commonly used at the dawn of the automobile
era.[11]
*** Australia
alt=Australian cabin (cottage) In Australia, the term "cabin" or "shack" is
commonly used for a small dwelling, the former more often for a place of
residence or tourist accommodation and the latter for a simple recreational
shelter, typically not continuously occupied. The term cottage usually refers
to historic smaller residential buildings, commonly stone or brick, typically
from Georgian or Victorian. More recently, cabins are often also referred to
tiny houses, however, cabins are built at a permanent site on proper footings,
while the term tiny house often implies that the dwelling is built on a
trailer platform and can be relocated.
*** Nordic countries
[Summer house#In the Nordic countries] [date=February 2021]
**** Finland
_Statistics Finland_ defines a cottage ([fi], Finland Swedish: _stuga_ or
_villa_) as "a residential building that is used as a holiday or free-time
dwelling and is permanently constructed or erected on its site".[12] Finnish
cottages are traditionally built of logs but other wood constructions have
become common. They are usually situated close to water and almost all have a
sauna.
There are 474,277 cottages in Finland (2005), a country with 187,888 lakes and
179,584 islands, including rental holiday cottages owned by hospitality
companies but excluding holiday villages and buildings on garden allotments.
Reports have 4,172 new cottages built in 2005.[date=January 2011] Most
cottages are situated in the municipalities of Kuusamo (6,196 cottages on 1
January 2006), Kuopio (5,194), Ekenäs (Tammisaari – 5,053), Mikkeli (4,649),
and Mäntyharju (4,630).[date=January 2011]
**** Sweden
thumbnail The formal Swedish term for cottages is _fritidshus_ (vacation
house) or _stuga_, of which there are 680.000 in Sweden (2007). According to
Statistics Sweden, about 50% of the Swedish population has access to a
vacation house.[13] In everyday talk, Swedes refer to their cottages as
_lantstället_ (the country house) or _stugan_ (the cottage). Most vacation
houses in Sweden are to be found along the coasts and around the major cities.
Prices vary a lot depending on location; a modern seaside house near Stockholm
may cost 100 times as much as a simple cottage in the inner regions of
northern Sweden.
Until the end of World War II, only a small wealthy Swedish elite could afford
vacation houses—often both a large seaside house and a hunting cabin up north.
During the rapid urbanisation in the 1950s and 1960s, many families were able
to retain their old farmhouses, village cottages, and fisherman cabins and
convert them into vacation houses. In addition, economic growth made it
possible even for low-income families to buy small lots in the countryside
where they could erect simple houses. Former vacation houses near the large
cities have gradually been converted into permanent homes as a result of urban
sprawl.
The traditional Swedish cottage is a simple paneled house made of wood and
painted in red. They may contain 1–3 small bedrooms and also a small
bathroom. In the combined kitchen and living room (_storstuga_) there is
usually a fireplace. Today, many cottages have been extended with "outdoor
rooms" (semi-heated external rooms with glass walls and a thin roof) and large
wood terraces. As a result of the friggebod reform in 1979, many cottage
owners have built additional guesthouses on their lots.
**** Norway
The formal Norwegian term for cottages is _hytte_ or _fritidsbolig_ (vacation
house). In Norway, cabins are often built near leisure activities such as
hunting, fishing, and outdoor life / outdoor sports, or in areas with
particularly beautiful nature, such as in the woods, in the mountains, or by
the sea. In the most attractive areas, it has become increasingly common with
regulated fields where the cabins are very close together, in so-called "cabin
villages". Chained cabins and holiday apartments are also being built here,
similar to a normal city.
*** Russia
thumbnail
The first known "cottages" were built in Russia in the 19th century,[14] when
British culture was popular. Today many large cities in Russia are surrounded
by cottage villages. So it is legitimate to talk about the appearance of the
term "Russian cottage" – a house, comparable in size to a British villa or
even a mansion, and includes a corresponding piece of land.[15]
*** South Africa
thumbnail Much like in the rest of the world, cottages in South Africa housed
agricultural workers and their friends and families. A number of cottages
were also constructed for fishermen along the West and South Coasts of the
country throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Most cottages are
single-story two to four-room structures, sometimes with an attic for storing
supplies. Most cottages in the Western Cape area of South Africa have
thatched roofs and stone or adobe walls which were traditionally whitewashed.
A large number of the remaining cottages in the country are listed heritage
sites.[date=January 2019]
** Notable cottages
- Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum , Fife, Scotland – weaver's cottage, birthplace of industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie
- Anne Hathaway's Cottage , Warwickshire, England – childhood home of Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare)
- Arthur Cottage , County Antrim, Northern Ireland – the ancestral home of US President Chester A. Arthur
- Bishop Asbury Cottage , Staffordshire, England – boyhood home of Methodist Episcopal Bishop Francis Asbury
- Bron-Yr-Aur , Powys, Wales – holiday cottage used by rock band Led Zeppelin
- Burns Cottage , Ayrshire, Scotland – home of poet Robert Burns
- Cooks' Cottage , Melbourne, Australia – taken from Yorkshire to Victoria in 1934
- Clouds Hill , Dorset, England – home of soldier T. E. Lawrence , ("Lawrence of Arabia")
- Dove Cottage , Cumbria, England – home of the poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy Wordsworth
- Elgar Birthplace Museum , Worcestershire, England – cottage birthplace of composer Edward Elgar
- Ernest Hemingway Cottage , Michigan, USA – boyhood summer home of author Ernest Hemingway
- Herbert Hoover National Historic Site , Iowa, USA – cottage birthplace of President Herbert Hoover
- Hill Top, Cumbria , England – home of children's author Beatrix Potter
- Ivy Green , Alabama, USA – birthplace of deaf-blind author Helen Keller
- La Trobe's Cottage , Melbourne, Australia – home of Charles La Trobe , founder of the colony of Victoria
- Michael Collins Birthplace , County Cork, Ireland – cottage birthplace of Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins
- Oakhurst Cottage , Surrey, England – preserved 17th century agricultural worker's cottage
- Swiss Cottage, Cahir , County Tipperary, Ireland – ornamental cottage designed by John Nash
- Thomas Hardy's Cottage , Dorset, England – home of author Thomas Hardy
- Willy Lott's Cottage , Suffolk, England – featured in several paintings by John Constable
- York Cottage , Norfolk, England – favourite home of King George V and Mary of Teck
** Gallery
*** Thatched cottages in England
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="5"> File:Church Cottage,
Stretton Grandison - geograph.org.uk - 459243.jpg|Church Cottage, Stretton
Grandison, Herefordshire File:Chocolate box thatch - geograph.org.uk -
1219850.jpg|Cottage with thatched roof, Simpson, Milton Keynes File:Chocolate
Box cottage, Ashton under Hill - geograph.org.uk - 1482850.jpg|Ashton under
Hill, Worcestershire File:Circular Cottage, Blaise Hamlet.jpg|Cottage designed
by John Nash at Blaise Hamlet, Bristol File:Anne Hathaways Cottage 1
(5662418953).jpg|Anne Hathaway's Cottage, Shottery, Warwickshire File:Thatched
cottage - geograph.org.uk - 378606.jpg|Thatched cottage, Brigsley,
Lincolnshire File:Selworthycottage.jpg|Cottage, Selworthy, Somerset File:Pump
Cottage - geograph.org.uk - 1339484.jpg|Pump Cottage, Harpford, Devon
</gallery>
*** Other cottages
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="5"> File:Round House, Veryan,
Roseland, Cornwall taken 1964 - geograph.org.uk - 773009.jpg|Circular cottage
in Veryan, Cornwall File:Thatched cottage in the sand dunes by
Denmark.jpg|Cottage amongst sand dunes in Denmark File:Hans-en-Grietje.jpg|The
Hansel and Gretel cottage at the Efteling theme park, the Netherlands
File:Cabanas curarrehue.jpg|Snow-covered cottages near Curarrehue, Chile
File:Balkhauser-kotten-20040803-06160.jpg|A cotter house (_Kotten_ or _Katen_)
near Solingen, Germany – used as a vacation cottage today File:Vikendica
(Međimurje, Croatia) - drvena.jpg|A wooden cottage in Međimurje County,
Croatia Switzerland Train Window.jpg|Valley cottages in Switzerland File:LCC
cottage, Kingswood Estate.jpg|A pair of LCC cottages on Kingswood Estate,
England, built [circa] 1950s File:Coleman House.jpg|An 1880 slab cottage in
Western Sydney, Australia
</gallery>
** See also
[Housing]
- Bothy – simple shelter
- Bungalow – a type of single-storey house
- But and ben – a simple cottage, having only an inner and outer room
- Chalet – an alpine style building
- Cottagecore – an aesthetic popularized on the Internet in the 2010s
- Cottage garden
- Cottage industry
- Dacha – seasonal or year-round second homes located in the exurbs of Soviet and Russian cities
- Garden real estate – property with gardens
- Log cabin – small house built from logs
- London County Council cottage estates
- Mar del Plata style – a small living unit located in and around the resort city of Mar del Plata , Argentina
- Mobile home
- Mountain hut – a building located in the mountains intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers and hikers
- Pied-à-terre – small living unit, typically located in a large city
- Summer house – a term used in the Scandinavian countries to describe the popular holiday homes or summer cottages
- Vacation rental – term in the travel industry meaning renting out a furnished apartment or house on a temporary basis to tourists as an alternative to a hotel
- Vernacular architecture – traditional architecture in a particular area
- Wilderness hut – a rent-free, open dwelling place for temporary accommodation
** References
[30em]
** Further reading
CURRENT EDITIONS:
- Sayer, Karen. _Country cottages: a cultural history_ (Manchester University Press, 2000).
- Woodforde, John. _The Truth About Cottages: A History and an Illustrated Guide to 50 Types of English Cottage_ (I B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2007)
OUT OF COPYRIGHT (FREE DOWNLOAD):
- Dawber, E. G. & Davie, W. G. _Old cottages and farmhouses in Kent and Sussex_ (London, B. T. Batsford, 1900)
- Ditchfield, P. H. & Quinton, A. R. _The cottages and the village life of rural England_ (London, J.M. Dent & sons ltd., 1912).
- Ditchfield, P. H. _Picturesque English cottages and their doorway gardens_ (J.C. Winston Co., 1905).
- Downing, A. J. _Cottage Residences_ ( New York : J. Wiley & son, 1873).
- Elder-Duncan, J. H. _Country cottages and week-end homes_ (London, Cassell and co. ltd., 1912).
- Green, W. C. & Davie, W. G. _Old cottages & farm-houses in Surrey_ (London, B. T. Batsford, 1908).
- Holme, Charles (Ed). _The village homes of England_ (" The Studio Ltd.", London, New York, Paris, 1912).
- Holme, Charles. _Old English country cottages_ (Office of " The Studio ", London, New York, Paris, 1906).
- Kirby, J. H. _Modern cottages_ (self pub. n.d).
- Papworth, John B. _Rural residences: a series of designs for cottages_ (London, R. Ackermann, 1818).
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Category:House types Category:Agricultural buildings Category:Vernacular
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