Industrial Revolution Ī common sight in the west of Ireland – a 19th-century stone teachín – in Carrigmanus, County Cork In stone-rich areas, its walls would be built of rubble stone, and in other areas, such as Devon, was commonly built from cob. 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. 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. The cottage had a small amount of surrounding agricultural land, perhaps 2 or three acres, from which the resident gained his livelihood and sustenance. In the Domesday Book, they were referred to as Coterelli. 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 places such as Canada, "cottage" carries no connotations of size (compare with vicarage or hermitage).Ī typical cottage in Devon, with walls built of cob and a thatched roof. Scandinavia, 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 chata or chalupa, in Russian дача ( dacha, which can refer to a vacation/summer home, often located near a body of water). In Australia, the term "cabin" is common, cottage usually referring to a smaller pre-modern period dwelling. In American English, "cottage" is one term for such holiday homes, although they may also be called a "cabin", " chalet", or even "camp". The holiday cottage exists in many cultures under different names. In England the term holiday cottage now denotes a specialised form of residential let property, attracting various tax benefits to the owner. The tied accommodation provided to farm workers was usually a cottage, see cottage garden. Cottages may be detached houses, or terraced, such as those built to house workers in mining villages. In British English the term now denotes a small dwelling of traditional build, although it can also be applied to modern construction designed to resemble traditional houses (" mock cottages"). 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 modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cosy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location and not necessarily in England. However, in time cottage just became the general term for a small house. The picture was taken on Mäntyharju, Finland.Ī 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. South Savonia is one of the largest summer cottage regions in Finland, with more than 50,000 holiday homes.