Homes shaped by local materials
Ordinary medieval houses were built from what was nearby and affordable. In wooded regions that meant timber; in stone-rich areas, rubble or cut stone; in places with clay, earth walls; and almost everywhere, thatch of straw, reed or heather for roofing. As a result, a village house in one region could look very different from one a few hundred miles away. The distinctions below are general patterns, not rules.
Because most of these buildings used perishable materials, few survive from before the later Middle Ages. Much of what we know comes from archaeology, which reveals post holes, foundations and hearths, supported by documents and images. Historians believe that many peasant houses were modest buildings that needed frequent repair and sometimes rebuilding within a generation or two, though this varied with materials.
The village cottage
A typical peasant cottage was small, often with one or two rooms. Walls were commonly timber-framed, with the spaces filled in using wattle and daub, a woven lattice of sticks plastered with a mix of clay, dirt and sometimes dung or straw. In other regions, walls were of stone, cob (a clay and straw mixture) or turf. The roof was thatched. Floors were usually beaten earth, sometimes covered with straw or rushes.
Some houses used a type of frame called a cruck, in which pairs of large curved timbers rose from the ground and met at the top to support the roof. This design is found in parts of Britain, among other places. Better-off villagers, such as prosperous farmers, might build a larger house with several rooms and a more solid frame.
Inside, the household cooked and warmed itself around an open hearth, usually in the middle of the main room. In many houses, the smoke simply drifted up to a hole in the roof or through the thatch, blackening the beams. Windows were small, with wooden shutters rather than glass. Furniture consisted of items such as a chest, benches, a table, simple beds or straw mattresses, and cooking pots. People often slept in the same room, perhaps with older children in a loft.
The longhouse
A type often discussed is the longhouse, in which people and animals lived under one roof, usually with a cross passage dividing the human living area from the byre where cattle were kept. Examples are known from parts of Britain, such as Wales and the southwest of England, and other forms of combined house and barn appear elsewhere in Europe. The arrangement offered warmth from the animals and easy care for them in bad weather, and it economized on building work.
It was not universal. In many regions, houses, barns and sheds were separate buildings within a farmstead enclosure, sometimes called a toft, with a small garden or croft behind. A family might keep poultry, a pig and a cow, according to what it could afford, what the manor allowed and whether it had access to common land for grazing.
Town houses
Town houses followed different constraints. Land in a town was valuable, so plots were often narrow, with only a short frontage on the street and a long strip behind it. Buildings were built tall and close together. Many were timber-framed, with upper floors extending outward (jettied) above the street, which created more floor space. In some regions with good stone and rich merchants, stone houses were more common.
Ground floors were often used as shops or workshops, with the family living above or behind. A baker, weaver or cobbler thus lived and worked in the same building, and servants and apprentices might also sleep there. Wealthier merchants built houses with a hall, a separate chamber and storage cellars for goods. Further down the scale, poor townspeople might rent a single room or part of a building.
Crowding made fire a constant danger. Several towns issued regulations about thatched roofs, replaced them with tile or slate, or required that chimneys be built of stone. Large fires are recorded in many medieval cities. Rules about party walls and about disposing of waste show that authorities tried to manage the dense living conditions of medieval towns, with uneven success.
Heating, light and comfort
Heating and cooking in most homes used an open fire fueled by wood, peat or other available material. Chimneys and enclosed fireplaces became more common in better houses from the later Middle Ages onward, and they were a mark of status. Light came from windows, rush lights, tallow candles and the fire itself. Wax candles were more costly and used by the wealthy and the church.
Glass windows were costly and rare in modest houses. Shutters, oiled cloth or horn panels were alternatives. Rooms were often dark and smoky, but they were also designed to conserve heat. Even in a well-off household, a good deal of daily life was spent in one multi-purpose hall.
Differences between rich and poor
Better-off households had more rooms, more furniture, and more specialized spaces. A typical manor house or hall house of a wealthy farmer had a main hall open to the roof, with a private chamber at one end and service rooms at the other. A castle household was more complex still, but it is a separate subject. What stands out when comparing homes is that the difference was often in the number and use of rooms rather than in the basic materials.
What the evidence tells us
Surviving buildings are mostly those of the better-off, because humble houses rarely lasted. Documents such as manor court records, leases, building contracts and wills mention houses and repairs. Excavations of deserted villages and of towns reveal the plans of ordinary houses. Historians therefore draw cautious conclusions about regions where evidence is thin. The general picture is of small, practical homes shaped by climate, local materials, wealth and the demands of farm or trade, not of a single standard medieval house.