A Brief History of the Cottage

13th Feb 2012

Used in the most traditional sense, a cottage is a small, cozy dwelling usually situated in a semi-rural location. Basically, something not too fancy but not too shabby – just right, a real Goldilocks house. However, if we trace the usage of the word to its earliest accounts then we find that the cottage truly originated in medieval times. That’s quite a long time ago and quite a history. Years before all the things we now come to know and love – cars, insurance, student loans, credit cards, debt settlement services, etc.

Back in medieval times, the cottage was a term of a dwelling denoting the home of a cotter – a serf. As such, it was considered a peasant dwelling. Some cottages were made from stacked and carved out mud while others were crafted out of the side of hills. Few were actually made from stacked stone or brick, though there were a couple and these usually came with hay roofs woven in on the top.

Nowadays, the term of a cottage and the status of living in one are far less derogatory and many people fancy these small and humble dwellings for both their intimate size and quaint appearance. Indeed, they are far more realized but just as appreciated as their medieval counterparts.

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