Author: Louisa Cornell

So you’ve committed a murder in Regency England. Now what? You could just leave the body there and run. But if you really want a chance at escaping the hangman’s noose you might want to dispose of the body. Let’s look at some possibilities.

 

STEP ONE: BODY DISPOSAL

Louisa Cornell

 

Body disposal during the Regency era was just as varied and contained just as many problems for both the murderer and the person dedicated to solving the murder as it does today. The advantage for the person set to solve the murder during the Regency was the lack of a constant stream of television shows instructing a murderer on how to dispose of a body. The majority of murder victims during the Regency were found where the murder actually occurred with no attempt made to hide or otherwise manipulate the body to get rid of evidence. That does not mean, however, that some murderers during this era did not come up with some rather unique ways to dispose of a body.

Some things to know about Regency Era crime investigation

(1) Once a murder victim was discovered, no matter where the body might be, there was a good chance the body would be moved, covered, or otherwise tampered with before law enforcement and / or the coroner arrived. Wounds might be bound. Clothing might even be removed.

(2) Should the body be found at a place of business, there was little to no chance the business would close until the body was removed. Business was business and the added cache of a murder victim lying about brought in more customers. Regency era people were above all realists.

(3) Depending on where the body was found and how long it took for the coroner to arrive with instructions, the location might become a tourist attraction with some enterprising soul selling tickets to view the body. As a result, items could be stolen or sold from the body before anyone had the chance to collect them as evidence. And the crime scene would be destroyed as well. Yes, especially in large cities like London or Edinburgh this could happen in a matter of minutes.

(4) Should a body be found other than in the victim’s home there is the possibility the body might be carried home by friends and family. Often this meant the body was stripped, bathed, bound and redressed before the coroner and law enforcement arrived. This did not happen often, but it did happen. This was more likely to happen in rural locations.

(5) Often a body that was hidden in some way made things easier for the coroner and law enforcement. A body that was hidden was last touched by the murderer, not a cast of thousands.

(6) However hidden bodies presented an investigator with its own problems. There were no tests to ascertain time of death. Wounds were often obliterated by the process of disposal and decomposition. Identification was more difficult, but not impossible, although there were no such things as dental records per se.

Water Disposal

Water disposal of murder victims was quite common during the Regency era. In the modern age water disposal is used to destroy evidence and in the hope the body might never resurface. In the Regency era, the idea of water destroying evidence didn’t really come into play in the average murder. However, it would be foolish to assume there were not murderers smart enough to know that water might help.

The Thames was notorious for the number of bodies that showed up floating in its waters. Riverside and dockside murder victims were often discovered in the Thames. Unwanted babies often ended in the Thames as well. Most of these murder victims came under the jurisdiction of the Thames River Police (established 1798.) Their normal duties involved stopping thievery from ships and in the transfer of goods from ships to the docks. They covered a large area, and if a body was found in the river and it was closer to their offices and jurisdiction they would investigate. More about them when we discuss who investigates a murder.

Bodies were also disposed of in rivers outside of London, as well as lakes and ponds as well. If a body was found in a body of water, the investigator would be safe to assume the murder had taken place either in the body of water or nearby. Transporting a body a long distance away in order to dispose of it was not an easy thing to do. Whether by horse or some sort of carriage or cart, the idea of spending time with the body of someone one had killed held little appeal for a variety of reasons—superstitions, in most communities a stranger would be noticed, worse in most communities everyone knew everyone, unless a person knew to weigh a body down there was no guarantee the body would sink before the murderer risked being caught nearby.

Bodies might also be disposed of in a well or cistern. Of course, if the well or cistern were one in use by a family, a community, or a business a body would foul the water and might be discovered all the more quickly. Good for the investigator. Bad for the murderer. No fun for the people who used the well for water either.

Some things unique to water disposal during the Regency Era

(1) A murder victim pulled from a body of water might be considered a victim of accidental drowning. Even with obvious wounds, depending on the body of water, the coroner and coroner’s jury might decide a murder is simply a drowning.

(2) This would be more likely in a rural setting than in a larger city. By the Regency era most of the physicians who practiced in the cities and / or kept up with the latest medical treatises knew how to ascertain if a victim was dead before they went into the water. Even in a rural setting where there was a competent physician families might object to the test to discover if their loved one had drowned as it involved dissecting the body at least enough to remove the lungs and float them in water. If they floated the person was dead when they went into the water and likely ended up in the water after they were murdered. If they sank, they were full of water which indicated a person was alive when they went into the water. Then the coroner and coroner’s jury had only to decide if the drowning was an accident or murder.

(3) Water disposal could erase a great deal of evidence from a body. However, the method of putting the body into the water might provide evidence of its own. People seldom considered that weighing a body down with items from their home, their farm, or a location associated with them might lead the authorities back to them.

(4) Any detritus associated with a specific body of water found on a suspect’s person or in a suspect’s home might lead the authorities back to them.

(5) Very few anatomists were able to distinguish between possible murder wounds and wounds brought about by the predation of aquatic animals.

(6) Unless a body was found in clothes or wore items of jewelry that could be identified by friends and / or family some murder victims found in water might never be positively identified.

(7) The longer a body stayed in the water the more difficult it was to determine time of death, cause of death, and identity. During the Regency era this level of decomposition was of a much shorter time than today.

An interesting method of discovering a body in the water.

An ancient method for finding a body in the water, which was still in use well into the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was the use of quicksilver or mercury as we know it today. The quicksilver was inserted into a loaf of bread and floated as nearly as possible to where the body was supposed to have gone into the water. According to the superstition, the body would rise to meet the quicksilver. There is no scientific evidence to back this theory up. However, there are written records of the method being used.

The Gentleman’s Magazine, for April of 1767 contains a story about a search for the body of a child undertaken at Newbury in Berkshire where the one-year-old had fallen into the river Kennet and was drowned. The account states how the body was discovered by a very singular experiment—a two-penny loaf, with a quantity of quicksilver was put into the river and was set floating from the place where the child, it was supposed, had fallen. The loaf steered its course down the river before a great number of spectators. The loaf suddenly tacked about, and swam across the river, and gradually sank near the child, whereupon both the child and loaf were immediately brought up, with chained hooks ready for that purpose.

Generally, in England Halloween is not the celebrated holiday it is here in the United States. Of course, as happens all too frequently, it has crept Across the Pond and become more Americanized, but until recently there was simply no need to celebrate things that go bump in the night on one night of the year. Why? Because frankly when it comes to things that go bump in the night, Halloween is rather redundant in the UK. The entire island is a celebration of all things ghostly, ghoulish, and people who simply refuse to go into the light. One can hardly throw a rock without passing through the ghost of a Grey Lady, a White Lady, a Howling Banshee, or a Spectral Monk. However, even with all of this paranormal mayhem, there are certain rules which pertain to whom or what is more likely to be creeping about Mother England long after they might have gone on to the great tea room or pub in the sky.

Thus, we give you…

TEN RULES FOR HAUNTING IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

1. If one is any of Henry VIII’s six wives and one has been born in, died in, grew up in, lived in, slept in, visited, been executed in or near, or even driven or ridden by a building one must haunt said building. Choice of dress color is optional—grey or white is preferred.

 

2. If one is a servant in a particular house and one dies of either lingering disease or preferably some sort of gruesome death over unrequited love, being unjustly accused of theft, or the master (or his son) has got you in a delicate condition one must haunt said house—hanging oneself over and over again is good. Throwing oneself off a tower only to disappear is better. If it is accompanied by a great deal of weeping and moaning it is better still.

 

 

3. If one is a highwayman or other notorious outlaw and one has died at the hands of either the hangman or the militia in a desperate chase and shootout one is condemned to haunt either the place of execution or, even better, one is condemned to ride up and down the stretch of road one frequented or upon which one finally met one’s end. One’s horse is apparently condemned as well. Shouting “Stand and Deliver!” is optional.

 

4. If one met one’s end in a pub or tavern, especially in some sort of tavern brawl or affair of honor, one must stop by said pub periodically. Not for a pint, but to scare the bejeesus out of the current patrons. If one is a tavern maid who was murdered in said establishment, committed suicide in said establishment, got lost on the way home from said establishment, or went walking out with the wrong patron from said establishment then one is condemned to hang around and give the place character as well. One is not allowed to drink whilst haunting, which seems a bit unfair, but those are the rules.

 

5. If one fought (and died, of course) on any of the numerous battlefields in the UK there is always the chance one might be condemned to haunt said battlefield. Loss of limb, or especially loss of one’s head is a certain bet one will be required to hang around said battlefield for eternity looking for one’s missing parts. Sending one’s horse to gallop about unseen in the mist is a possible out. Rattling one’s saber, firing cannons, and shouting “Charge!” are a safe bet.

6. If one was a monk or nun and died in the area of a monastery or abbey, the more gruesome one’s death the more likely one must haunt said monastery or abbey. Murdered by a king or at a king’s behest is guaranteed employment as a ghost for eternity. Especially if one’s death was particularly bloody and took place in said monastery or abbey. However, it is possible, if one was a monk or nun one is simply choosing to haunt said monastery or abbey. Apparently, monks and nuns have a great deal of trouble moving on.

7. If one is the lady of the house, especially a castle or a stately home—the older the better, and one meets an unfortunate end, one might be required to haunt said castle or house. Murdered by a wicked husband, becoming ill after suffering a jilting or loss in love, being stood up at the altar and falling into a fatal decline, committing suicide by leaping from the tower, parapet or a particularly high window—any and all of these will do. Grey or white are the dress colors preferred, although red will do in a pinch. Oh, and if one had a dog of which one was particularly fond, said dog might be condemned to walk the parapets with one. On rare occasion said ghost dog might be heard howling in despair on the anniversary of his mistress’s death.

8. Moors in England are required, I do believe it is by law, to have at least one creature (known origins optional) to haunt said moor and frighten anyone unfortunate enough to venture out onto said moor, especially in the evening or at night. A moor might be haunted by a hound of unusual size and ferocity, a pack of hunting dogs lost by a careless master, a fiery horse (rider optional) lost in the bogs of the moor, Celtish or Roman warriors trapped in the bogs over the centuries, a howling creature of unknown origins or anyone ever lost or body-dumped on the moors by a savvy, but cold-hearted killer.

 

9. Should one be a member of the royal family on one’s death, one is very nearly required to haunt various royal residences. This is especially true if one has suffered a horrible death or one has suffered the loss by terrible or premature death of one’s child or spouse. Should one be a royal murdered by yet another royal for reasons of royal coup or simply a family feud got out of hand, one is far more likely to be compelled to haunt. Crowns, and sometimes even heads, are optional. Oh, and if one is numbered amongst those bad kings or queens, one is simply doomed to haunt, just saying. Apparently dead royals are nearly as bad as monks and nuns about moving on.

10. Dying at Number 50 Berkeley Square apparently guarantees one a spot on the haunting roster. Whether one’s death was horrible, frightening, or merely sad one has no choice but to linger around for eternity and wait one’s turn to disturb the peace of the house. There are so many spirits at this address there must be a ghostly social secretary to keep everyone in order. However, one is guaranteed a deal of privacy as hauntings are only allowed on the fourth floor and, apparently, the police, in typical British fashion have posted a sign in the house forbidding anyone to climb to the fourth floor.

“You say the rooms are haunted? Well, don’t go into those rooms!”

Number 50 is considered the most haunted house in London, but according to those who work at antiquarian booksellers Maggs Bros. Ltd., housed at this address for many years, nothing untoward has ever happened. Then again, they never venture onto the fourth floor. Ever. Would you?

There you have it, a few rules for haunting in the UK. Even with the rules, those of us who love England might not find it too terrible a task to spend eternity there. Some of us would spend our years left with the living haunting England, if funds and time would allow!

As October is the month of Halloween and celebrates all things ghostie, beastie, and ever so creepy, we thought we’d share some old and new posts all month long in keeping with the season.

Please join us for an eerie, haunting, and frightening tour of the things that go bump in the night and send our hearts racing all month long. There is safety in numbers, and we’d hate to take this little tour all alone! Who knows what dangers lurk along the highways and byways of Merry Olde England!

 

                             

 

 

 

                                               

 

Louisa Cornell

As an author of historical romance who likes to avoid anachronisms whenever possible, an important aspect of setting any story in Regency London is getting the street names properly assigned. Seems an easy enough thing to do. Simply consult a map of London, right? Not exactly. Remember London between 1780 and 1840 was a city that had been built on the ruins of a Roman city of occupation (abandoned in 410 AD,) the ruins and some remains of a medieval city, a city before the Great Fire (before 1666) and then rebuilt after the Great Fire (after 1666,) and a city in the throes of the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution which meant expansion and demolition to reconfigure the city for its new role in the world.

Here is a fascinating video of the growth of London time-lapsed from the Roman era to the present day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5Oz9b84jM

And another video about the population growth from year to year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgRxKlpLbpY

In all of this expansion, change, and population growth street names often changed and streets often merged with other streets. Therefore, if one wishes to be completely accurate when placing a street name in one’s fiction it is best to consult a map drawn as close to the date of said fiction as possible. Now that does not mean a writer must find a map for the very month and year in which one’s story is set. These things did not happen overnight. Many streets, alleys, lanes, and other thoroughfares have maintained their names from as early as the Roman era.

Important Caveat:

There are no thoroughfares named road within the Square Mile or heart of London. Lots of streets, alleys, and lanes, but no roads. Likely because that term was not assigned to thoroughfares other than those in the countryside until the 17^th century by which time most of the thoroughfares in London had already been established.

Here are a few London street names with a bit about their history and/or where their names were derived.

Broad Sanctuary

This street in the heart of Westminster is actually the street down which King Charles III passed for his coronation. The street has been so named since the medieval era and was named as it was a place where criminals and refugees could seek sanctuary and avoid arrest.

Abbey Orchard Street

This was where the Benedictine monks of Westminster Abbey raised fruit which they sold at Covent Garden (once called Convent Garden) to supplement the monastery’s income, that is until Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries. The monastery was gone, but the street name remained.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Downing Street

Yes, that Downing Street. Like many of the streets and squares in London it was named after the developer of the street. George Downing was pronounced a “perfidious rogue and doubly perjured traitor” by Samuel Pepys. He was one of Oliver Cromwell’s spymasters, but after the Restoration he sold his secrets to the Crown and managed to keep the property he had acquired thanks to his loyalty to Cromwell.

Scotland Yard

This was actually the London residence of the kings of Scotland until the union of the crowns of Scotland and England in 1603.

King’s Cross

Unfortunately, King’s Cross was named after one King George IV. His statue was erected atop a monument there in 1830 and looked down literally on the impoverished neighborhood known as Battle Bridge, the home of thieves, murderers, and a smallpox hospital. They took the statue down in 1845, but the name remains.

The Mall

This red brick paved road that leads to Buckingham Palace was originally an alley where King Charles II played the game of pall-mall (pronounced pell-mell.) The street next to the alley received the same name.

Birdcage Walk

This was a lane built to pass through James I’s aviary. The name stuck. Oddly enough, considering James I’s sexual orientation (either gay or bisexual depending on which biography one reads) this particular lane was used by gay men to stroll for partners during the Regency era.

Piccadilly

In the 17^th century a tailor who made his fortune fashioning pickadills – the collars that supported those fashionable ruffs had his house on the street named Pickadilly Hall. It was not meant as a compliment. The street had been known as Portugal Street after King Charles II’s queen. However, by the middle of the 18^th century the name Piccadilly was firmly affixed.

Oxford Street

This street was known as Tyburn Way until 1783. That was when the gallows at the end of the street was dismantled. Before then, over the years, 50,000 condemned prisoners were carted down this Tyburn Way to meet their fate at the end of a rope on the western end of this street.

Soho

This neighborhood was once an area of countryside popular for fox hunts conducted by the aristocracy. The area got its name from a form of the hunting cry Tally-ho!

Pudding Lane

Sounds sweet, right? Not so much. This lane was known as early as the medieval era as the route butchers took to carry their pudding – animal entrails – from the meat market down to the Thames water-gate. The Thames, London’s garbage disposal.

Fleet Street

The name comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word fliotan meaning of the water or water travel. The street follows the route of the river which was rerouted underground to provide a sewer for London in 1766. Since the 19th century Fleet Street has been called the river of ink or street of ink due to its associations with the newspaper industry. I will allow you to draw your own conclusions as to the establishment of newspapers over a river turned into a sewer.

 

Hanging Sword Alley

This alley is located just off Fleet Street and was once home to a fencing and sword fighting academy. In the 18^th century, however, it became known as Blood Bowl alley after the tavern there that was known as the den of thieves, gamblers, and an assortment of other rogues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knightrider Street

This street lies just south of St. Paul’s Cathedral and likely got its name as it was the route knights took when traveling to Smithfield for jousting tournaments.

Wardrobe Place

From the reign of Edward III until the Great Fire, a building stood on this street where the monarchs of England kept their finest clothes stored. Apparently they needed the extra closet space. There is a plaque outside Number 5 Wardrobe Place that marks the spot where the building that gave the street its name stood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. Mary Axe

This street was named after a church that was torn down in 1561. There was supposedly a relic held by the church, an axe used by Atilla the Hun to behead 11,0000 virgins who followed St. Ursula. Now the slaughter took place in Cologne, but holy relics tended to travel quite a bit, so who knows. It might have ended up in London

Fetter Lane

This street was known as the site of executions, but for a very sad reason. It comes from the Old English word faitours or fewters which meant idlers or vagrants. The name goes back to the 14^th century when the Crown decided to bring in the executioners and hang the vagrants thereby cleaning up the street.

Cockspur Street

During the Georgian era cock fighting was still a popular sport. This street in the Whitehall area was home to a large cockfighting pit. Cock fighting was not banned in England until 1835. There are a number of locations in London with references to cock fighting in their names.

A couple of resources for you if you want to learn more about London’s street names!

London Place Names by Caroline Taggart

Dictionary of London Street Names by Al Smith

London Street Names by Michael Baker and Hilary Bates Neary

Discovering London Street Names by John Wittich

 

(From Sense and Sensibility – 1995 Film)

*CAVEAT FOR THIS SERIES OF POSTS*

This series of posts will endeavor to explain the different categories and names given to the various historical homes in England. There are specific criteria that define each type of home by the reasons for which it was built and the purpose it served in the lives of those who lived there. However, these designations are not written in stone (pun not really intended,) and they often changed over time based on additions made to them, renovations, architectural design alterations, and changes of ownership. So a manor house could become a stately home or a country house. A castle could become a manor house. A stately home could be called a castle—just ask Castle Howard. Add to that the names by which these homes were known—Chatsworth House, Lyme Park, Shugborough Hall and it can all be a bit confusing. The purpose of this series of posts is to give the reader a sort of guide from which to start when identifying the historic homes of England and perhaps to understand why and when they came to be. Names are important, especially to living, breathing beings, and these marvelous places are indeed very much alive.

 

A few things to get straight from the outset

The English idea of a cottage, which is what this post is about, is quite different from the American idea of a cottage.

The American definition of a cottage emphasizes the purpose and location of such a structure. In the United States a cottage is generally a summer residence at a health or pleasure resort. In other words, it is a vacation home known for its small size and rather rustic appearance.

To make matters even more confusing, the English idea of a cottage covers a wide variety of structures each with its own character and specifications. The various types of cottage are defined by their structure, their appearance, their location, and yes, sometimes their purpose. But more about the different types in a bit.

A brief history of the cottage

The word cottage – medieval Latin cotagium – derives from the Old English word cot or cote meaning “hut” and the Old French word cot meaning “hut or cottage” both of which may have come from the Old Norse word kot meaning “hut.”

Under the feudal system in medieval England a cottage was the property of a cottager or cotter or bordar. The cottager’s property included a small house and a plot of land around it just large enough to plant a garden to feed the cottager’s family. In return for this the cottager had to perform some task or work in some position for the feudal lord who actually owned the property. The cottager had no rights based on tenure, worked full-time for the feudal lord, and worked in any spare time to provide for his family by way of the garden and any other skills he had.

                          

These cottages were small, built to basic function of local materials. 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.

Cob was the English term for a basic building material that has been in use in some form all over the world for at least 4000 years. The term was first recorded in England in about 1600. The material consisted of local soil, water, straw, sometimes lime, and any other substrate that needed to be added to make the material sturdy enough for building.

By the mid-18th century and with the advent of the Industrial Revolution the cottage became an inexpensive form of housing for companies to provide for workers in factories, in skilled handcrafts such as weaving, and in the mining industry.

Notice the bank of windows across the top floors. These were installed so that the weavers’ looms were operating in the room with the most light. The weavers lived in the bottom two floors and worked in the top floor.

These rows of cottages would have housed mine workers and their families. The roofs would have been either thatch or likely slate as this particular set of cottages housed workers at a slate mine.

Once we move into the 19th century, those cottages not associated with specific industry workers and built as actual homes for families tended to be larger, semi-detached or detached and were often dwellings built specifically on an estate or in a village to house retired retainers or poor relations (for lack of a better term.) Often the dwelling of a vicar was built in this more expansive cottage form.

    

Sketches of George Austen’s cottage parsonage in Steventon.

 

 

 

A few universal characteristics of these cottages are:

1. These houses were found in rural areas. One would not likely see a cottage in London.

2. Though they might, in any form, have been homes for farm workers, other laborers or even farmers who owned smaller properties, they could also be inhabited by parsons and their families or even used as manor houses by untitled members of the aristocracy or those with lower titles like barons and baronets.

3. The cottage can be found in many forms based on its location in England, the wealth of the owner, and its purpose.

4. By the mid-19th and especially in the late 19th century some of these cottages were quite large and quite elegant.

5. The basic tenets of the cottage form in England were and are simplicity, elegance, connection to the land, craftsmanship, tradition, and the beauty unique to rural England.

TYPES OF COTTAGES FOUND IN ENGLAND

Cotswold Cottage

Dating from as far back as the 16th century, cottages in the Cotswolds are characterized by stone walls or limestone walls in shades of honey-color, steeply pitched roofs, and mullioned windows. The doorways are usually arched and the chimneys lead down to large inglenook fireplaces. Gabled windows and stone ornamentation are some of their other features. The interiors tend to be somewhat Tudor in style. Their exterior walls are usually covered with climbing flowers. Roses are a favorite. Small colorful gardens finish off the outdoor appearance. They can be detached or semi-detached or even row houses.

 

 

 

Thatched Cottage

Thatched cottages are perhaps the quintessential image that comes to mind when one thinks of a cottage in England. The most visible characteristic of these cottages is the thatched roof, which has actually been in use in British homes since 7600 BC. A thatched roof is made from reeds and dry straw tightly packed together.  In the earliest days of its use thatching was roofing for the poor, a method of convenience where the closest available material was used to protect homes from harsh elements.

Thatch is also a natural insulator, and air pockets within straw thatch insulate a building in both warm and cold weather. A thatched roof ensures that a building is cool in summer and warm in winter. Thatch also has very good resistance to wind damage when applied correctly.

 

 

 

 

Tudor Cottage

Tudor cottages are characterized by timber-framed construction that features exposed beams and intricate woodwork. As the name denotes this style of cottage came into being during the Tudor era (1485-1603.) The architectural style is derived from the craftsmanship of the medieval era. The facades are usually half-timbered and the windows are generally leaded windows.

Tudor homes are characterized by their steeply pitched gable roofs, elaborate masonry chimneys (often with chimney pots), embellished doorways, groupings of windows and decorative half-timbering. The latter is an exposed wood framework with the spaces between the timbers filled with masonry or stucco. Inside the rooms can sometimes contain dark wood paneling.

Coastal Cottage

Coastal cottages are generally small and compact – typically one-and-a-half stories with dormer windows under a steeply pitched roof. They feature weathered wood siding, soft pastel colors, dormer windows, and a large front porch. The exteriors are weather-beaten in appearance due to their proximity to the coast. The walls inside and out are whitewashed as this is the sturdiest and simplest wall covering and tends to stand up to the predations of salt air.

They are generally one or two stories and have a limited number of rooms with one room opening into another. The second floor can feature a sort of balcony corridor around the central ground floor with bedrooms that open onto that corridor.

Chocolate Box Cottage

I am not going to say a great deal about the idea of a “Chocolate Box” Cottage. This term does not refer to a specific style of cottage per se. Gaining popularity in the mid-20th Century, the phrase ‘chocolate box cottage’ derives from the picturesque scenes printed on boxes of Cadbury’s chocolates throughout the 1950s and 60s. During this period, the confectionery company included scenes from the ‘model village’ of Bourneville on their packaging.

A few final words on the English Cottage

The cottages described above tend to create a picture of a small, cozy, cute structure meant to be extremely utilitarian and plain or cozy and cute. But the term cottage covers a lot of structures throughout English history. Many were small and functional. But some were actually what you and I might consider nice large homes, even mansions. Which reinforces the idea that many building historians and architects have – A cottage is a cottage in the eye of the beholder.

When Fanny Dashwood made her statement that I have used as the title for this post, she certainly meant to issue an insult about the Dashwood girls fallen circumstances. However, you can rest assured the image in her mind was not one of the smaller residences depicted above. She knew that a cottage on an estate offered by Mrs. Dashwood’s cousin would be a somewhat substantial residence, even with the poky hall and smoky fireplace! In Fanny’s mind the cottage likely looked like this.

Or perhaps this:

 

 

The final post in this series will deal with terraced houses another unique and elegant form of residence in English history.