COT

207

COT

Ujto

10 a Ip

la Wo ea *-t°, at the back, for covering fuel, the tools of the

°°urer a . - ^

^ith g i ’ ancl sheltering for a pig, &c.; a pantry, fitted up

toorg elves , may be made under the stairs, in the lower

To'

Be^eg a . C g 0mtn °date a large family, with children of different0n e Qe necessary separation may be effected, by placingahp ° Ver t ^ le other, and the entrance to each of the bedsTh e p na ^ e or different sides.

in Q re ^I 5?® * w o kinds of cottages, English and Scottish, usedThe l ■T r ’ ta * n ) °f very distinct characters,other ..-English cottages were constructed of clay, turf, andand ar materials, supported and strengthened by posts1° l esg , n braces, with a roof of very steep pitch, in orderr aio, Tv, ltS P ressure u pon the walls, and to discharge thethat th e tle e . aves of the roof were continued downwards, so°f the xv ,P ro J ect ion might throw the water from the surface^teriakh’ an< ^ ^y this means prevent not only the waste of"Wise h e ,! hut the dampness which the interior would other-' Vin 'low s >a ^ e to > the rain-water is also thus kept from the, and door. The chimnevs were generally carried un

_ j j — The chimneys were generally carried up°0 the’ 0| l ,°. ne or both ends of the building, most commonlyS ’ 8t ®d p r ' Sl< ? e °f the wall. The covering of the roof con-jure son, In ^’P a hy °f straw, reeds, or slate-stone. Garretsl e s j 0 . et >mes formed in the roof, with a window, either inor in one of the gables. In consequencer 6 horj Zo ness the side-wall, and to give sufficient light,r n the u ■ a dimension of the window was much greater0 f "'indo The long bearing of the lintel, or head of

* t'Oiber ’ ,'y as supported in the middle by an upright pieces ev ol Ve ’ called a munnion. The glass-frames were made toofj 1 hinges with a vertical axis, glazed with small,i ^oofi ® ass > inserted in lead, and stiffened by cross piecesO t) a , S( l | Jar es r * re q ue ntly iron, called saddle-bars; the form off t a the l eac f C ^ rnetames rectangular, but frequently rhomboidal,j -to which they were inserted fixed to an iron

ho a H shed f 3 cons t r uction the cottager frequently added ai- t 0 or keeping a cow, and sometimes one or morea 3 a , en h of the side, which might be used as a pan-, Place wherein to deposit his tools, or other arti-Co - of a a ^ n ' ence - It is probable that cottages were at firstbonneted t” 6 stor y on ly; but, in course of time, they wereslat ^ etl be W ° stor ' es m height, and as the lower story couldv Snt' 8to,1 e w ^ r ? tecte< f by the roof, a projection of wood orthe w.: as lr >troduced over the lower

til

i or,

hui^°f ^°rtv.

th,

ose "/ain

apertures, to pre-

^ ro ject' 1Water h'om falling upon the wall. To makeq, a ' s t°g e 1 ® ns ornamental, they were formed into labels ofth he *p r hh e manner of those in Gothic edifices.

0lle r 00m 0t English cottage does not admit of moreare variously ornamented, some-tarrj^y of f Ue . s are un ited in one shaft, which is built inTh U P Ser> ariC *^ f° rms > an d sometimes several shafts areCo* e heat an d united under one cope.

0 f I lShsh cottages, of late, have been generally^crj^frrials an d covered with slate : and the use ofaiUch'hly, th 0u „}, aS Ranged the external features very con-Th P tlle s<une tJle S e neral disposition of the parts remains

^•"tly g.°°fs Of vv,

g Pped . ma , n y English cottages are partly gabled and\ 0 a s to o aDa ? n general the roof is extended at both

ffin , ersa il tllft crnhlpQ • flip nrmpptinn thus

%

tjht tl?' ict ’on to"tp au l h e gables: the projection thus afford-3<>, f ront . ,e walls ‘

of Un.i r ° nt anH* c waUa in the same manner as the eavesOf co Ver rear walls; by this means the gable-tops,iftg S h cott ae l &re fr ss liable to want repair. The wallsi° r c °loiL S are £ en erally adorned, either by white-n g the walls; or with creepers of vari-

cottages differ considerably in form and fea-

tures from the English , not only in being generally con-structed of stone, which is the material most easily procuredin the country, but from their being so wide as to admit of twoapartments ; and being commonly one story only in height.One of these circumstances is sufficient to occasion a greatdissimilarity when compared with the proportion of the Eng-lish cottage, in making the roof top-heavy, and the generalappearance of the building squat; and when both are united,this effect will be still more apparent.

In the Scottish cottage, the roof has only a very small pro-jection over the walls ; the windows and doors are generallyplain ; the gables most frequently surmount the roof; theapertures of doors and windows are therefore not so well pro-tected from rain as in the English cottage ; but this want ofprojection is counterbalanced by the great thickness of thewalls, and by the narrowness of the windows, which aremade to slide in a vertical position, in grooves on the sides ofa surrounding frame.

An inducement to make the windows narrow, was the lengthof the stones, which would not have been easily obtainedotherwise. In order to procure the greatest quantity of light,the sashes were glazed with panes of glass comparatively muchlarger than those used in English cottages, and the sides ofthe windows were splayed from the glass-frame, so as to formvery obtuse angles with the interior surface of the wall. Thewindows of the Scottish cottage are thus not only very dif-ferent from those of the English , in being without dressings,and of a different proportion, but also in their manner ofglazing and shutting them. The chimneys are either carried,up in one or both gables, or in a partition-wall, which sepa-rates the two apartments in the length : when carried up inthe ends, as the walls are always made sufficiently thick toreceive the flues, the walls are not recessed upon the flanks ofthe stalk of chimneys, in order to save materials. These, con-sisting of crude stone cemented with mortar, being of littlevalue. The chimney-shafts, or the turrets surmounting theroof, are generally plain, finished on the top with a coping ofhewn-stone.

In many old constructions of Scottish cottages, the chimneyis placed in the front-wall, with a large recess all round thefire, which gave great advantage, in admitting more thandouble the number which the modern construction admitsof, and was therefore useful in times when the master and hisservants sat in common with each other. In the old construc-tions, the roof was covered with thatch, turf, or heath, asbeing the most ready materials; but these, as in England,have generally given place to the more durable coverings ofslate and tile, for similar reasons.

Few appendages are used in Scottish cottages; and in daysof old, so little attention was paid to cleanliness, that the cot-tager who was blessed with a cow, admitted the beast to lodgeat night in the same house with himself, without any otherpartition than the back of a bed or press, to separate hisapartment from that of the animal. We are, however, happyto find, that among many other improvements in the north,comfort and cleanliness are now as much objects of the wishesof the inhabitants, as in other parts of the United Kingdom ;but even in the present time, from the impression of ancientforms, though the cow-house be separated from the cottage,they are still in one continued formal line, and want thatpicturesque beauty which an appendage would give, as in theEnglish cottage.

The common kind of the present cottages in the north, aremade very wide, either to receive a framed bedstead andpress, or to form recesses, by means of a partition, for thereception of the bed and cupboard, on the side of the apart-ment opposed to the window.