Surely two good things about windows for light (and fresh air) as opposed to doors is that they don't create a floor level draught, so don't raise dirt, and do freshen the air at breathable height where smoke accumulates?
I agree with you; I don't believe there were no windows. Small windows, obviously, and probably few of them; but I suspect that many Anglo Saxon houses let in so many draughts through the walls that windows were less of a problem than we think; also, chimneys create enormous draughts - but did many Anglo Saxon houses have chimneys?
My little cottage was unbelievably draughty, despite having walls over a foot thick! That's probably at least part of why I find it so hard to believe AS houses weren't. Also, I think it would be very hard work to maintain an Anglo Saxon house so it stayed draught-free, even if it started that way, and I don't know that people at the time would have seen that as important. NZ has incredibly cold and often draughty houses, and people here don't seem to see it as a particular problem - they just wear more clothes (and have dogs that sleep on the bed to act as hot water bottles in winter
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Oh, sorry, I was misled by your mention of walls. A lot of the reconstructions have wooden walls that are practically like lacework, with all sorts of holes where a knot has fallen out or the planks have not been properly butted up together - and I just can't see people actually living with that, even in a shed it would be impractical, walls with that many holes in would surely just rot away.
In my experience, the draughts in old cottages creep under doors or round windows and down chimneys or take advantage of temperature differentials, but they don't come *through* the walls.
(My Gran had a very old timber-framed cottage. There were draughts, as you'd expect in a single-glazed building, but it was a lot warmer than our Victorian house next door, which was phenomenally draughty and chilly as it had bigger windows, more doors, and stone walls that were nothing like thick enough.)
I do feel though, that if he meant 'there are no extant pointed arches with voissoirs and a keystone from the Anglo Saxon period' then he should have said so!
They are lovely, and don't you think that sort of pointed top would work really well in wood, which is not so heavy, so no need for a keystone, and where you could easily peg the two top bits together?
Heh, you know architects. It's like they speak a different language sometimes. I suspect that to be an arch, it MUST have voussoirs and a keystone.
Pardon my iggorance, but do Anglo Saxons do arches, full stop? I'm trying to cast my mind back to Jarrow and the like, but not succeeding. The reason why I'm curious is because arches are just SO Roman - and I would have thought the Anglo-Saxons would be quite aware of Roman architectural practices and how useful the arch can be.
Yes, that does look like a method of construction transposed from carpentry. Or from an area where the stone breaks naturally into planes, like slate, or shale or whatever.
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But that seems more practical than just using open doors for light (and the doors, where detectable, don't seem to be wide enough...)
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I agree with you; I don't believe there were no windows. Small windows, obviously, and probably few of them; but I suspect that many Anglo Saxon houses let in so many draughts through the walls that windows were less of a problem than we think; also, chimneys create enormous draughts - but did many Anglo Saxon houses have chimneys?
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In my experience, the draughts in old cottages creep under doors or round windows and down chimneys or take advantage of temperature differentials, but they don't come *through* the walls.
(My Gran had a very old timber-framed cottage. There were draughts, as you'd expect in a single-glazed building, but it was a lot warmer than our Victorian house next door, which was phenomenally draughty and chilly as it had bigger windows, more doors, and stone walls that were nothing like thick enough.)
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I do like those windows. They're very, very pretty.
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They are lovely, and don't you think that sort of pointed top would work really well in wood, which is not so heavy, so no need for a keystone, and where you could easily peg the two top bits together?
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Pardon my iggorance, but do Anglo Saxons do arches, full stop? I'm trying to cast my mind back to Jarrow and the like, but not succeeding. The reason why I'm curious is because arches are just SO Roman - and I would have thought the Anglo-Saxons would be quite aware of Roman architectural practices and how useful the arch can be.
Yes, that does look like a method of construction transposed from carpentry. Or from an area where the stone breaks naturally into planes, like slate, or shale or whatever.
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