Fighting a fire, ca.1460.
Source: Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris,
MS frant. 9198.
Fire was one of the most dreaded threats to medieval town-dwellers
and nowhere more so than densely populated London. As the illustration
above shows, fire prevention was a smarter approach than trying to fight
fire with medieval technology. Once building regulations were in place and
juries convened at periodic ward moots were required to inform the
authorities of fire risks and of householders not equipped with the
necessaries to fight fire (barrels of water and ladders), the incidence
of widespread fires in London dropped.
Thatching at Haddenham, 1990
Photo © S. Alsford
Use of straw or reeds to cover roofs was one of the earliest targets
for prohibition. Yet as late as 1422 we find a London wardmoot jury
reporting that fifteen cottages in Chancery Lane (suburbs) had been
roofed with straw. The popularity of thatch was that the materials
were relatively abundant locally and cheap.
Exhibit showing thatching technique,
Bridewell Museum, Norwich
Photo © S. Alsford
Thatching was done by tying the roofing material into bundles and
placing it in layers, pegged into position with rods of hazelwood
or withy. Notwithstanding concerns about the fire risk, thatching
is still a trade plied in many English villages, for the rustic look
it gives is valued by house-buyers; fire-retardant chemicals applied
to the thatch and to the house timbers now reduce the risk.
Open hearths were another fire-risk concern of the authorities. But the
introduction of chimneys did little at first to help matters, since
they were constructed of timber.
The open hearth in the hall at Barley Hall, York.
Smoke was to escape via a smoke-hall, or louver, in the roof (left inset);
the decorative item atop the roof (right insert) also appears to be
associated with venting smoke.
Photos © S. Alsford
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