| Abstract: | RECENT research suggests that the fully single-storied house remained common among substantial vernacular houses in Devon down to the end of the medieval period. The most important feature of these houses is that many of their internal partitions were screens that were only some 6 ft. high. In modernization, while an open hearth was retained in the hall, an upper floor was often jettied into the hall, over the low partition. At a later stage these internal jetties were used in original work. The houses with low partitions can be seen as a stage in the evolution of the medieval house, linking the evidence of surviving buildings with that of buildings known only from excavation. |
