Saxon Hovel

This image comes from A Handbook of Pictorial History by Henry W. Donald, available through Project Gutenberg. The image is actually from the "BERGER" Handwork cards advertised in the rear of the book. It's a nice little floorplan. I don't know how accurate but it's suitable as far as I care.

I've cleaned up some of the unnecessary clutter and added a door. The lines indicate 2x2 yard(?) squares. The dark bits at the corner and center appear to be support columns. I'm not sure what the small box on the right is, perhaps that represents the chimney hole.

On the drawing it's clear the thing is a waddle & daube construction although I've read the Saxons used regular wood plank walls as wood was plentiful at the time.

The roof is thatched and would be replaced yearly. In hilly areas the building might be built up next to a small cliff allowing one to walk right ontop of the house. I've seen images of scottish houses with live grass on there roof being trimmed by sheep. Also in hilly areas you might have a basement, or partial basement as it would probably be easier to make one half the house two stories high than to dig everything out to lay a flat foundation.