Hearth and home: the vernacular house in Ireland from <i>c.</i> 1800

Abstract

Until the mid-nineteenth century the vast majority of the people of Ireland lived in houses that they built themselves with the help of family and neighbours. This vernacular building culture drew on design templates rooted in a long-standing tradition in Ireland. Over time the vernacular has gradually disappeared with the advent of pattern-books and architect-, engineeror technician-designed buildings. Vernacular architecture as it survives today is the recent manifestation, largely built between 1650 and 1850, of an approach to building that began in remote antiquity. Besides satisfying the physical needs of the occupants, vernacular traditions embodied their belief systems and world-view. They also provide a link with contemporary practices in other parts of the world. The study of vernacular architecture has stronger affinities with anthropology, archaeology and folkloristics, than it has with architectural history. In this chapter, which deals with the period from c. 1 800, the past tense is used in relation to buildings or activities that appear to no longer exist, and the present tense to describe standing structures, as well as certain building crafts (such as thatching) and customs that survive.