If you’re setting a novel in Ireland, or putting together some background research for an article, chances ar good that you’ll come across a traditional Irish cottage. These wonderful little gems are scattered across the landscape, nestling in as if nature herself had planted them there. The cottages aren’t just in the countryside either – you find them in villages, towns, and the cities. There’s no describing the pleasure of coming across one of these little cottages, and oasis of calm and tranquility, right in the middle of a busy Dublin suburb.

If you were parachuted into Ireland in the middle of the night without a clue as to where you landed, the style of the nearest cottage, its building materials and layout, would probably give you a pretty good idea as to where you were. Ireland’s traditionally rural-oriented lifestyle is reflected in its buildings, created as far as possible from materials close at hand, promoting the organic look as if the cottages, too, grew in the landscape.

These materials could incloud stone, brick, turf, or even mud, although limestone is the most commonly used. This is usually convered in plaster to protect it from the elements. In counties such as Kilkenny and Tipperary, where good quality stone was readily available, the cottage architecture is distinctly different as with the stone being left bar plaster. Brick was also a popular building material where it was available. Thatch was the usual roofing material, although slate was used in areas where it was readily  accessible. Many cottages reroofed in slate, or even galvanized metal, are not being reroofed again in thatch, and the few tradesneb left with this skill are in high demand.

Climate was a major factor, too. In counties like Wexford i the south-east, drier, sunnier and more sheltered than the west, where the soil is rich and the farms were more prosperous, farmhouses are larger and often two storied, cheerfully wash-painted in colours from ochre to pinks, and the occasional deep red as the traditional white.the greater prosperity of the owners allowed for details such as door moldings and window sorrounds, usually painted in another colour from the walls to make them stand out. Town cottages were often tow-storeys as well, and usually terraced. These rows of cottages, each painted according to its owners tastes, usually with window boxes blooming in the summer, are a delighful feature of many Irish towns and villages. In the north and northwest, builders responded to the Atlantic gales by building their cottages with rounded, or hump-backed, roofs. Materials used here for thatching included marram grass, flax, straw, bracken, or heather, with an under-roof of turf sods. The thatch was tied down with a network of ropes, and the rope ends were secured to pegs biult into the walls, or weighted down by stones. In this areas, too, soil was precious and stones collected from the small arable fields were used for building homes, outbuilding and boundary walls. When cut stones were used it was mainly for window and dooor detailing. Cottages in the Midlands, where weather was kinder, have steeply pitched roofs which, with a dormer window, provided a second floor ares. Here you see the scalloped styles of classic thatching made possible by the use of wheat, rye or oat straw, or reeds. Thatches of this type, done by a skilled tradesman, can last 12 years.

Mortar was used in areas where lime was available, but most cottage walls are dry-built, the stones skillfully interwoven for strength and stability.

Mortar was more available in the 18th and 19th centuries as transportation became easier, but even then it was used mostly in the houses of the wealthy. Mud layerd with straw was  a popolar and surprisingly durable building material used in the midlands and in the south-east where the climate was relatively dry. Usually a few courses of stone were used for a foundation,  and the wonderful insulating qualities of mud made these cottages warm and comfortable.

Sod, which was the most easily obtainable building material, was used for the homes of the very poor and for landless labourers. The sods were cut in rectangles and laid like blocks and an entire cottage could be built in a day. This was a real advantage for people constantly on the move in search of work.

Early cottages, and those of the poor, tended to have open spaces without glass in the windows, or to be windowless. The earliest windows with glass were small panes, set four or six at a time into frames and installed in the up and down sliding style. Casement style windows came later.