Editing Cottage (section)

===Medieval===
[[File:South Devon cottage - geograph.org.uk - 81799.jpg|thumb|right|A typical cottage in Devon, with walls built of cob and a thatched roof]]
The word originally referred to a humble rural detached dwelling of a ''[[Cotter (farmer)|cotter]]'', a semi-independent resident of a [[Manorialism|manor]] who had certain residential rights from the [[lord of the manor]], and who in the social hierarchy was a grade above the slave (mentioned in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086), who had no right of tenure and worked full-time to the orders of the lord. In the Domesday Book, they were referred to as ''Coterelli''.<ref name="elmes178" /> The cottage had a small amount of surrounding agricultural land, perhaps two or three acres, from which the resident gained his livelihood and sustenance. It was defined by its function of housing a cotter, rather than by its form, which varied, but it was certainly small and cheaply built and purely functional, with no non-essential architectural flourishes. It would have been built from the cheapest locally available materials and in the local style, thus in wheat-growing areas, it would be roofed in thatch, and in slate-rich locations, such as Cornwall, slates would be used for roofing. In stone-rich areas, its walls would be built of rubble stone, and in other areas, such as Devon, was commonly built from [[Cob (material)|cob]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Alcock|first1=Nat|last2=Miles|first2=Dan|title=The Medieval Peasant House in Midland England |year=2012|publisher=Oxbow Books|page=107|isbn=978-1-842-17506-4}}</ref>