A plaggenhut is a sod cabin; a house built using layers of topsoil. These houses were used by poor people, especially in the peaty areas in the north-east of the Netherlands where there was no natural stone or clay. … [Read more...]

A schuur is a barn or a shed. Some of my ancestors lived at the Roerdink farm in the Netherlands from the 1400s to the 1600s. The farm still exists. The main building has been renewed but some of the outbuildings have not. They used tree ring dating on the barn a couple of years ago and it was from 1544 so it was built when my ancestors lived there. It is the oldest known barn in the Netherlands. Cultural Heritage Service (CC-BY-SA). … [Read more...]

A metselaar is a bricklayer. Since the Netherlands doesn't have many quarries, and all the more mud, brick was and is a popular building material. Brick has been used for buildings since the Middle Ages, first for churches and later for houses too. To prevent fire, many chartered towns issued ordinances that required people to use brick instead of wood or wattle and daub to build their houses. … [Read more...]