Fantastic map resource for proper-looking Norman farms, buildings, etc.

[Broadsword56]

I came across this invaluable PDF online -- it's loaded with drawings, diagrams, photos, and descriptions of traditional Norman architecture in the Cotentin Peninsula.

http://www.caue50.fr/telechargement/collections/bati%20ancien%20cotentin.pdf

It's in French, but even if you don't speak the language you will benefit from the pictures. If you can read it you'll learn things like:

Buildings will usually face south to catch the sunlight. North walls are typically blank and you wouldn't normally see windows, doors, etc., on them.

[LongLeftFlank]

Tres bien resource! Merci!

My French is far from fluent, but the gist of this seems to be that traditional building walls were made either of stone masonry or of packed clay and vegetation (straw mats -- what the English called "wattle and daub" construction) over timber framing. The latter was primarily used in agricultural outbuildings or the "less prominent" parts of houses, while houses were typically solid stone (except in the marshlands where everything was pretty much packed earth). Most farmstead buildings faced onto a central court in an L, U or rectangular shape, which could be either open or walled off and gated.

So to me this is a further argument for a meaningful distinction in cover values / durability between "light" (earth walled) and "medium" (stone walled) rural building types, with "heavy" being restricted to higher (and therefore thicker, to bear loads and provide insulation) walled churches, chateaus and castles.