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Originally Posted by Celuien
It seems that I've been drawn back into reseaching again.
I did find some information that supports Garstan's plan, though.
the fortified burh of a wealthy lord... Private defended burhs of wealthy thegns, ealdorman, and nobles ... Heavily fortified as it was it may have housed a powerful lord. ...It is part of a high status, secular, residential homestead.
...another lordly residence.
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I hope Garstan will stick to this. (Although all of those references didn't mention a separate kitchen...
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As I said to Celuien in a PM, "I surely see the idea behind the fire-protection. In a big castle with a wealthy lord you could afford that kind of things, and surely the well-being of their kitchen personnel was not nearest to their hearts, I suppose... Stigend surely thinks about the matter from his point of view: looking at the conditions of people having to do the work in the buildings and how to build economically..."
And then I started thinking whether I have just contradicted myself with my last post...
Yes, I know, that at least in Northern Europe the poor and the middle-class built their ovens tightly to the walls to give maximum warmth up to the 20th century. But clearly the wood had been free on the earlier times at least... So it must be labour-costly then? Just imagine the amounts of firewood needed in a Mead Hall! Well, as I said earlier, the Eorl need not to worry, what his subordinates do as they cost him the same every day, but surely if other projects are hampered by just getting enough firewood - or if it is a sparser commodity (you have to make long trips to find it or something) - it would be wise to try to be economical in that way.
But surely: Stigend's way of looking at the question stems from his experience of how things are done where he has been working. Garstan probably has a better argument if we look at it from the perspective of the safety. Stigend just looks at labour costs and the comfort of the people working in the buildings they construct...
Haa! This is fun! So far I have just managed with general education, but soon I will have to start searching for additional information too... A nice little disagreement between different schools of the building-trade!
