Pictures & images of English Cottages. The cottage goes back to the middle ages when it was the dwelling of agricultural workers who were know as "cotters". Cotters were held under bondage to their feudal lords and were to really slaves by another name. As in many Englsih words Cottage is a blend of the French Cot or cote which means a hut or cottage and the old norse Kot which also meant hut. In 15th century manner court rolls written in Latin the cottage was referd to as "domum dicta cotagil" which may have also referd to a smallholding with a cottage, out buildings and a small amount of land.
Cottages still refer in England to small dwellings which were inhabited by workers. In the industrial age you started to get towns & villages with "miners cottages" & "workers cottages" that did not have the rural charm of their agricultural counterparts but are still a distinctive feature of the industrial landscape.
In the late 1800's the cottage was re-inveted as a thatched idyllic vision and the English Cottage garden was invented. The cottage garden is a distinct style of garden that uses an informal design, traditional materials, dense plantings, and a mixture of ornamental and edible plants. English in origin, the cottage garden depends on grace and charm rather than grandeur and formal structure. Homely and functional gardens connected to working-class cottages go back several centuries, but their reinvention in stylized versions grew in 1870s England.
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