House! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Castell Henllys

Iron Age houses were constructed of wattle and daub, a lattice wall made from woven wood and mud. The roof was usually made from thatch or grass. Castell Henllys is an archaeological site which is now home to re-constructed roundhouses and a granary.

It is believed the original hill fort was in existence around 2,400 years ago. The buildings are open to the public and people can envisage what it was like to live as the Celts used to.

Answer: Fishbourne

Fishbourne Roman Palace is an extremely well preserved example of how the Romans lived in Britain. It has the largest collection of mosaic floor tiles in the country dating back 2,000 years ago. Also found during archaeological digs were the remains of a hypocaust, an underground heating system using hot air (shown in the image).

It is believed the villa was the home of Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, a 1st century king of the Regnenses, a Celtic kingdom which later became part of Roman Britain. Brading, Silchester and Ambleside are other Roman settlements in Britain.

Answer: Pit house

Pit houses were as the name suggests, built in a pit. A deep hole of up to three feet was dug, and a wooden structure placed over the top which was covered in mud. The external structure resembled an earthen mound. Many people lived in the pit house, and because of the construction, the house was warm in winter and cool in summer.

The West Stowe Anglo-Saxon Village is now an open air museum, but the original site was home to around 70 pit houses. Not far from there is Sutton Hoo, the location of the 6th/7th century Anglo-Saxon preserved ship burial.

Answer: Norman

The majority of Norman castles were identified by their motte and bailey. This consisted of a wood keep built on top of an earth mound called a motte. The attached courtyard was called a bailey. The wooden keeps were soon replaced by stone, and surrounded by a moat to keep away invaders. Leeds Castle in Kent was built in 1119 by Robert de Crevevoeur, and was later used by King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.

Answer: Almshouses

Completed in 1448, the almshouses in the image were built for "Twelve pore feeble and ympotent old men and four old women", looked after by a housewife whose duties included to "feeche in and dyght to the victaill wash wrying make beddys and al other things do". Almshouses were built by landowners for the poor and then maintained by a charity.

The name is believed to be taken from the Latin word 'elemosyna' meaning compassion.

Answer: Boscobel House

Black and white timbered buildings were popular during Elizabethan and Tudor eras. One such house was the birthplace of William Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon. Most houses featured low wooden beams inside, with inglenooks, gables and dormer windows. Boscobel House in Shropshire was built in 1632 initially as a hunting lodge.

The house contained priest-holes which were used to hide Catholic priests. Charles II used the oak tree, later called the Royal Oak, to hide from the Roundheads after the Battle of Worcester in 1651.

Answer: Royal Crescent

Following the Great Fire of London, new laws were passed to ensure houses were constructed of fire resistant materials such as brick and slate. New houses became more imposing, with Palladian architecture and brick chimneys. Royal Crescent in Bath was built at a time when the Roman baths became a popular retreat for the wealthy. Designed by John Wood the Younger, and constructed in 1774, the 30 houses were built in a sweeping crescent-shaped terrace with green parks in front.

Answer: Back-to-back

As the Industrial Revolution grew, rows upon rows of workers' houses were built uniformly around factories and mills with hardly any sunlight coming through. Families lived in cramped rooms, and some were lucky enough to have an outside toilet built in an outhouse.

This was called a privy. Victorian developments in public health led to improvements in design, although the old-style back-to-backs continued to be built until the 1930s in a few areas such as Leeds. Industrial areas such as Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham featured the majority of back-to-back houses.

Answer: Prefab

Thousands of people were homeless due to the bombings and soldiers returning home from war with nowhere to live. The Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act 1944 outlined the measures needed to be put in place, and as a result, 150,000 prefab houses were built. Prefab, or prefabricated houses, were quick to construct, most of them made to last approximately 10 years, but some still standing today.

The image shows a prefab house in Catford, south east London, a place which suffered heavily during the Blitz.

Answer: Rabbit hutch

Recent surveys suggest that houses in Britain have the smallest living space compared to others in Europe. Modern houses are very compact and this is reflected by the colloquial term used to describe them which is 'rabbit hutch'. Once inside these houses, another term used frequently is that some rooms are not big enough to 'swing a cat'.

The house which fictional character Harry Potter lived is an example of a new build 'rabbit hutch'.