What were villens houses like?

Answer 1

a villeins house was called a cruck house because of the wooden frame (cruck) used to support their house with. The walls were made of wattle and daub. Wattle was twigs which were criss-crossed together and daub was mud and straw that were put over the top of the wattle like plaster. The roof was made of thatched straw and had a small hole in the top to allow the smoke from the fire to escape. They did not have chimneys so the houses would have been very smoky. On the walls of the house the peasants would hang their tools and they would have very simple furniture such as a wooden table and stools. In the winter their animals would also sleep inside the houses so they would have been very dirty and smelly places to live. Most peasants did not have beds so they would sleep on the floor on a bed of straw.

Answer 2

I think you are referring to "Villeins"

The word was used in "feudal" times to denote a peasant farmer who was legally tied to the land he worked.

Little more than a slave he could not leave the land without the landowner's consent.

In most cases the places they lived were "hovels" with few if any conveniences.

Some more enlightened Land Lords realised that the "villeins" needed to stay healthy so that they could work the land successfully and so they made sure that the accommodation was warm and dry and well maintained.