The Long-House in Brittany: A Provisional Assessment

Abstract

This paper is the result of preliminary work undertaken as part of a long-term survey of the lesser domestic buildings of Brittany, during which long-houses have been found in large numbers. Attention is drawn to the known distribution of the long-house in western Europe, and examples of Breton long-houses are described and contrasted with Welsh and English examples. Evidence of their former widespread distribution is presented showing them to be associated with both pastoral and mixed farming. It is suggested that the long-house, formerly the standard type of dwelling over the whole of Brittany is an earlier west European, rather than a late Celtic type, perhaps being Celtic in the wider sense of having survived from the Gallo-Roman period. The author then seeks to provide a concise definition for the type.