Dissection of a square farmhouse

Just outside Wezeren is this imposing square farmhouse from 1877. We don't find a name or a historical reference anywhere. That is precisely why it is interesting to take a moment to reflect on the functional architecture of such a building.

The farm is located on a valley flank near a stream. You don't have to drill deep for drinking water. The arrangement of the buildings is a combination of (1) security: closed and with blank walls on the outside, sometimes even with loopholes, sheltered from strong winds,... (2) an optimal use of space so that one did not have to walk too far to reach the farm buildings, baking oven, manure heap, but also orchard and vegetable garden and (3) an optimal use of building materials through the common walls of the contiguous buildings. Finally, there is a handy traffic penalty of the driving movement of the carts to be unloaded in a single direction from the entrance gate to the bag.

The disadvantages of this construction method were that expansion of the buildings was difficult and that several adjacent buildings could be affected in the event of a fire. There is no standard floor plan, but the most striking is the large barn for storage and threshing

The house is a true farmer's house. It usually had a half-sunken cellar as storage, a separate kitchen and living area, separate bedrooms and a room-in-law with the finest furniture. This space was only opened at special times or used for receiving guests. The house was often oriented to the south for light and warmth.

Manure: the brown gold

Until the advent of artificial fertilizer, the farm will have a strongly mixed character: field fruits and livestock will seek a compelling balance between the areas needed for arable farming and livestock farming. After all, manure was the brown gold. It was in a big heap in the yard.

Manure is a combination of faeces, urine and straw, converted into nutrients that can be easily absorbed by the crops. A dung heap could be one meter deep. The straw played a crucial role and was not a 'disposable material'. Straw was the essential basic element for "binding" the excrement of the animals and creating an environment in which all kinds of organisms were present in order to transform this mixture into a new product, namely fertilizer. As a result, it was forbidden to steal or resell straw extracted from the farm. The moist fraction of the manure was collected in a cesspool. This was a brick-bricked, tightly jointed pit in the ground, close to the stables. This well probably only came into use on the larger farms from the 18th century.

In practice, the animal manure was almost always mixed with human excrement. The toilet of the farm (often referred to as convenience or room ) was usually constructed above this cesspool.

Jan Rymenams