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Wealthy people would build grand houses of brick and plaster with gardens for vegetables, flowers and herbs. Some gardens had mazes, fountains and hedges cut into different shapes, known as topiary. Houses had glass windows. As glass could be cheaper than brick, some houses were more glass than wall. The glass let in more light so people wanted nicer furniture. Usually made of oak made to last. More wealthy people had mattresses made of flock, a sort of rough wool. The poor still had small huts with thatched roofs, maybe a log as a pillow and a mattress filled with straw. The grand mansions would have many chimneys for the many fireplaces required to keep the vast rooms warm. Chimneys allowed fires to be at the side of rooms and allowed upstairs rooms to have their own heating. Two and three storey homes became more popular for the rich. These fires were also the only way of cooking food. There were no building regulations so some chimneys were made of wood and wattle. This meant many houses caught fire. No one really understood how the chimney worked nor that they had to keep it clean. Eventually some parishes sent out instructions that chimneys should be cleaned four times a year. Because of fires the wealthy had roofs made of tiles not thatch. Despite having chimneys, many homes were very smoky inside which was not healthy. The poor living in towns had a rough time with no sewers or drains and rubbish was simply left in the streets. This is why rats flourished and there were outbreaks of the Black Death in 1498, 1535, 1543, 1563, 1589 and 1603.
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