Medieval Peasant Dwelling

This is a very small peasant hut, called a “grübenhaus” in German, but built in very similar fashion all over Europe, and indeed, the world. It was basically a wattle-and-daub thatched tent, and to give the occupants some head-room, it was built over a dugout pit, usually about two or three feet deep — hence the name.

Although this one is very small, and would probably be the hovel of a villein or serf, the same principle was used for considerably larger houses, especially where the soil was dry enough to dig into without oozing damp.

There are two versions of the hut: one with smooth thatch, and another with layered thatch. The version with layered thatch is also offered as a two-piece STL for printing on ends, so that the layer lines run down the thatch rather than across it.

This is modeled at roughly 1:100 scale for 15mm wargaming. For 28mm, it will need to be printed at about 180% scaling.