Detached Kitchens in an Early Seventeenth-Century English Fishing Village in Ferryland, Newfoundland: The Historical and Archaeological Evidence

Abstract

Two detached kitchens recorded in a 1620s English fishing village in Ferryland, Newfoundland provide valuable insight into the perceived necessity and continued use of these ancillary structures well into the seventeenth century. The examples in this article are based on documentary and archaeological evidence and provide detailed information on the construction, size, layout and activities associated with early modern detached kitchens in a British North American context. The Ferryland kitchens were multi-functional spaces operating within disparate social and domestic environments. The results of this research should be considered alongside previous scholarship on detached kitchens, the criteria used to identify them and the likelihood that some also served as accommodation for servants or even family members.