On an English, Scottish or Welsh estate, a dower house is usually a moderately large house available for use by the widow of the estate-owner. The widow, often known as the "dowager", usually moves into the dower house from the larger family house on the death of her husband if the heir is married, and upon his marriage if he was single at his succession. The new heir occupies the now vacated principal house.
The dower house might also be occupied by an elder son after his marriage, or simply rented to a tenant.
Read more about Dower House: Examples
Famous quotes containing the words dower and/or house:
“At Sestos, Hero dwelt; Hero the faire,
Whom young Apollo, courted for her haire,
And offred as a dower his burning throne,
Where she should sit for men to gaze upon.”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
“Our law very often reminds one of those outskirts of cities where you cannot for a long time tell how the streets come to wind about in so capricious and serpent-like a manner. At last it strikes you that they grew up, house by house, on the devious tracks of the old green lanes; and if you follow on to the existing fields, you may often find the change half complete.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)