dower house
Dowager's estate cottage
A dower house is a residence on an estate set aside for the widow of the estate's former owner, allowing her to live independently while the heir takes possession of the main house.
The term comes from dower—a widow's legal share of her husband's property.
Dower houses appear frequently in British period dramas: The dowager countess retired to the dower house when her son inherited.
- widowBereaved wife, unmarried since
- estateProperty and grounds
- country estateLarge rural landholding residence
- manorLanded aristocratic residence
- dowagerTitled widow of nobility
inheritance · cottage · grounds · English countryside · Georgian · property · genteel · reduced circumstances · retirement · spinster · landed gentry · reduced · circumstances · parkland · ancestral · daughter · mother-in-law · second wife
dower housemanor house
Landed gentry's residence
main house · great house · ancestral seat · principal residence · stately home
dower, house, houses, housed, housing, housekeeper, housewife, household, dowry