In early medieval times, most of Britain was covered in massive forests. It was only when a huge quantity of wood was needed to build ships to defend England against the French that most of these forests were denuded.

Certainly, many homes were built in clearings in the forests but these were semi-fortified places so as to be secure against wild animals.

Rarely were they situated in the centre of a forest but, usually, a few trees would be cleared (and these were utilised to build the home) at one edge of the forest - normally on the side sheltered from the worst of the elements by the forest itself.

Hence, the word (lee) is also used to designate the sheltered area behind a ship or an island (lee shore).