Halls predated castles as mostly wooden structures in which the Lord and his retainers would eat, sleep and hold court.

When compared with the stretch of time unknown to us, O king, the present life of men on earth is like the flight of a single sparrow through the hall where, in winter, you sit with your captains and ministers. Entering at one door and leaving by another, while it is inside it is untouched by the wintry storm; but this brief interval of calm is over in a moment, and it returns to the winter whence it came, vanishing from your sight. Man's life is similar; and of what follows it, or what went before, we are utterly ignorant.
THE VENERABLE BEDE, A History of the English Church and People (731)

After castle building took off in the eleventh century the Hall or Great Hall(named for its size) performed its old function incorporated within the castle; sleeping quarters at night, from Lord to servants, trestle tables would be erected for meals and taken down again after, all very cosy. Very soon things began to change and the Lord and his family acquired private chambers off the Hall, then officials got their own chambers and offices. The Hall lost its flavour of communal sleeping chamber for the people of elevated rank. It retained being a court and dining chamber, a place for festivals, dispensing law and display of heraldic achievements.

The usual plan was to have at the top end of the Hall the Lord and family, and higher retainers. At this end would be doors to their private chambers. Tables ran down the length of the hall and there was a division according to status marked by the vessel containing the salt. Opposite the Lord and at the bottom of the hall would be a fixed screen of wood and above that the minstrels' gallery. Behind the screen was a service area, where the food was held until it was ready to be presented as the next course.

By the 15th century dining was formal, unlike the usual film portrayal and one did not belch , pass wind or grasp at food, there was an order of proper service that was strictly adhered to. A knightly accomplishment was to learn to carve meat in the correct fashion, according to the cut of meat, quite an artform apparantly. You were expected to maintain silence during entertainment, such as a song by a troubadour. You ate off a trencher, a plate of hard bread, which was then distributed to the poor afterwards. A good trencherman is an expression still used today for someone who likes to eat heartily, implying that he might eat the trencher too. You ate with spoon and knife, forks came later. Your drinking vessel may have been of horn or pottery, silver for his nibs.. Later also came pottery, or pewter plates.

Rushes on the floor were normal, strewn with herbs to keep down insects. Hygene was of a lower standard. People urinated in fireplaces, dogs roamed and body parasites were common. If you had an exceptional problem with head lice you were expected to wear a hat at meals....