My Grandmother's house in West Somerset,
England, a wet part of the country, was built of
cob with a thatched roof. We have certain
evidence that that house has been in existence
for at least 200 years. However, when it was
modernized in the 1960's, it was decided to
lower the floors as the rooms were rather low.
After removing 0.15m of debris the original
floor was found. It was clear that the cottage
was a medieval long house complete with straw
and dung from the lower animal part of the
house. Thus, it is likely that house had
survived from the late Medieval period, if not
earlier. A lot longer than any of the brick
buildings in the village!
 
        On the other hand, the mound where
the bees were kept, was another cottage,which
had collapsed as the Estate did not bother to
repair the thatch in the late 19th century.
 
In the 1960's, in the some area many of the
boundary walls were also of cobb with either
thatch or flag cappings. Almost all of these
have gone now due to lack on maintenance in the
1970's.
 
On Thu, 4 Jun 1998 13:27:47 -0700 "N. Adams"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
> As long as it has a good roof on it with a hefty overhang, the walls would
> probably be fine although obviously not as long lasting as brick. I'm sure it
> periodically needed to be repaired. There are a few early 19th c. historical
> references to plantation mainhouses in the hot and humid S.C. lowcountry that
> were at least partially "clay walled" which could mean either cob construction
,
> wattle and daub, or some other mix of clay and wood. And there were numerous
> slave houses made of clay, particularly in the 18th c., but even into the 19th
> c. in South Carolina.
>
> Ned Heite wrote:
>
 
Chris Salter
 
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