Cob: Wattle Daub activity holiday in England, 2002

[Nampsoscoke at aol.com]

Hey!

People will probably be sick of me after today... three posts in one afternoon, what was I thinking...

I just ran across this in the drive to find yet more documentation of the durability of wattle daub construction. For those still fascinated by the historical aspects of cob construction, check out http://www.ridiculousprojects.org/ to read about an "adventure holiday" project taking place in England. They teach you the skills. You build a historically accurate house. What could be more fun.

For those that liked the Regia website, I also recommend www.anglecynn.org, which belongs to another anglo saxon reenactment group from England. They have done a stellar recreation of a period village. Worth a look.

Re: beams in the walls, and worrying about whether the walls will fall down... I have seen examples of curved beams, which formed both bones of the structure walls as well as the roof. Picture if you will, the beams of a boat, inverted. Many of the housebuilders were shipwrights, so the feature is common enough. Between each beam the wattle weave would be put up, and presumably pegged in to the frame somehow before the daub was thrown up. Saplings would be secured to the roof frame, and from there the thatching would be attached. 

-WJ