A Cob Garden-wall with Thatched Coping.
Reed Thatch.—In recent years slates or tiles have replaced thatch for the roofing of cob buildings and walls, owing to the cost of reed (the local name for the straw from which the grain has been hand-threshed by flail to prevent the straw being broken), and the difficulty of getting good thatchers. The opinion is held by many that the lasting quality of thatch has deteriorated since the practice of liming the cornland has unfortunately been given up.
Primitive Methods.—Formerly the ground floors of cob cottages were all cobbled, but these have, generally speaking, been replaced by lime, ash, or cement floors. The cob builders of past generations apparently made no use of the square, plumb-line, or level. No laths were used for the walls, which were plastered within; outside, rough-cast or “slap-dash” was laid on.
Mr. Baring-Gould
Mr. Baring-Gould’s Testimony.—Mr. S. Baring-Gould, in his Book of the West, writing on the subject says: “No house can be considered more warm and cosy than that built of cob, especially when thatched. It is warm in winter and cool in summer, and I have known labourers bitterly bewail their fate in being transferred from an old fifteenth or sixteenth century cob cottage into a newly-built stone edifice of the most approved style, as they said it was like going out of warm life into a cold grave.”
DEVON COB
The following paragraph, taken from C. B. Allen’s Cottage-Building, is of interest:
“The cob walls of Devonshire have been known to last above a century without requiring the slightest repair, and the Rev. W. Elicombe, who has himself built several houses of two stories with cob walls, says that he was born in a cob-wall parsonage built in the reign of Elizabeth, or somewhat earlier, and that it had to be taken down to be rebuilt only in the year 1831.”
Fruit Walls.—Again quoting Mr. Baring-Gould: “Cob walls for garden fruit are incomparable. They retain the warmth of the sun and give it out through the night, and when protected on top by slates, tiles, or thatch, will last for centuries.” It will be seen that the disadvantages of cob buildings are solely due to faults of construction, and not to any inherent defect in properly made cob as a material, and that the construction of cottages, farm buildings, and garden walls is well within the compass of an averagely intelligent workman.