“There is a local builder who will run up the shell of a house for a matter of £100, more or less, according to its size. . . . Most of the cottages are literally hand-made. A skilful architect who visited the Winterslow cottages felt sure that boards must be used to keep the walls straight, but he was wrong. The chalk is shovelled up and the walls are kept straight without line or plummet. No expensive scaffolding or machinery is employed. Yet the walls come out beautifully in the end, the colour being an exquisite soft white. They are about 18 in. thick, and the slowness of their construction has one good effect, it gives them time to dry. No point is of more importance than this. It is advisable not to put on any rough-cast, plaster, or paper for at least twelve months, as doing so will prevent the moisture from exuding. One or two of the little cottages were slightly damp, but the majority were as dry as tinder. The thickness of the walls helps to render the cottage more comfortable, to make it cool in summer and dry in winter.
“One word should be added in regard to soft chalk as a building material. Where it can be obtained in the garden at a few inches depth, and especially where the cottager is his own architect and builder, it can be most heartily recommended, but there are obvious objections to its transportation to districts where it is foreign.
“The village itself is a very homely and irregular one without a single dwelling of any pretence. The country lying adjacent to Salisbury Plain consists of broken, sparsely peopled downland, and very ornate or finished cottages would be out of keeping, but they would not look so well copied in a very rich, heavily timbered country.”
RATS AND CHALK
Note.—Conglomerate chalk is, like cob, vulnerable to the attacks of a really determined rat.
The outer defences provided by the exterior rendering can be backed up by the mixing in of broken glass or sharp flints with the substance of the wall, where such attacks are likely.
Marsh Court, Hampshire.