OLD ENGLISH COTTAGES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19658, 9 June 1927, Page 14

OLD ENGLISH COTTAGES.

WARMTH AND DRYNESS. METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION. The appeal of the Royal Society o£ Arts for assistance in its plan of preserving the ancient cottages of England has been warmly supported by Sir Thomas Hardy, who has recalled that as a child he saw the building of what was probably one of the last of these old-fashioned cottages of "mud-wall" and thatch. "What was called mud-wall was really a composition of chalk, clay and straw — essentially, unbaked brick," says Sir Thomas Hardy. "This was mixed into a sort of dough-pudding, close to where the cottage was to be built. The mixing was performed by treading and shovelling—women sometimes being called in to tread —and the straw was added to bind the mass together, a process that had doubtless gone on since the days of Israel in Egypt and earlier. " It was then thrown up by pitchforks on to the wall, where it „ was trodden down, to a thickness of about 2ft., till a 'rise' of Ibout 3ft. had been reached all round the building.. This was left to settle for a day or two, and then another rise was effected, till the whole height tc the wall-plate was reached, and then that of the gables, • unless the cottage was hipped, or had a 'pinion' end, as it was called. "When the wall had dried a little the outer face was cut down to a fairly flat surface with a spade, and the wall then plastered outside and in. The thatch projected sufficiently to prevent much rain running down the outer plaster, and even where it did run dpwn the plaster was so hard as to be unaffected, more lime being used than nowadays. "'I have never heard of any damp coming through these mud-walls, plastered and lime-whitened on the outside. Yet,as everybody, at any rate every builder, knows, even when brick walls are built hollow it is difficult to keep damp out entirely in exposed situations. "I would urge owners to let as many as are left of their old cottages remain where they are, and to repair them instead of replacing them with bricks, since, apart from their warmth and dryness, they nave almost great beauty and charm. Not only so, but I would suggest that their construction might be imitated when rebuilding is absolutely, necessary."