Graham Norwood Journalism

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud: Ancient Building Style Makes A Comeback

Daily Mail

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It's back to the future for Devon farmers Richard and Winnie Brimacombe. Although their home is over 400 years old it is made from a traditional building material that is now enjoying a 21st century renaissance - mud.

"The walls are made from mud mixed with dung and straw. This property dates back to 1598 and that's how rural houses were built then. It's extremely good at keeping heat in - you light a fire in a room one evening and the heat is retained the next morning, too" explains Winnie, who runs a bed and breakfast business in the six bedroom Devon longhouse at Yeoford, a pretty village north west of Exeter.

The Brimacombes' house, Warren's Farm (www.warrensfarm.co.uk), has been in their family ownership since 1947 and now attracts bed and breakfast visitors from around the world. "They're amazed when we explain how it was build and how thick the walls are. The inside window ledges are easily large enough to act as seats" she says.

This mix of hardened mud and straw, usually mounted on a stone plinth to deter rising damp, is called Cob and dates back to the 14th century. It is particularly common in south west England where the clay is strong and does not expand or contract too vigorously, although it is also found in Wales and the south coast and north east of England.

But ironically cob, which started as a cheap way of building homes for the poor who could not afford bricks, is now enjoying a new lease of life.

In 1997, a Devon builder and environmentalist erected a new four-bedroom cob house for his family in Devon, the first in the UK since the 1920s. In 2005 a Worcestershire house called Cobtun won the Royal Institute of British Architects' Sustainable Building Of The Year award.

Cob is now the building material of choice for the wealthy with a green conscience, and a small industry of cob experts has sprung up.

For example Plymouth University has a Centre for Earthen Studies, to research use of the material in buildings. Forty miles away in Helston, Adam Weissman and Katy Bryce are a husband-and-wife team called Cob In Cornwall, repairing mud houses up to 400 years old and creating new mud homes, barns and even a bus shelter near their home.

"There's nothing more sustainable. It's natural, hasn't been processed and is made on-site without any travelling" explains Adam, the author of books on working with cob.

The material's chief drawback is dampness. Most remaining old cob houses, and all newly built ones, are coated with a flexible 'breathing' lime plaster. But in the past owners have used a cement render that was inflexible, cracked, and let in water.

Because of this weakness, some surveyors and houses insurers are wary of cob. "It's been a problem in the past. People want an old home and get a survey of somewhere we find for them. But they then worry when they're told it's got cob walls, especially when they're told what cob is" explains Nicola Oddy of Stacks, a property finding service.

Now a new synthetic substitute for mud is being tested. Called Tradical Hemcrete, it is a form of 'light' concrete made from hemp plants and reported to be half the cost of cob. It takes a fraction of the time to make, and is claimed to be much more thermally efficient.

In the meantime, original cob buildings are fetching high prices.

A five bedroom 16th century Devon longhouse at Newton Poppleford near Sidmouth, complete with thatched roof, chocolate box good looks and three acres of land, is on sale for £845,000 (Fulfords, 01392 660007). Near Collumpton, also in Devon, the recently renovated six bedroom Beech Cottage dates back to the 17th century and is on sale for £750,000 (Stags, 01392 255202).

For Winnie Brimacombe, the original cob is "one of the loveliest things" about her home. She says: "There are tiny cracks that sometimes appear because even after all this time the house is moving slightly. But if it's lasted 400 years, it'll stay standing a while longer."

And with cob coming back into use, expect to see it in new homes too.

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