Cob home demonstrating a good hat (thatched roof) and strong pair of boots (stone plinth)


Erosion to cob wall caused by lack of over-hang on the roof and years of neglect


These traditional, solid cob houses were generally built by local people using natural materials direct from the surrounding lands. This gives cob homes a real sense of local charm as the walls often vary in colour depending on the properties of the local soil.


When cavity wall construction became more popular in the 1920s, the use of cob diminished along with many traditional building techniques and knowledge required to successfully build in this way, and from the end of the First World War through to the mid-1970s there were very little new cob buildings being built at all. One of the first cob buildings since the decline was a little


more experimental; a local bus shelter was created in Down St Mary, Devon, by Mr Alfred Howard in 1978. Mr Howard, as he preferred to be known, had learned his skills at an early age when he used to help out with the family building business, working alongside older men who had been working with cob since the turn of the century. In 1939 he enlisted in the Royal Engineers and was sent to northern France with the British Expeditionary Force. It wasn’t until many years later when the Parish Council asked him to help on this project that he started to use and share his knowledge – reviving the use of cob in doing so.


Exact figures are unclear but it is certain that


hundreds of cob buildings have been lost in the last few decades. This is thought to be down to a general lack of understanding of cob which has also resulted in incorrect repairs and renovations, using inappropriate materials, which can contribute to the breakdown of the walls and lead to their decay.


UNDERSTANDING PROBLEMS WITH YOUR COB The principal cause for the failure of cob structures is the presence of excess moisture. This saturation of cob causes the clay particles that bind the walls together to be separated,


Continued >>


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