Transition Culture

Cob Buildings - Schofield & Smallcombe (2004)

Cob Buildings-a practical guide - Jane Schofield & Jill Smallcombe. Black Dog Press. (2004)

In his seminal book ‘The Pattern of English Building’, the late Alec Clifton-Taylor writes much in praise of old cob buildings, but also writes, “what is nearly certain is that we shall see no new ones…as substances for building the unbaked earths already belong to history.� Frank McDonald in ‘Ireland’s Earthen Houses’ is similarly doubtful that we will ever see a cob building revival.

Since these books were written, however, something seems to be stirring out there and is beginning to gain momentum. In the UK builders such as Kevin McCabe have built some gorgeous new structures and a number of builders now offer cob building services. In the US, as part of the whole natural building explosion taking place there, cob was rediscovered by Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley, who, along with Michael Smith, founded the Cob Cottage Company and wrote the excellent ‘Hand Sculpted House’, which promotes the idea of cob building as a community building tool and a tool for self reliance as much as a building technique. New cob structures are popping up in the UK, and also in Ireland. Where? A few are currently under construction (one by this reviewer) and more are planned. A new respect is emerging for our heritage of old cob buildings and there is a new sense of excitement about the possibilities of new structures.

‘Cob Buildings’ is a very useful handbook on cob construction from cob’s heartland, Devon. The authors both work with cob and previously wrote the excellent ‘Building With Lime’. The book is a very good cob builder’s resource, written both for people with old cob houses curious about how to repair and maintain them and for the new builder. It covers most of what you would need to know, soil testing, mixing, wall building, openings and plasters. It gives much more space to the mixing of cob with diggers and tractors than ‘The Hand Sculpted House’ does, and is built on the practical experience of recent cob builders that if you want to build a home of any size, you really do need to mix with machines. The authors write in an engaging, practical and straightforward way and for a relatively small book (48 pages) it contains a wealth of information. As a practical guide it is excellent and very much recommended.

About a third of the book is dedicated to the repair of old cob buildings, again very clearly and concisely written. I did wonder whether there might be an argument for creating two separate books from this material, one on new builds and one on restoration, as newcomers considering building a house might be put off by pictures of cracked and crumbling walls; the fact that those walls had probably stood for 300 years before such problems emerged is not really stressed! That aside, this publication is an excellent practical guide to cob buildings. While it lacks the visionary zeal and broader purpose of ‘The Hand Sculpted House’, it is as a storehouse of the techniques and experience indigenous to these islands, of centuries and building and repair, that this book excels. As we enter an uncertain future of energy descent necessity will make natural materials such as cob and strawbale more attractive options for mainstream construction. May this book speed that transition and encourage many to explore this most beautiful, satisfying and ancient of building techniques.