What is earth building? A history of the use of earth in buildings in Scotland

Learn more about the use of earth in many old buildings throughout Scotland. Earth is one of the most sustainable materials, and can be re-used over and over again.
Find out more about earth materials in Scottish buildings at the Engine Shed, Scotland’s building conservation centre: www.engineshed....
This film is part of the Building Scotland series of short films celebrating Scotland’s traditional building materials. Scotland’s traditional buildings are one of the country’s most unique and cherished features. These buildings both draw visitors from around the world and create a sense of place and identity for the people that live in Scotland. This series of fourteen short films celebrates the raw materials which were used to create Scotland’s traditional buildings - from stone and slate, to earth, glass and iron.
This series accompanies a publication of the same title, Building Scotland, launched in March 2010 by Minister for Culture Fiona Hyslop.
A Circa Media Production for Historic Scotland. Edited and designed by Andrew McGregor. With special thanks to the National Library of Scotland Scottish Screen Archive.
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[@frankparsons1629]

That is so very interesting. Down here in Southern England, in the New Forest, Hampshire, from time immemorial cottages were made in Cob, that is to say clay dug from the ground merely yards away from the intended site, mixed with dung and straw and brook pebbles and constructed in say 4 feet lifts made in timber shuttering. As each lift settled and dried the next lift was made. Over a Spring and summer the roof was ready to be made, often of thatch, and the last of these houses were made in late Victorian times. Key was a good cap and good boots! Many still stand today, my cousins farmhouse was of such a build and is mostly unaltered to this day excepting for a 1950s extension to provided a sitting room, but that in brick. A few early examples still stand and those to around the early 1600s, a low single story build and thatched, maybe with a later lean to extension run along the length of the rear to provide a galley kitchen and perhaps bathroom (which added to the original wee 3 room cottage).

[@HistoricEnvironmentScotland]

Hello Frank. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge of earth-built cottages from your neck of the woods. We agree that being dressed for the work is an important fundamental!