Northamptonshire is home to several historic Cob Cottages.
Cob is a mixture of sand, clay, and straw. It would be finished with a plaster mixture of lime and sand, often a year later to ensure the building had fully dried.
Cob buildings are often recognisable by their deep-set windows, rounded or uneven corners, and thick, organic-looking walls. These features result from the hand-built nature of the material.
But these features are by no means present in all Cob Cottages. There could have been partial re-builds over the years, or methods could have been refined.
Dating back to at least the 1200s, the method saw a resurgence in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in response to the high cost of bricks, and low availability of good quality stone in some areas.
Here are some of the Cob Cottages in Northamptonshire.
Sources
Jack Preston 