Cottage Building in Cob Pise Chalk and Clay Part 14

It should, however, be constantly borne in mind that most of the old cottages were somewhat unscientifically erected by their original jack-of-all-trades occupiers, that damp-courses and Portland cement were unknown, and that the advantages of proper ventilation and the causes of dry-rot were discoveries yet to be made.

Secondly, a large number of these cottages have been sadly neglected either recently or in the past, and they bear the disfiguring marks of their ill-treatment upon them now.

But a chalk cottage that is well found in the beginning, and that is reasonably well cared for subsequently, has nothing to fear from comparison with cottages built in the most approved manner of the more fas.h.i.+onable materials.

Mr. James Thorold gives the following particulars of a block of three chalk cottages recently built for Sir George Cooper on his estate at Hursley, near Winchester:

"The chalk walling was done by Messrs. A. Annett and Son, of Winterslow, near Salisbury, where this method of building has been kept alive from olden days. It consists of working up the soft upper strata of the chalk by putting a bed of it 4 ft. 6 in. thick on the ground, watering and treading it to a sticky consistency with the feet, working in shortish straw at the same time. When thoroughly mixed by the builder's mate, he lifts up a forkful to the builder working on the wall immediately above him, the latter catches the chalk, dumps it down on the top of the wall, building an 18 in. course all round. As soon as the weather has dried this sufficiently he goes round with a sharp spade squaring up both sides of the wall. As this work is greatly dependent on the weather it is well if the men have other work to fall back on, and that building operations should be commenced in the spring or early summer. The wall is built 18 in. thick to the first floor joists and 14 in. above. Chalk in itself being very absorbent of moisture, the usual plan is to render the outside of the wall with a lime mortar, which, however, requires renewal every few years. To obviate this we fixed with long staples 1 in. mesh wire-netting over the outside surface of the wall to give a reinforcement for a rendering of hair mortar and cement gauged in proportion of 1 to 2 respectively, and left rough from the trowel. This rendering was done at a cost of 3s. 3d. per square yard, which is a substantial addition to the cost of the walling, but so far there is no sign of a crack or hollow place behind it, and the cottages have kept very dry. The walls were finished off with a limewash containing Russian tallow and copperas.[9]

[Footnote 9: See recipes for Whitewash in Appendix (I).]

[Headnote: Cost of Three Cottages]

"As regards the cost of this block of three cottages, the result is obscured by the fact that tall chimney-stacks with ornamental bricks and appropriate foundations were built and reinforced leaded lights were used in the windows to keep the building in character with the other cottages on the estate, but at the time we estimated that the chalk walling saved a sum of 54 as against the amount we should have had to have spent in carrying out the building with bricks made on the estate, and this had to include lodging money and profit, the builders being independent men. The ornamental chimney-stacks were put in for the sake of appearance, flues built up in the chalk being entirely satisfactory and fireproof. The foundations are either flint or brick with a slate damp-course.

"I consider that for a chalk country this method of building has many advantages.

"(1) It saves cartage.

"(2) It can be carried out by a skilled labourer who can be otherwise employed during unsuitable weather.

"(3) No fuel is required as in burning bricks.

"(4) If a suitable rendering is employed to keep it weatherproof, and a good damp-course on the foundations, the cottages are nice and dry and keep an equable temperature, chalk being a good non-conductor.

"Sir George wonders if any method could be devised by chemical means to harden the chalk and make it weatherproof; if this could be done it might save the expense of the cement rendering."

CHALK CONGLOMERATE

From _Country Life_, February 23rd, 1901:

"Soft chalk is practically mud, yet Dr. Poore, one leading authority on rural hygiene, had his model hygienic cottage built with it at Andover, just outside the boundaries, in order to escape the tyranny of the bye-laws. In several other places this material has been used time out of mind.

"The white cottages on the Wilts.h.i.+re Downs are as good as any in England."

[Ill.u.s.tration: +Three Chalk Cottages at Hursley Park+]

THE WINTERSLOW COTTAGES

From _Country Life_, April 6th, 1901:

"The white chalk cottages of the scattered straggling village are found in every sort of position. They must not be confounded with the cottages of rock chalk at Medmenham. You might almost call them mud cottages.

"The house is generally both planned and constructed by the owner.

"... The soil is only a few inches deep, soft chalk lies close to the surface and can be dug out with a spade. This is a very suitable material in the district and costs nothing but the labour of digging... .

"On the downs there is a constant lack of water; that which falls in the shape of rain is therefore very precious, and in some cases is indeed the only kind available. But a large tank or artificial well is needed to contain it, and the pit from which the chalk is dug out can be made to serve the purpose... . One was made watertight by means of a lining of concrete, and held enough water to keep the family going through all the dry season.

"In another house ... the chalk-pit had been utilised to form a large and convenient cellar... .

"Most of them (the cottages) ... are on two floors, with parlour, kitchen, back kitchen and so forth on one, and the bedrooms on the other. In the preparation of the chalk, the method followed is that of treading it into a kind of rubble, and adding a proportion of straw and a small quant.i.ty of lime.

[Headnote: Expensive Scaffolding Avoided]

"There is a local builder who will run up the sh.e.l.l of a house for a matter of 100, more or less, according to its size... . Most of the cottages are literally hand-made. A skilful architect who visited the Winterslow cottages felt sure that boards must be used to keep the walls straight, but he was wrong. The chalk is shovelled up and the walls are kept straight without line or plummet. No expensive scaffolding or machinery is employed. Yet the walls come out beautifully in the end, the colour being an exquisite soft white. They are about 18 in. thick, and the slowness of their construction has one good effect, it gives them time to dry. No point is of more importance than this. It is advisable not to put on any rough-cast, plaster, or paper for at least twelve months, as doing so will prevent the moisture from exuding. One or two of the little cottages were slightly damp, but the majority were as dry as tinder. The thickness of the walls helps to render the cottage more comfortable, to make it cool in summer and dry in winter.

"One word should be added in regard to soft chalk as a building material. Where it can be obtained in the garden at a few inches depth, and especially where the cottager is his own architect and builder, it can be most heartily recommended, but there are obvious objections to its transportation to districts where it is foreign.

"The village itself is a very homely and irregular one without a single dwelling of any pretence. The country lying adjacent to Salisbury Plain consists of broken, spa.r.s.ely peopled downland, and very ornate or finished cottages would be out of keeping, but they would not look so well copied in a very rich, heavily timbered country."

RATS AND CHALK

_Note._--Conglomerate chalk is, like cob, vulnerable to the attacks of a really determined rat.

The outer defences provided by the exterior rendering can be backed up by the mixing in of broken gla.s.s or sharp flints with the substance of the wall, where such attacks are likely.

[Ill.u.s.tration: +Marsh Court, Hamps.h.i.+re.+]

[Ill.u.s.tration: +Brick-and-chalk Vaulting at the Deanery Garden, Sonning+]

[Headnote: Block Chalk]

BLOCK CHALK

"Chalk" is a term somewhat loosely used to denote the soft white limestone--the "_Creta Scriptoria_"--that is cousin to Marl on one side and to Ragstone on the other.

In its purest form chalk consists of over 95 per cent. of carbonate of lime in the form of fine granular particles held together by a calcareous cement, its organic origin being clearly traced in the remains of the minute sea creatures with which it abounds.

Hewn blocks of chalk have been used for walling and vaulting from immemorial times, and, where not exposed to direct erosion by the weather, remain to this day as clean-cut as when they were first quarried and a very great deal harder.

The filling in of the great vaults at Salisbury Cathedral and in the Bishop's Palace are of chalk, whilst innumerable lesser buildings of more or less antiquity still remain to us as monuments to the excellence and durability of this stone.

Chalk, too, was often used in combination with flint or brick to build the engaging chequer-work walls that embellish so many downland villages.

At Medmenham there are cottages both old and new of hewn rock chalk, and both the Berks and Bucks banks of the Thames have many buildings to show of this beautiful material.

Amongst present-day architects Sir Edwin Lutyens was the first to give hewn chalk an opportunity of showing its quality in serious architecture, Marsh Court in Hamps.h.i.+re being an instance of more than local celebrity.

In the great walls at the Bishop of Winchester's palace, Farnham Castle in Surrey, the old builders appear to have used bricks, limestone and chalk proper, according as the several materials were delivered, quite indifferently, and with results altogether delightful.

Not all chalk is suitable for building, that near the surface being often far gone in decay and much too friable for such a purpose.

Even when apparently sound blocks have been gotten they are not infrequently found to be crossed in all directions by planes of weakness along which they are apt to fall to pieces in the handling.