Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Question from Paul - Wattle and daub

Hello,

I'm a school teacher in the UK and we're studying the Tudors at the moment. We're going to have a go at making Tudor Houses and I wondered if anyone had any ideas as to how to go about creating the wattle and daub effect easily?

Many thanks.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

WE ARE RENOVATING AN OLD COTTAGE nr Stratford on Avon.

Last summer we removed the rather dodgy brick pannels in the gabel and found the position of the original wattle & daub.
Basicly there were two horisontal beams the lower one had a groove cut allong the top and the upper had holes in the undersidewhere the vertical parts of the wattle would have been located.
If you made a frame from sawn wood it should be easy enough to do, then get some willow or hazel cuttings and weave them into the frame.
The daub can be found in any local farm or field ,arround by where cattle are fed in the open(the mud straw etc already mixed for you !!!!!)I'm sure the farmer would not object to you taking a few buckets.
If you email me I could send a few of the photos of the exposed frame of the cottage (martielav@tiscali.co.uk)
good luck with your project
Martin

Bassline said...

In the Dorset village of Cranbourne, they have an 'ancient technology centre' . This contains a collection of building reconstructions including an Iron Age round house, a Viking long house and several wattle & daub houses - plus associated technology like wattle making, brick making, pole lathe, etc. they are attached to the local school and run classes.