Woodford Mill Garden Wall

Image: © Nigel Mykura Taken: 24 Aug 2011

This cob wall surrounds part of the garden of the mill. Cob is basically dried clay mixed with other materials. This cob contains a large proportion of flint fragments between 5mm and 50mm. There appeared to be only a small amount of straw. The cob had obviously been laid in courses. This was traditionally done by trampling one course, waiting for it to dry and then laying the next one. Each course appeared to be about 450mm high. The top of the wall was tiled to protect the cob from damp. Some decay of the wall had already taken place due to damp penetration although this was only slight and generally the wall is in good condition. The garden is on the bank of the Avon which would have been a good source of the clay. The flints would have been natural as a result of washing out of the local upland chalk into the river valley clays. One third of the world population live in cob built structures

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