A LIVING HISTORY BLOG.

18TH CENTURY LIVING HISTORY IN AUSTRALIA.

Saturday, 5 November 2011

Wattle and Daub.

Wattle daub as a construction method was very popular, and the Europeans took this method with them to the New World.

2 comments:

Jenny said...

Neat!

One curious thing is how quickly W&D faded as a construction method over here - I assume mostly because especially in the East there was a *lot* of wood available, so what wood buildings we had were clapboarded fairly early. The homes I've seen up North *tend* towards clapboarded post and beam. Down South and along the Appalachians you get more square-cut log houses that eventually (mostly 19th c.) were covered over in clapboarding to look more civilized.

Also lots and lots of brick, way earlier than I had always assumed. But I guess it makes sense - Thomas Jefferson in his "Notes on the State of Virginia" was talking about how one of Europe's great advantages was a housing and public building stock of stone - it saved work as it didn't need constant rebuilding.

...and it's better protection from ravenous wolves I guess. ;)


I have to admit though - there's few things quite as cozy as a thatched wattle and daub house to while away an afternoon in. :)

Gorges Smythe said...

I can see why log cabins became popular in America!