Waddle & daub query
Labyrinth's End
Here's a query for all you wise folk on the web...
Houses ( farmer's, peasant and that type) were once made of waddle and daub.
Waddle being woven basketstyle to form tha main wall structures. Does anyone
know what daub was composed of? It must have been some kind of earthen matter
that hardened to form a covering for the waddle (think the origins of TUdor
style) Any help would be gretaly appreciated...
Carrie
car...@ultranet.com
Mike Faul
Just to clarify, It's Wattle not Waddle.
Daub is a particular type of clay found on the bottom of most rivers in
Ireland anyway. The Daub I have used building forts as a child came from
the Moy river in Co. Sligo, and was anything from red, gray/blue to
brown in color. The same consistancy as potters clay.
Wattle the flexible twigs used to weave with are typically Saille rods
(Willow) the same rods that are used to make creel or for thatching
roofs. The Willow is only allowed to grow shoots which are then cut at
the stump and grow long slender branches each year.
If you are ever in Ireland be sure to visit the Craganowen historical
site near Limerick/Shannon. It has some very fine examples of ring fort,
keep and lake forts. Wattle & daub construction, etc.
Fionn
In article <carrie.28...@ultranet.com>, car...@ultranet.com
says...
Mary Shafer
On Tue, 9 Jul 1996 08:05:56 GMT, car...@ultranet.com (Labyrinth's End) said:
C> Houses ( farmer's, peasant and that type) were once made of waddle
C> and daub. Waddle being woven basketstyle to form tha main wall
C> structures.
Er, it's wattle, not waddle. Wattle is poles interwoven with slender
branches, withes, or reeds. It sticks in my mind that withes from
pollarded willows were the preferred material, but I can't easily say
where I picked this up.
C> Does anyone know what daub was composed of? It must
C> have been some kind of earthen matter that hardened to form a
C> covering for the waddle (think the origins of TUdor style) Any help
C> would be gretaly appreciated...
Daub is clay, usually obtained from rivers and streams. Adobe, being
bricks of clay, is not named from a common root, despite the apparent
similarity. Daub is from Middle English and adobe is from Arabic.
Since daub was easy softened by rain, the next step in the evolution
of construction was to cover the daub, while soft, with pebbles or
small rocks. Whitewashing the daub was another technique, but it
couldn't just be picked up for free. Stucco, being more permanent,
was a logical replacement of daub but it couldn't be obtained as
easily or as cheaply. However, stucco studded with small rocks,
called "pebble and dash" is still used in the UK as a finish, so
people obviously liked the style.
I might mention also that my Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
has an entry for "wattle", "daub", and "wattle and daub", defining the
last as "a framework of woven rods and twigs covered and plastered
with clay and used in building construction". The date given for the
first written use of the term is 1808, while the date of "daub" is
14th century and of "wattle" is before the 12th century.
A desk dictionary can be a very useful tool for answering questions.
Using one might be a good first resort.
--
Mary Shafer NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA
SR-71 Flying Qualities Lead Engineer Of course I don't speak for NASA
sha...@ferhino.dfrc.nasa.gov DoD #362 KotFR
URL http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/People/Shafer/mary.html
Lance R. Bailey
Mary Shafer (sha...@ferhino.dfrc.nasa.gov) wrote:
> On Tue, 9 Jul 1996 08:05:56 GMT, car...@ultranet.com (Labyrinth's End) said:
> C> Houses ( farmer's, peasant and that type) were once made of waddle
> C> and daub. Waddle being woven basketstyle to form tha main wall
> C> structures.
> Er, it's wattle, not waddle. Wattle is poles interwoven with slender
> branches, withes, or reeds. It sticks in my mind that withes from
i was just about to start on wattle walls for a kitchen area (lord
knows what for the roof) but was warned that the walls, when dry, will
be a horrible fire hazard. i was planning on using 1/2 - 3/4 inch
popular (the clinton war site is lousy with popular). i can't see that
as being more of a risk than say, a canvas tent.
> easily or as cheaply. However, stucco studded with small rocks,
> called "pebble and dash" is still used in the UK as a finish, so
> people obviously liked the style.
my last house (century house in london ontario) was pebble and dash.
it's a nice finish.
--
devin o raudh
Barony of Lions Gate, An Tir
David M. Razler
car...@ultranet.com (Labyrinth's End) wrote:
>Here's a query for all you wise folk on the web...
>
>Houses ( farmer's, peasant and that type) were once made of waddle and daub.
>Waddle being woven basketstyle to form tha main wall structures. Does anyone
>know what daub was composed of? It must have been some kind of earthen matter
>that hardened to form a covering for the waddle (think the origins of TUdor
>style) Any help would be gretaly appreciated...
>
>Carrie
>car...@ultranet.com
Anything you can "daub" on the wattle <watael, watul OE, origin obscure> to
keep out the cold or wet or heat. Clay, mud, whatever is available locally.
Maybe some dung, if you can afford to waste fertilizer/fuel for stickiness.
Maybe some lime if you live on top of it and it powders cheaply and you have a
basic understanding that it hardens well. We are talking subsistance level
construction, which, I am sure, evolved along the lines of "appropriate
technology" in this case, technology refined to use best whatever material one
could appropriate locally.
I would not be surprised if every neighborhood had its own traditional mixture
of the local clay, silt, sand. lime, whatever could be got for the cost of
labor.
A,T/dmr
David M. Razler
david....@worldnet.att.net
Mark S. Harris
Greetings unto Carrie and others interested in peasant dwellings,
In article <carrie.28...@ultranet.com>, car...@ultranet.com
(Labyrinth's End) wrote:
> Houses ( farmer's, peasant and that type) were once made of waddle and daub.
> Waddle being woven basketstyle to form tha main wall structures. Does anyone
> know what daub was composed of? It must have been some kind of earthen matter
> that hardened to form a covering for the waddle (think the origins of TUdor
> style) Any help would be gretaly appreciated...
>
> Carrie
Here is a file I have in the DWELLINGS section of my SCA Rialto Files
which is related to this thread that I thought some of you might be
interested in. Yes, the Rialto was going strong even five years ago. :-)
Stefan li Rous
thatch-roofs-msg - 7/8/91
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/* Written 1:54 pm Jul 8, 1991 by dol...@lead.uazaic.arizona.edu in
inmet:rec.org.sca */
There are three types of thatching currently used; long straw, combed
straw, and combed reed. The first two methods both use cut wheat straw,
but differ in the handling, laying and attaching. The third uses water
reeds, which have a waxy coat and shed the water a bit better. The old
(70+ yrs old and still climbing ladders with 60 pound loads of straw!)
master thatcher I worked with has used sedge (a type of grass), flax
(a LINEN roof!), and has heard of people using long shavings of wood.
The main requirements for a good thatch material are;
1) fairly long; 2.5 -> 3.5 foot
2) unbroken; this means no bailed materials (I might have to try though)
3) fairly smooth; twiggy branches couldn't be laid with the techniques
I learned - Scottish thatchers do use bracken and heather, but must
use another technique altogether
4) availalble in largish quantities; a 10 foot "square" of roof requires
1/4 ton of straw, or 200 wadds of reed (a wadd is about 3 hands
circumference).
Question; what do people think of the idea of my writing a TI article on
thatching???
<the end>
--
Ld. Stefan li Rous Barony of Bryn Gwlad Ansteorra
Per pale gules and or, a ram's head caboshed, counterchanged
Mark S. Harris ma...@risc.sps.mot.com Austin, TX
Dunmail
David M. Razler wrote:
> Anything you can "daub" on the wattle <watael, watul OE, origin obscure> to
> keep out the cold or wet or heat. Clay, mud, whatever is available locally.
> Maybe some dung, if you can afford to waste fertilizer/fuel for stickiness.
Mud on its own will fall off very quickly - you need to put something in
to bind it. Old straw/horse manure do the job admirably. As for the
waste in using dung - you could always put the old daub on the fields
when it fell off.
Dunmail
David Corliss
Greetings!
Alexander the Traveler / David M. Razler wrote:
>
> Anything you can "daub" on the wattle <watael, watul OE, origin obscure> to
> keep out the cold or wet or heat. Clay, mud, whatever is available locally.
> Maybe some dung, if you can afford to waste fertilizer/fuel for stickiness.
> Maybe some lime if you live on top of it and it powders cheaply and you have a
> basic understanding that it hardens well.
Lime is a processed material made from limestione: the stone is crushed and roasted to
produce lime. Thus, it is not on obvious and cheap building material, even if you live
on limestone or it's calcium carbonate relations chalk and gypsum.
Beorthwine
John Groseclose
> Here's a query for all you wise folk on the web...
>
> Houses ( farmer's, peasant and that type) were once made of waddle and daub.
> Waddle being woven basketstyle to form tha main wall structures. Does anyone
> know what daub was composed of? It must have been some kind of earthen matter
> that hardened to form a covering for the waddle (think the origins of TUdor
> style) Any help would be gretaly appreciated...
The only "recipe" I've seen for daub called for manure, dirt, and lime.
Take the manure and dirt, cover the wall, then cover that with the lime.
Makes for a nice "whitewashed" look, and the lime *really* cuts down on
the odor from the manure.
--
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Gary J. Wolverton
car...@ultranet.com (Labyrinth's End) wrote:
NARF>Here's a query for all you wise folk on the web...
NARF>Houses ( farmer's, peasant and that type) were once made of waddle and daub.
NARF>Waddle being woven basketstyle to form tha main wall structures. Does anyone
NARF>know what daub was composed of? It must have been some kind of earthen matter
NARF>that hardened to form a covering for the waddle (think the origins of TUdor
NARF>style) Any help would be gretaly appreciated...
Well, in a couple of books in my library, mention is made to the
"Waddle & Daub" huts or structures. They pretty much describe "Daub"
as a mixture of mud, clay, cow or sheep (or the like) dung, and pretty
much anything else that starts out mucky and hardens when left in the
open air and sun. ;}~ If you're interested in the books, one is called
"Life in a Medieval Castle" and the other is " A World Lit Only By
Fire" in the latter book, only the first chapter is devoted to the
Dark Ages while the second and third chapters deal with Ren and
Magellan respectively.
Hope this helps.
ejp...@delphi.com
Labyrinth's End <car...@ultranet.com> writes:
>Waddle being woven basketstyle to form tha main wall structures. Does anyone
As others here have pointed out, it was pretty much whatever you could daub on.
In some of the examples I have seen in Europe (twas used widely elsewhere) I
thought it looked like cement, or concrete. Both of these materials were known
to the Romans (the Pantheon in Rome is concrete for instance), but the art of
making it faded in and out throughout the period. Another possibility is that
it also looked quite a bit like adobe, which is traditionally finished with
a lime mortar to stop water. One writer mentioned that lime was pretty hard to
make, but there are period references I have read that specifically mentioned
many limestone buildings being destroyed to make lime, so somebody must have
figured out the lime kiln early on.
I like industrial archaology, so if anyone can shed more light on this I for one
would be interested.
Eddward
Coineaucgh
I do volunteer work at the Jamestown Settlement. When we daub the houses
we use clay, straw and sand. I have seen the attempts at other materials
and this works very well. it is more durable than cement over wattle.
The Museum of Frontier Culture in Staunton, VA uses the same mixture. I
am sorry but I was not in on the research for the mixture so I cannot give
documentation.
coineaucgh