A mud-walled outbuilding in Foxton

Yesterday was sunny, so I went to Foxton Locks for the umpteenth time. Yet I still noticed something new in the village.

This outbuilding has mud walls, parts of which were later replaced with brick. Its roof would presumably once have been thatched.

There are more examples of such walls on this blog's mud walls label.

Work begins in Kibworth to stabilise mud wall

This just in from Kibworth Beauchamp Parish Council:

An emergency footway closure and prohibition of waiting and loading is required on High Street, Kibworth Beauchamp for approx. 15m either side of no.70 on the 15th September 2023 for however long it takes to stabilise the mud wall (The TTRO lasts for 6 months)

The Temporary Traffic Regulation Order will be implemented for public safety for Leicestershire County Council and associated contractors to facilitate safety zone around unstable boundary wall whilst works are undertaken.

As you can see from the photograph above, this wall used to form part of a cottage. There are photos of that cottage, and an account of previous work to conserve the wall, on the Kibworth Village website.

Looking at this photo again. it reminds of the Hebrides, where it is common to see an old house, perhaps now used as a store, decaying next to the new one that has replaced it.

A mud wall in South Kilworth

The other day, on a whim, I caught the bus to South Kilworth. I am glad I did, because I was able to add to my collection of mud walls.

It ran along one side of the approach to the church - that tin roof would originally have been slate or thatch.

There was also a wall bounding a stretch of the churchyard whose roof looked in need of replacement.

The mud walls of Oakham

In Oakham for the reopening of the castle on Monday, I noticed a couple of mud walls in the town.

I realise it is a niche interest, but you can find more examples on this blog's mud walls label.

A mud wall in Billesdon

Time for another one in my very occasional series on the mud walls of Leicestershire (also called cob walls).

This one is in Billesdon, where ironstone and bricks made in the village can both be found.

A mud wall in Saddington

It's been a while since we had a mud wall, so here is a photo of one taken in Saddington this afternoon.

The mud walls of Laughton

An inhabitant of Mowsley who appeared to have lunched well saw me looking at the map and urged me to take the gated road to Laughton.

He was right. It was a pretty walk past the most ramshackle cricket ground I have seen, though I suspect that last time I came this way the road was not fenced and the passing places were not signposted.

Laughton itself was lovely too. It can't be much more than five miles from Market Harborough and its train service to London, but it feels as remote as a village can.

This blog is keen on mud walls, and the one around Laughton churchyard (shown above) is the best I have seen. The Victoria County History from 1964 describes it as having slate capping, so the thatch must be a later replacement. It also says the mud-walled building that forms part of the wall (shown below) was formerly used as a slaughterhouse.

A large house across the road turns out to have been a Wesleyan chapel for a couple of decades in the 19th century. And I am pleased that my guess that the initials "T.T.P." in the brickwork meant that it had once belonged to Thomas Tertius Paget, Liberal MP for South Leicestershire (1867-8, 1880-5) and Harborough (1885-6), turned out to be correct.

A mud-walled cottage in Kibworth

We have seen mud walls in Great Bowden, Little Bowden and Tur Langton.

This, from Kibworth Beauchamp, is one better: it is the front wall of an old mud-walled cottage. It is situated close to the centre of the village and now serves as an outbuilding to a modern house that has been built behind it.

It reminds me of the Outer Hebrides, where you will often see an old house standing next to a modern bungalow and either being used for storage or falling into decay.

The mud walls of Great Bowden

Wartime Housewife's household sale last Sunday was in Great Bowden, a rather horsey village which, unlike my home of Little Bowden, has managed to keep itself separate from Market Harborough. This is, in part, because Liberal and Liberal Democrat councillors have put a lot of work in opposing development of the fields between

I thought I knew Great Bowden well, but thanks to the district council's village trail leaflet I was able to make some new discoveries.

The best of them is this splendid mud wall, which lines the path from the churchyard to the village's Nether Green. The leaflet says:

Mud walls need "strong boots and a good hat"; that is a stone or cobble plinth and a coping of thatch or pantiles. The mud boundary wall to the churchyard and the adjacent footpath were rebuilt in the 1980s with clay pantiles, hand made at Barton Upon Humber.

My best friend from school lived near the far end of this footpath in the 1970s, but I can't remember ever using this path. There was then a mushroom farm at the end of the path; in fact, I even wonder if there was a right of way along here in those days.

Lovers of mud walls should also visit Little Bowden and Tur Langton.

A mud wall in Tur Langton

Little Bowden has a mud wall, and do does Tur Langton.

In fact, the books suggest that the village has a house whose walls are partly built of mud, so I shall have to go back and find it one day.

And visit The Crown again too.

A mud wall in Little Bowden

I was too busy delivering for Zuffar Haq yesterday to get out of Market Harborough, so this week I shall be sharing a few curiosities from my files.

This mud wall stands in my own village of Little Bowden, near the Rectory. While you will find dry stone walls in villages on the Northamptonshire Uplands, like Lamport and Draughton, in more low-lying parts of the county mud was often used as a building material.

I don't have a photograph to prove it, but I think the heavy tiles on top - it is important to keep the rain off mud walls for obvious reasons - are a recent addition. Until a year or two ago the wall was topped with corrugated iron, which suggests that it was originally thatched.

You can read more about mud structures in the Harborough area in an article on the local historical society's website.

And, yes, I know Little Bowden is now in Leicestershire, but it was in Northamptonshire until late in the 19th century. The county boundary used to be the Welland, but was moved because Market Harborough had started to spread to the south of the river. You can still see what used to the Northamptonshire police station and magistrates court for that part of town in the Northampton Road.

This means, incidentally, that my cottage, which is now firmly in Leicestershire, was in Northamptonshire when it was built.