The clay, sand and sraw are being mixed into COB by the woman and child. This photo, like all others with a colored border, are linked. Earth is probably the world's most common building material. The word cob comes from an Old English root meaning a lump or rounded mass. Cob building uses hands and feet to form lumps of earth mixed with sand and straw, a sensory and aesthetic experience similar to sculpting with clay.
Cob is easy to learn and inexpensive to build.
Because there are no forms, ramming, cement or rectilinear bricks, cob lends itself to organic shapes, curved walls, arches and niches. Earth homes are cool in summer, warm in winter and suitable to rainy climates. Cob has been used for millennia even in the harsh climates of coastal Britain. Thousands of comfortable and picturesque cob homes in England have been continuously occupied for many centuries and now command very high market values. With recent rises in the price of lumber and interest in natural and environmentally safe building practices, cob is enjoying a renaissance.