ABSTRACT
In former times, when earth building was common in many parts of Britain,
earth builders, sometimes known as ‘mud masons’, were following centuries-
old traditions. They had an intimate knowledge of the soils in their particular
locality and what they were capable of. Having no knowledge of soil science
or geotechnics, they relied on experience and observation. When the use of
earth as a building material largely died out, at the end of the nineteenth
century, much of this knowledge was lost, and is now having to be re-learned.
It is considered that a basic understanding of the physical and behavioural