EMESS

This meeting was held on Wednesday 4 February in the Architecture Department of The University of Lincoln, by kind permission of Marcin Kolakowski.  Those present were : Trevor Oliver, Chair of EMESS Ian George, Historic Places Manager, Lincolnshire County Council Jenne Pape, Project Officer for the Mud-and-Stud Buildings Project at LCC Naomi Field, archaeologist Marcin Kolakowski, School of Architecture Robin Brittain, EMESS Mike Christie, visitor David Glew, EMESS   EMESS was delighted that a grant had been obtained by LCC to carry out an up-to-date  survey of the mud-and-stud buildings in the County.  The previous one by Rodney Cousins was now more than 25 years old.  The grant is for two years (2026 and 2027) and will be under guidance from Historic England.  It will be a mix of desk-based research and fieldwork.  Shortly an on-line form will be available for the public to submit information about buildings they know.  Ther...

This was an open-air practical meeting to carry out repairs to the external walls of a listed mud-and-stud cottage owned by Arthur and Veronica Fox.  Those present were Trevor Oliver (leader), Tony Bonham, Matthew Giles and David Glew (all members of EMESS).   In three different areas of the outside faces of the north and south external walls, the smooth mud finish coats of the walls (the render) had “blown” so the surface of the wall was hollow.  This is a common problem.  These loose areas were scraped off, but collected.  On a hard base, new clay and the old render were trampled together, turned over, then wetted, trampled and turned over again.  Chopped straw was added, and the whole mass was trampled and turned over a final time.  It could be seen that the mud alone was very sticky, but it became less so, and therefore more workable, by adding the straw.  As noted previously, if the straw is not chopped, its long lengths make it impossibl...

This meeting took place on 11 June 2025 at 7pm, again in the foyer of the University of Lincoln's Architecture Department.  It was a small group of Trevor Oliver, Neil Cook, Robin Brittain and your reporter, David Glew.   HERITAGE OPEN DAYS   The national Heritage Open Days in September were discussed, which this year would have the theme of“Architecture”.  For a number of years EMESS had joined this event by putting on a display at the mud-and-stud barn at Tumby Moorside.  This year would have been another good opportunity to meet the public, but it had to be missed through not having enough members, and not enough time to arrange anything.  Buildings of earth would not have been considered as architecture with a capital “A” in the past, but attitudes towards vernacular architecture have now included these types of buildings, even if they are at the bottom of the scale !   ARCHIVES   There had been a discussion at the last meeting...

10am SATURDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2025 at MUMBY CHURCH, HOGSTHORPE ROAD, MUMBY, LN13 9SD   The next EMESS meeting will take place at the above address this coming Saturday.  Mumby is on the A52 on the way to Chapel St Leonards.  Would you like to come and help us get this venue ready for training in heritage skills ?  It is a redundant church and former community centre and so it already has toilets and a kitchen, plus lots of space.  Come in your old clothes with gloves, kneelers if you need them, brushes, etc, and bring a packed lunch !   Please contact Trevor Oliver by phone : 07801 065291, or by email : millstonerestoration58@gmail.com , or by replying to this blog. 

This took place at 7pm on 21 February 2025, in the foyer of the Architecture Department.  It was prompted by Jenne Pape's talk to the Lincolnshire Family History Society on 19 October the year before, but we couldn't all get together until February this year.  We found the entrance hall of the Architecture Department quite convivial !  Those there were : Trevor Oliver (chair), Neil Cook (treasurer), Marcin Kolakowski (host), Robin Brittain (EBUKI), Jenne Pape and David Glew (your correspondent).   Jenne reported that a colleague, John Hart, is wanting to expand the recorded history of mud-and-stud buildings.  She also said the County Council would like to bring up-to-date their record of mud-and-stud buildings within the county.  The original record is now 25 years old after being published in the book by Rodney Cousins entitled “ Lincolnshire Buildings in the Mud-and-Stud Tradition ” .  Jenne also said she might have time to help sort out Rodney's...

For a period since 2018 the East Midlands Earth Structures Society (EMESS) has been quiet.  There have not been any formal meetings, but there have been informal workshops here and there.  The members have also been working on their own projects throughout the County.  The main one of these for the near future was obtaining planning permission for the construction of glamping pods to be built using a variety of earth-building techniques.  In other words, not just the local mud-and-stud method, but rammed earth, light clay, clay blocks, etc.  Also, they would be new-builds and not just the repair of existing cottages or barns ! Elsewhere, repairs have continued to be carried out on some of the 400 earth buildings in the county, mostly in the area of East Lindsey.  The Withern Cottage at The Village Museum in Skegness has not been neglected, having been lime-washed.  Research work with the University of Lincoln Architecture Department has continued....

Hi everybody, I hope you all had a merry Christmas and New Year. We are starting the new year with a 'hands on' workshop on the weekend of the 24th and  25th of February . Geoff is looking for help with repairing an internal wall at Langton by Partney. The work is all indoors,  we will be mixing mud, applying daub and a finish coat to part of the wall. Anyone wishing to come along please contact me for more details. Regards Trevor

Our Annual General Meeting will take place on: Tuesday 10th October 2017 at: University of Lincoln Brayford Pool Campus,      Minerva Building, Room MB1019(first floor)       starting at 7pm. There will be a presentation by Archaeologist Naomi Field on her research into mud and stud followed by the AGM. We will be discussing our future events, workshops, fundraising and potential charitable status. All are welcome to meet and discuss. The more heads we have the better! Trevor Oliver Chairman

Our last meeting was at Thimbleby near Horncastle at the end of July. Starting with a walk around the village to see the Mud and Stud cottages with thatched roofs, with a reminisce of Rodney Cousins' life work finding all of these buildings over twenty years ago. The meeting was successful with discussions about our future events this upcoming year. We have many upcoming practical workshops for both members and non-members alike. The Clayfest in June that our society took part in was highly successful, and from that we will take forth the use of natural building materials. We have many projects and upcoming events including; 1) Heritage Opening Day(HODS).               these will take place on Saturday and Sunday 9+10th September 2017 at the Heritage Skills                 Centre at Lincoln Castle. We will be building a mud-and-stud panel and a lancet arch using             ...

Our EBUKI Clayfest photographs page is now up and running! Have a look at what we got up to! ---------------------------------------------->

Hi all, Our next meeting will be held at Thimbleby Village Hall, Thimbleby, On: Monday 24th July 2017 At: 7pm onwards. Directions; From Lincoln side of Horncastle on the A158 take the B1190 signposed for Thimbleby for 1 mile. The village hall is the first building past the church nestled between the mud and studs. Postcode LN9 5RE There will be a short walk around the village followed by a meeting in the hall. Agenda; Report on the Clayfest. Report on the 'New build project' at the Village Museum. Potential workshop at the Heritage Skills Centre, Lincoln Castle over the Heritage Open Days weekend in September. Tumby workshop for students and/or public. Survey and information leaflets for mud and stud owners and local authorities. Annual meeting and lecture at Lincoln University. Involvement in formation of new natural building group. Events for 2018. If anyone has anything they would like to be discussed please let me know b...

REPORT FOR EMESS ON CLAYFEST 2017 INTRODUCTION Clayfest was this year's festival of building with unfired clay, which which took place at the Heritage Skills Centre in the grounds of Lincoln Castle between Monday 12 th  and Saturday 17 th  June 2017. It was a demonstration of traditional building techniques which could be brought up-to-date for use in the 21 st century. The event was organised by the national group Earth Building in the United Kingdom and Ireland (EBUKI) with the help of the local group East Midlands Earth Structures Society (EMESS). This was the sixth annual national event which EBUKI have organised. They have followed the principle of holding the events in different parts of the British Isles noted for their particular local traditions of earth building techniques. Last year's event was in Cumberland, and next year's will be in Ireland. EMESS has a number of different local building techniques, but by far the greatest number are of the mud-an...

This Saturday we are holding out annual general meeting along with workshops at: Tumby Barn High House Farm, Tumby Moorside nr. Coningsby PE22 7RX Workshops begin at 10am, Don't forget your wellies and packed lunch! Beware: any member who does not appear may be subsequently volunteered a role as secretary or cleaner.

The next EMESS event will be followed by the Annual General Meeting. The next meeting will be at: Tumby Barn On: Saturday 25th March 2017, with workshops starting at 10am and the AGM starting at 3pm. There will be lots to do on the barn, including mudding and limewashing. Bring your wellies and wear old clothes to work in. Tea and coffee will be available, but no food, so bring a packed lunch. There are welfare facilities on site. Agenda will follow for the AGM via email. Any queries please contact Trevor via the contacts at the bottom of the blog.

Sunday 13th November 1pm. Village Museum, Skegness. We are meeting at the museum to make a start with collating the archives. There is lots of information and hundreds of photos to sort through. Anyone willing to help just turn up on the day. For more information feel free to email or call me on 07801065291 Saturday 10th December 2pm. Meeting; Village Museum, Skegness. 2-2.30 pm. Guided tour of Withern Cottage. 2.30-3 pm  Tour around museum. 3 pm. Committee meeting.  [ Agenda to follow ] June 12th - 17th 2017 EBUKI [Earth Building UK & Ireland] / EMESS Clayfest. EBUKI has run a number of successful Clayfest events in Scotland, Ireland and Cumbria. The proposed programme is four days of workshops at the Heritage Skills Centre, Lincoln Castle, followed by a conference at Lincoln University and on Saturday 17th a tour of earth buildings, with a focus on mud and stud. The event will be truly international with demonstrators and speakers from al...

Hi all, On eBay there are two copies of Rodney's book 'Lincolnshire building in the Mud and Stud tradition' that are currently for sale. It is a great book to read and to own considering there are only a few copies that were printed. The links are below: http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lincolnshire-building-in-the-mud-and-stud-tradition-Cousins-Rodney-Book-The-/141931247410?nav=SEARCH  http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lincolnshire-building-in-the-mud-and-stud-tradition-By-Rodney-Cousins-/291908813769?nav=SEARCH They are priced at around £13.00. Hope to see you all this Saturday for our meeting at hill holt wood, Eleanor

The next EMESS meeting will be held at: Hill Holt Wood,  on the A46 between Lincoln and Newark  On: Saturday 22nd October 2016 At: 11am Rowland Keable from EBUKI will be giving a practical demonstration on building with earth and a talk on the Rammed Earth building he was involved in constructing at Hill Holt Wood followed by our main meeting. [see below] https://courses.cat.org.uk/tutor-profiles/12-rowland-keable Tea and Coffee are available. Please bring a packed lunch. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Build Mud and Stud Work will be starting on 12th October and continuing for 3 weeks at the University of Lincoln Campus on the experimental shed for the new mud and stud project at Skegness. The 'shed' will be constructed by the Students [and anyone willing to come along to play], of a number of panels using different mixes and techniques so they can be appraised over the co...

The time has come again for the Lincolnshire Heritage Open Days, and this year its focus is on 'Natural' Lincolnshire. We will be hosting an event from the Thursday 8th - Sunday 11th September 2016 from 10am - 4pm: Location: The Barn, Tumby Moorside, Coningsby, PE22 7ST Earth as a Natural Building Material Learn from the past whilst bringing our buildings heritage into the future. Experience new and old ways of building with natural materials. Explore, learn how and get 'hands on' at a ancient mud-and-stud barn, Come along and get stuck in some mud!* -----Everyone is welcome, this is a FREE Event----- *Wellies and scruffy clothes are advised. To all EMESS members: If you could help out on one of our open days, even if it is for an hour, then please email or contact Trevor.

EMESS put on a display of mud and stud at the Newark Show in May on both of the weekend show days. A lot of interest was sparked in the displays as well as our Mud and Stud Archives. We had four displays as well as our mud and stud demonstration frame, a lime plastering frame, mud samples, and some traditional building tools. Some interested individuals asked for advice on traditional earth buildings as well as new earth builds. We attracted some new members who got stuck in at our Tumby Workshop in June. At the Show we had our demonstrations of putting mud on the stud-work, only a few children helped us with mixing the mud and others helped to put the mud on the frame itself. Photograph taken by  Tony      -    "The Future Earth Builders"

Repairs to Tumby Moorside Barn On 21st May, further repairs were carried out to the barn at Tumby Moorside by EMESS Members. In fact, two new members received personal training in some of the relevant repair techniques involved in mud and stud building. This barn is a listed Grade II building, and so, as long as the repairs are carried out on a like-for-like basis, the Society has the permission of the local Council to carry them out. After an introduction to the building and a review of previous repairs, lime washing of the most recently repaired wall area was undertaken. The area was about halfway along the west facing wall. It was then time to mix a batch of mud, which was quite hard work in itself, but very satisfying one the straw had been absorbed into the mud. Part of the former internal wall on the east side was repaired by building up the mud around the new laths which had been fixed previously. Although this wall is now under cover, the rain spilling off the adjoining mod...