Rammed Earth Building Course - Norfolk Broads UK

Evidence of the early use of rammed earth has been seen in Neolithic archaeological sites of the Yangshao and the Longshan cultures in China, along the Yellow River and dating back to 5000BC.  By 2000BC, the use of rammed earth architectural techniques was common for walls and foundations in China.

In the 1800s in the United States, rammed earth was popularised by S W Johnson.  For example, it was used to construct Borough House Plantation and the Church of the Holy Cross in South Carolina, which are two National Historic Landmarks in the United States.  Constructed in 1821, the Borough House Plantation complex contains the oldest and largest collection of 'high style' pise de terre (rammed earth) buildings in the United States.  Portions of the main house were constructed using this ancient technique, which was introduced to the country in 1806 through his book Rural Economy.

During the 1920s and through to the 1940s, millions of dollars were spent by the United States Government and several western universities, studying rammed earth construction.  South Dakota State College carried out extensive research and built almost one hundred weathering walls of rammed earth.

Over a period of thirty years of exploration, the college researched the use of paints and plasters and in 1945 Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina published their results on rammed earth research in a pamphlet called Rammed Earth Building Construction.  In 1936, on a homestead near Gardendale, Alabama, the United States Department of Agriculture constructed an experimental community of rammed earth buildings with architect Thomas Hibben.  The houses were built at a very reasonable cost and sold to the public, along with tracts of land sufficient for a garden and small livestock plots.  The project was a success and provided valuable homes to low-income families.

Interest in rammed earth declined after World War II when the cost of modern building materials dropped. Rammed earth was seen as primitive in the face of new technology and heavily dependent on labour.  Soil as a building material often meets with opposition from many contractors, engineers,and tradesmen who are unfamiliar with earth construction techniques.  Often the modern method of construction seems easier.  Profitable investment is uncertain, so rammed earth construction is frequently neglected in modern building cultures.