# Wychert

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{{Short description|Building material of chalk, clay, and straw}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}

[[File:Skittles Green, Haddenham, Buckinghamshire-geograph-4577124-by-Oswald-Bertram.jpg|thumb|A wychert building in [Haddenham](/source/Haddenham%2C_Buckinghamshire)]]
thumb|A white wall built with wychert, Haddenham
thumb|The 17th-century building on the left is built of wychert. 13 and 14, Townsend, Haddenham, Buckinghamshire.

'''Wychert''' or '''witchert''' (with a number of variant spellings existing and meaning "white earth") is a natural blend of white chalk and clay<ref>{{cite book |last=Sharpe |first=Geoffrey R. |title=Traditional Buildings of the English Countryside: An Illustrated Guide |location=London |publisher=[I.B. Tauris](/source/I.B._Tauris) |year=2011 |page=155 |isbn=978-1-84511841-9 }}</ref> which is mixed with straw to make walls and buildings, usually then thatched or topped with red clay tiles.  

This historic method of building construction is mainly localised to [Haddenham](/source/Haddenham%2C_Buckinghamshire) and the surrounding local area in [Buckinghamshire](/source/Buckinghamshire). Also found, amongst others, as a similar 'slow process' construction is a thatched example of 'mud wall' (made of Liassic subsoil) surrounding two sides of the churchyard at St Luke's Church, [Laughton, Leicestershire](/source/Laughton%2C_Leicestershire). One of the largest known wychert structures is Haddenham Methodist Church.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aylesburyvale.org.uk/churches/haddenham.html|title=Vale of Aylesbury - Haddenham}}</ref>

The method of building with wychert is similar to that of a [cob](/source/Cob_(building)) building.  To maintain the rigid nature of wychert it must not become too dry for risk of crumbling, nor too wet for risk of turning to a slime.  Keeping wychert well ventilated and not subject to excess condensation is therefore highly recommended.  Any [render](/source/Cement_render) applied to a wychert wall must therefore be of a breathable material — rendering wychert walls with a lime based render is therefore common practice.

A wychert house has been constructed at [Chiltern Open Air Museum](/source/Chiltern_Open_Air_Museum) in [Chalfont St Peter](/source/Chalfont_St_Peter), [Buckinghamshire](/source/Buckinghamshire).

==See also==
* [Vernacular architecture](/source/Vernacular_architecture)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/earth/earth_buildings.htm ''Earth Buildings and their Repair'' - by Dirk Bouwens]
* [https://haddenham-museum.org.uk/ Haddenham Museum with opening hours]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040723040118/http://www.usgbc.org/expo2002/schedule/documents/DS402_Burt_P127.pdf The Witchert Buildings of Buckinghamshire, England:Learning Sustainable Construction from our Ancestors]

Category:Soil-based building materials

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Wychert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wychert) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wychert?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.