VILLAGES grew up and around various aspects of the landscape and, because they were unique, ticking boxes did not come into it. Nor were great swathes of the countryside pushed to one side or carted away simply to cater for building a village. They were just moulded into the landscape as it was, whether it was on a slope, on the level or in a hollow.

Not many English villages today go back further than 1,500 years and although they were not planned in today's terms, they grew up to fulfil a need.

Some rose from around what became a village green, some along the banks of a stream while others occupied the top of a hill: all the better to see whether friend or foe was heading in their direction.

In many instances I understand the church was the first building to be built with the rest of the village springing up around it.

An area which was not rich in the sort of stone needed to construct a church would have to import it from wherever they could find it and, as these where the days of the horse and cart, it would be no mean job. Longer ago they would use carts drawn by oxen, an even bigger job than with horses.

It is believed that much of the stone that was discarded by the stone masons was used in the building of the cottages. Any good stone would be used on the cottage walls, the rougher lumps would be destined for the foundations.

In some areas they used cooked mud, but mostly the mud would-be used uncooked as it has been used for generations to build walls for dwellings.

The name "cob walls" comes to mind. The "cob" was a mixture of mud, gravel, pebbles and chopped straw. They used lime to make it set.

Flints, if they had them, were also put in the cob or clay, but flints proved to be very awkward on corners. Many church towers are round for that reason.

If an area found that stone was too difficult to get hold of, then much use was made of wood.

Yet another of the many things I did not know was that in Essex and Suffolk as long ago as the 12th Century, bricks were imported from Flanders and the Flemings introduced brick-making to East Anglia. Then, wouldn't you just know it, a tax was put on bricks in 1784, so they made them a bit thicker. Since the 1880s they have been a standard size and made by machine.

Thatch was the original roof covering followed by tiles which came in as early as the 15th Century not forgetting stone slabs, which became the preferred roofing material in areas rich in stone. These required substantial roof timbers as a roof of stone slabs can weigh five times as much as a roof of slates or tiles.

Cottages, like most of their past occupants, have a character to preserve, lest we forget.

Dialect word: Huggins meaning a cow's hips.

Thought for the day: What do you do when you see an endangered animal that only eats endangered plants?