We interviewed some of the fine folk who have worked to create the new Mud Wall in the Park in Errol, Becky Little who leads the building work on site, three volunteers we met there, and Tom and Heather at ARC, the architectural practice. 

THE ERROL MUD WALL

Tune: The Earl Of Errol

[Made by Christine and Ewan]

Errol is a bonny place by the River Tay

famous for old buildings made of strae an clae

In the playpark there’s a wall, made this very year

Brand new, grand to view, built by the people here

Ch

Tramp it doon and stamp it doon, footmixing we’ll gae

Build yer wa and build yer hoose o mud an hemp an strae

Tom Morton, architect, he drew up the plan

Becky Little, Mud mason,organised the gang

She chose a place to put the wall, and dug a right-sized hole

She made a firm foundation of stone that’s strong and bold

Ch

Tramp it doon and stamp it doon, footmixing we’ll gae

Build yer wa and build yer hoose o mud an hemp an strae

Rob Morgan, farmer, the land is in his blood

Just in one morning dug out twenty five ton of mud

He mixed his earth with his strae, till he knew it was right

Loaded up his tractor and brought it to the site

Ch

Tramp it doon and stamp it doon, footmixing we’ll gae

Build yer wa and build yer hoose o mud an hemp an strae

A spirit level, a bucket of water, a great big plastic sheet

A couple of spade, strong gloves and wellies for yer feet

Shower or shine, the work goes fine, takin their turn here

Billy and Scott, apprentices, and lots of volunteers

Ch

Tramp it doon and stamp it doon, footmixing we’ll gae

Build yer wa and build yer hoose o mud an hemp an strae

When it’s finished, when it’s built, what will be on show?

An S shaped wall and a metal roof, wooden seats below

The first mud wall in many a year, built in Errol town

By old and young, school kids, Scouts and folk from all around

Who helped to build it? Who was in the crew?

A hundred an thirty children - thirty adults too

If you go to see it, it stands on yonder plain

Go tae Errol playpark, an shelter from the rain

Ch

Tramp it doon and stamp it doon, footmixing we’ll gae

Build yer wa and build yer hoose o mud an hemp an strae

MUD MASON THAT'S ME

Tune: Spanish Lady

I'm mud mason Becky Little, very few work at my trade

I specialise repairing buildings made of earth but now decayed

I had to travel overseas to get the skills the Scots forgot

Denmark, France, Germany, they still remember what was what

One third of the world's people live in houses made of earth

Daub and wattle, clay and mud, brown adobe, green-topped turf

Scotland had their's everywhere till two hundred years ago

Then the modernisers came and stone walls were all the go

Stone is cold, stone gets damp, stone is hard to cut and fit

Earth is warmer, earth is cheaper, you just need to dig a pit

But stone became the fashion, clay buildings all went down

Except for in the Carse of Gowrie, right here in Errol town

Errol, Scotland's Mud Capital, Carse of Gowrie clay's the best

Cottown School and Horn Farm, they lasted wwell, they stood the test

Cottown School was whhere I started, whwere I took to the mud wall line

Now the word is spreading and the earth wall's future's looking fine

I'm mud mason Becky Little, very few work at my trade

I specialise repairing buildings made of earth but now decayed

TOM MORTON, ARCHITECT

Tune: Wae's Me For Prince Chairlie

A. R. C. - Architecture, Research and Conservation

Thirty One A, Bonnygate, Cupar in Fife

Red door, along the lane, last door on the left

Would you like a coffee? Ask us what you like

My name's Tom Morton, we're a firm of architects

Projects for communities, conserving our past

Venacular materials, and eco-building

Buildings for the future that will last

Building with earth, earth is fundamental

We've a strong tradition all across the land

Lots of ways to use clay, durable for living in

But when they are abandoned they melt away like sand

The Romans down at Carpow, they used daub and wattle

Builders did the same in Perth, clay floors and walls

Clay plaster, clay mortar, deadening between floors

Clay for harling, earth can do it all

People are ephemeral, settlements can disappear

We have lost our skills of how to build with clay

Working for our heritage can help people reconnect

Learn about our past, and find a better way

We've got these buildings, and the buildings are important

But it's really about people's relationship to land

Work with earth and learn about our past and geology

Build just like our ancestors, a chance to understand

My name's Tom Morton, we're a firm of architects

Projects for communities, conserving our past

HEATHER WINSHIP, PRACTICE ADMINISTRATOR

Tune: Sheriffmuir in 4/4

My name is Heather Winship, I've worked for ARC eleven years

Practice administrator, that means doing everything

Errol was isolated, the roads were terrible to use

All they had was the river till at last the railways came

Cottars' homes were humble, walls of clay and roofs of thatch

Now slate roofs, renovated, maybe still some walls of clay

Forty houses or remains still are there to be seen

Sixty more have vanished, we've references only

Our report will have a map of where the best clay was to use

Clay pits can give the clues to where the buildings would have stood

I don't go out looking, I'm stuck here in the office

Scrolling through the Internet, to find what's interesting

Halfway between Dundee and Perth they knocked the old inn down and found

Tree trunks at each corner, their branches running through the walls

In Errol in the Sixties a couple started renovating

Didn't know the structure, the whole house came crashing down

The rumble sounded through the town, they didn't have insurance

All they had left was the land to build a bungalow upon

Volunteers out searching, telling us discoveries

Old maps of names and soils, old accounts by travellers

I collect, collate, compile, research for our big report

Practice administrator, that means doing everything

THE MUDWALL VOLUNTEERS

Tune: Jock McGraw

They bent their backs, they caa'd awa

They trampit earth an stanes an straw

We salute them, yin an aa

The volunteers o the Errol Mud Wa

Linda Dunwell she gaed oot

Aboot the Carse a gingin foot

Fine auld buildins she has foon

An on the map she's marked them doon

Roy MacCausland frae Texas State

Cam tae Errol, thocht it great

Lives in a hoose built wi mud waas

Widnae swap fur ony cause

Grant Muckhart, that's his name

An the art o mud, that's his game

When no in Errol, him you'll see

Up Moredun Archaeology

That's just three we happened tae meet

Gloves on their hauns, wellies on their feet

We'd tell ye o twenty seven mair

If we'd met them an had their tales tae share

They bent their backs, they caa'd awa

They trampit earth an stanes an straw

We salute them, yin an aa

The volunteers o the Errol Mud Wa