Old Cob Wall Poem by Cicely Fox Smith

Old cob wall
Have fell at last;
Us knowed he might
A good while past.

Great-grandad he
Built thickly wall
With maiden earth
And oaten strawl.

He built en in
The good old way,
And there he've stood
Until to-day.
But wind and rain
And frost and snow
Have all combined
To lay en low.

Us propped en up
With stones and 'ood,
Us done our best,
But t'weren't no good.

He gived a bit
And then a lot,
And at the finish
Down he squat.

And now, since barns
Has got to be,
Us'll build another
'Stead of he.

But not the same
He was afore,
'Cos no-one builds
Cob walls no more.