A 2013 report estimated that there were 60,000 properties in the UK and Ireland with a thatched roof. ![]() Q: How many buildings are roofed with thatch? A: The United Kingdom and Ireland are known for the strength of their past and present thatching tradition. It doesn’t get more green than that! Frequently asked Questions: Unlike most roofing, thatch is biodegradable, so it’ll simply decompose when it’s disposed of. Since it can be sourced locally, using thatch can help boost local economies. It’s a rapidly renewable resource ready for harvest once if not several times a year. Thatch can be grown most anywhere, which can make it easy to locally source. For several reasons, thatch is highly sustainable. Cahill says that people today travel and are exposed to a variety of things, whether it's a Bosch washer, European cars, or thatch roofs. He says it’s a lovely feeling to know you are preserving an ancient building craft, using sustainable/green materials and creating a unique custom product with each handmade roof. "It's the first form of roofing it the world," says Cahill. He has a small forge of his own back in Ohio, where he crafts many of his own tools. Since there are a smaller number of thatchers here, as evidenced by the variety of project locations in their portfolios, nationwide travel is often part of their work.Ĭahill’s tool chest is not of the hammer and nail variety. When a thatched house in Maine was listed for sale it increased traffic on its road enough to draw the attention of the police. While thatch hasn't been as common in the U.S., Cahill estimates that there are thatched buildings in every state. Slevin was instrumental in getting the Smithsonian Institute to sponsor William’s work on the prestigious Jamestown Church project in the historic Jamestown Virginia Settlement in 1986. He mentored under Peter Slevin, the only thatcher in the United States who has been here since the 1950s. William trained with his good friend, the late Peter Brockett, the master thatcher who led the thatch training school for the English Thatchers Association. He has been thatching in the US for over 30 years. Roof thatcher William Cahill, a native of Ireland, is based in Ohio. The Irish Folklore Commission interviewed 600 professional thatchers for an oral history project in the 1940s, but today Letts estimates that fewer than two dozen work full time in Ireland.The Drum Inn of Cockington under a thatched roof "There aren't many of us in it any more." "I'm harvesting more than I can sell," says Peril, who fishes for salmon much of the year. ![]() Even South African velt grass has shown up on thatched roofs in Ireland. Patrick Peril used to make a living harvesting reed from the Shannon River, but he says modern thatchers are buying imported reed from Hungary, Turkey and Poland instead. And modern thatching techniques are destroying much of the history because today's thatchers prefer to strip off the old thatch rather than cover it with new layers, Letts says. The Irish government has trained young thatchers in recent years, hoping to preserve the craft, but traditional thatching offers scant employment. It's an extraordinary look at medieval agriculture." "I can find complete ears, with intact grain and straw. "I've seen wheat from the 1300s that was as perfect as the day it went up," says Letts. Medieval thatch, kept dry from the outside and smoked black from the inside, can be so well preserved that excavating it is like digging through centuries of agricultural history. ![]() Scraw layers are still found inside some Viking-era structures near Dublin. They tend not to last as long in Ireland because of the dampness and the materials used, but roofs from the 1750s are common. Hundreds of thatched roofs from the 15th century are still in use throughout England. And when maintained properly - the top ridge and the outer layers should be replaced every 10 years - a thatched roof will last for centuries. And perhaps it might not have, if it weren't one of the most efficient, leak-free roofing surfaces ever devised.Ī well-thatched roof, made with the right materials, can last 50 years or more. It's often a wonder thatch has survived at all, he says. You'll find molds, pests - I've seen trees growing out of people's roofs." "You try to manipulate the rate of decay to use it as a roof for a while, but it's alive, and always changing. "I've spent some time up in the rafters, yes," he says.Ī true thatched roof is essentially "a controlled compost heap," Letts says. He spent three years in Ireland excavating roofs in old cottages and can tell you, without looking it up, that the average thickness of scraw is 4.62 centimeters. Few people know thatching more intimately and completely than John Letts, an archaeobotanist at the University of Reading.
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