A HISTORY OF THATCHING IN NORTHERN IRELAND

In Northern Ireland in 1970 there were 4000 thatched cottages. As housing executive grants came on stream, these beautiful thatched cottages began to disappear at an alarming rate. Today there are less than 200 of these historical thatched cottages being maintained.

As thatched cottages began to disappear in N.Ireland, thatchers abandoned the craft in search of other work. Materials grown specifically for thatching were in less demand and farmers who did grow straw used unsuitable modern seeds which produced a high grain yield and shorter straw. The change in farming practices as well as home modernizing grants sent the thatching industry into CRASH MODE.

This was the method of putting thatch onto a new roof with out nails, screws or rope, the scraws are 3 to 4 inch thick sections of turf/grassey soil placed ontop of a rafter roof, normally bog oak pole rafters. The straw is pegged onto the scraws which sit on top of the pole rafters, in the traditional manner, with spars/scallops which are hazel sticks, which have their ends pointed and twisted in the middle to make a u shaped pins. In lay mans terms its the same as a long haired collen pinning up her hair. This method is only done for Historical houses.

In order to sustain the dwindling number of houses, thatch specifications were dropped, as a result of this dire situation. The depth of thatch was reduced from one foot to six inches i.e. only half the proper amount of thatch was used in an attempt to keep costs down. Thatch fixings/scallops were now closer to the surface, this meant that the life span of this thickness of thatch, could never last as long as what could be reasonably expected for the time and money invested. Result, THATCHING WENT INTO FULL BLOWN CRASH MODE.

At this point the historical buildings took action to preserve the best examples of thatched buildings in Northern Ireland. The buildings saved provide a link to the past and a priceless insight into our ancestors ingenious methods of building construction. How ever in saving the last and best examples of thatched houses the historic buildings inadvertedly saved the thatching industry which was operating in FULL BLOWN CRASH MODE.

They have to this day maintained thatching to a substandard specification. They do not query why buildings that are thatched, last less than four years, the record being one year for a thatched building outside Strabane in Co Tyrone,that building had been completely rethatched three times with in a ten year period. It is the Historical Buildings DOE who’s door we can firmly leave the blame for the demise of the Thatched Scraw roof. Their policies of time scale to have a building rethatched, pay into the Cowboy operations that destroy these buildings. The Grant system is open to such corruption that it pays some people to have their cottage rethatched every four years. Their total lack of true Specifications and Quality control pay into this very corruption of the Grant/Tax payers money. The Historical Buildings DOE are not fit to over see one Listed Thatched Cottage in Northern Ireland, the remaining Buildings must be removed from their incompetant care and a task force set up with a view to saving and restoring those that are left.