New Thatch

One of the unexpected pleasures of moving to south-west England was that many of the buildings still have thatched roofs, especially in the smaller villages. My own cottage was a forge when it was built in the early eighteenth century and would have had a thatched roof, though it had been replaced with tiles decades before I moved in.

Thatch provides excellent thermal insulation, keeping buildings warm over winter and keeping things cool in summer. It has probably been used here to cover roofs since the Neolithic period, when people first began to grow cereals, and was predominant until the dawn of canals made other materials such as Welsh slate more readily available.

Thatchers are more in demand now than they have been for some time due to renewed interests in preserving our heritage and using greener and more sustainable materials. Thatch also reduces external noise, creating a peaceful interior in these increasingly stressful and crowded times.

There are now approximately 1,000 full time thatchers at work in the UK, and thatching is becoming popular again across social divides because of the renewed interest in preserving historic buildings and in using more sustainable building materials.

Not far from home is a thatched bus shelter, and pubs with thatched roofs are not uncommon. This cottage is a couple of miles away in Ratford.

L.
7.4.2011

Lens: Pentax 18-55mm

Consecutive Blip #370

Alternative:
Ratford Post Box

One Year Ago: "Gorse" *Forsythia, actually*