Thatchers

Thatchers

Image Right - Thatched Cottages in Chinnor, Oxfordshire

Roof thatcher, using straw or, more usually, reeds

Associated Occupations

• Hay Binder;

A thatcher is one who thatches building roofs with dried reeds, sedge or more commonly straw. Thatched roofs were common in the UK until slate roofing gradually took over during the 19th century. The occupation of Thatcher remains today.

also Thacker - archaic English term for a Thatcher, who built and maintained thatched roofing for buildings.

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Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation (straw, water reed, sedge (Cladium mariscus), rushes, or heather), layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates. Thatch is still employed by builders in developing countries, usually with low-cost, local vegetation.

Thatching methods have traditionally been passed down from generation to generation.

Some thatched roofs in the United Kingdom are extremely old illustrating traditional materials and methods that have long since been lost.

Historic Scotland have funded several research projects into thatching techniques which have revealed a wide range of materials including broom, heather, rushes, cereals, bracken, turf and clay and highlighted significant regional variation.

References and Further Reading

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thatching
• Cox, Jo and Thorp, John R. L. (2001). Devon Thatch: An Illustrated History of Thatching and Thatched Buildings in Devon. Tiverton: Devon Books. ISBN 9781855227972
• http://www.hlcollege.ac.uk/Downloads/cp_thatch.html

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