Thatch in England

This section of the Stuart Viggers website provides some general information to owners and admirers of thatched houses in Britain. It is a comprehensive account of what is known today of the thatching traditions in the country and of present thatching practice.

It gives advice on how to look after thatch and on appropriate fire precautions for thatched houses. It discusses the need for consent to alter thatch on Listed Buildings and has a list of useful contacts (visit the resource section).

Thatch is part of the identity and character of the British countryside. Loosely speaking, thatching is the use of straw or grasses as a building material. It is a roofing material that has been used here since the bronze age, around 700 years ago. The building practices of the British past were quite irregular. Not only did Britain's require a lightweight roofing material and with irregular materials, such as wattle and daub walls, and cruck beams these walls simply were not made to take much weight, thus thatch was by far the lightest weight material available and so commonly used.

British thatch is now mostly confined to rural houses, although there were until relatively recent times thousands of thatched farm buildings, as well as many thatched buildings in English towns.

Most thatched houses in England are listed buildings and have statutory protection because they are of special historic or architectural interest.