Master thatcher Brian Lafferty carries a bundle of roofing materials, traditionally reed, flax or straw, which allows the rain to fall off roofs like 'water off a duck's back' A new school in Ireland ...

The custom of continuing to thatch farm buildings with rye straw throughout the 19th and into the 20th century was among the most intriguing. This traditional craft was handed down ...

GRASPING AT STRAWS is all the rage among a growing number of British homeowners, as Mark Phillips now shows us: When it comes to housing design, it's hard to get more retro than this: a thatched roof, ...

OUGHTERARD, Ireland – The house where Denis Geoghegn was born still stands, right next to his own, and the ceiling still looks like it’s smeared with black mud and grass, which it is. There are two ...

At the Donegal Thatching School, master thatchers teach their skills to help preserve Ireland's long tradition of thatched-roofed cottages A new school in Ireland is training up a fresh generation of ...

Roofs are an integral part of a building’s architectural design. A roof is designed to enhance the beauty of a particular building but most importantly, a roof is a safety mechanism against wind, rain ...

Q. I have an 11-year-old house in Tewksbury I built myself. It has a hand-split, rough-sawn, cedar-shingle roof. When it was first installed, and every two to three years since, I have had Penofin ...

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A new school in Ireland is training up a fresh generation of thatchers in a bid to save the country's disappearing thatched roofs, an iconic feature of the Irish landscape. In a hall in Portnoo ...