Save the Thatch

Thatch and thatching has been in deepening crisis for years.

With the use of imported materials (reeds from Turkey, scallops from Poland etc.) what used to be a vernacular process using materials to hand in the immediate environment, has become distanced from the surrounding land and community in an unsustainable way.

Our objective is to revive the thatching with native reeds, redevelop the growing and management of local reedbeds, retrain local people in the necessary skills associated with harvesting and making thatch fixings such as scallops.

You can watch the recorded talk between Darragh Mayne and thatcher Sara Leach.