Thatched Roof – Straw or Reed?

Thatched Roof - thatchers get ready for the Bath and West Show

The debate over whether reed or straw is the better material to use on a thatched roof probably started as soon as property owners had a choice. But now that’s the crux of the problem, with councils insisting on like for like replacement for listed buildings there is no longer a choice and not everyone is convinced it is the right way to go. One point of view is that several bad summers have left thatchers without the right materials to comply with planning regulations. Others believe that this is just scaremongering in an attempt to change policies to their own advantage. Either way, for owners of a listed thatched property, the idyllic dream is quickly turning into a nightmare.

In March last year, a spokesperson for the National Society of Master Thatchers (NSMT) told The Times that poor harvests and increasing costs for specialists that “grow their own” thatching materials, would end up leaving the UK with no straw left for thatching – declaring that the shortfall would have to come from Poland. By September 2008 the NSMT issued a statement saying that the situation had worsened. Highlighting yet another poor season due to the heavy rainfall that summer, the NSMT said that even additional supplies from Eastern Europe would no longer be enough to prop up the lack of materials.

The East Anglia Master Thatchers Association (EAMTA) issued a statement the following month to announce that it had contacted all of its region's traditional thatching straw producers, and that besides some delay in transportation because of the weather that “their straw for thatch harvest was safely gathered in”. The EAMTA argues that increasing the UK’s reliance of imported materials will eventually lead to the demise of the heritage behind some of our most important buildings.

In between them stands English Heritage, whose guidelines issued in the spring of 2008 stress that repair is often more favourable that full replacement. It was after all how our forbearers worked, before we became the throw away society we are today. English Heritage believes that it is important to conserve the character of an area and protect material of archaeological interest, pointing out that it has only recently been discovered that some thatch can be dated back to medieval times.

Robert Hill, of the Historic Building Advisory Service says that because certain types of thatch have become 'fashionable' over the years that there has been a change in the acceptability of the material being used and therefore the thatch style that is employed. “Water reed has always been a good thatching material, it is also a lot more expensive than wheat reed thatch and can last up to 20 - 30% longer depending on how well and regularly the roof is maintained. As a result there has almost been a level of snobbishness amongst some thatch owners who to show they have the 'way with all' to use the more expensive material as a form of one-up-man-ship. Straw thatch has almost been considered as inferior by some people because it is not as expensive, but with good maintenance it can have a long life. All these costs are proportional.”

Without the like for like policy pursued by English Heritage, many traditional thatchers are concerned that homeowners will just choose reed believing it to superior, when in actual fact straw thatch can offer other benefits, not least up to 50% more insulation. In addition, even the quality of straw thatch, the grain it is grown from, can make a huge difference to the roof’s lifespan.

“A universal change from straw to water reed is not a case of moving with the time,” continues Hill. They are both good materials that have their roots in certain regional areas where historically, the crop could be grown easily. In wet and marshy areas reed thatch was used, but in dry upland areas it was cereal straw. In other areas of the country the thatching material could have been gorse, heather or even sedge, but these have generally disappeared as a thatching material where they have been superseded by straw or reed.

“There have been scares about the availability, suitability or longevity of straw thatch over the recent decades for various reasons. At those times it was suspected that much of this was generated or exaggerated by those with an interest in the importation of alternative thatch materials.”

This is also the concern of the EAMTA, in its October statement the organisation is keen to point out that despite having the word National in its organisational name, the NSMT actually only represents less than 15% of thatching firms nationwide, but does have close association with some of the more mechanised producers and foreign importers.

There are only around 24,000 listed thatched buildings in England and yet it is a distinctive feature of our landscape and something many of us equate to be the epitome of the English village. Whilst, admittedly it is an inconvenience to have to book up a thatcher at least twelve months in advance and put up with local council “interference”, without some form of governance, losing straw may not just be yet another type of thatch go by the way side, but eventually thatch altogether.