The new thatched cottages in Church Lane Welford  are thatched in Norfolk reed to a minimum depth of 12" over the battens over a fire retardant barrier. Cost £5,500 each, Time taken  six weeks each during the summer of 1996 working silly hours  DETAILS

The reed is built up in horizontal courses over the woodwork using the extra height of the fascia board at the bottom of the rafters and the gable ends over the height of the rafters to bend the reed as it is laid, this tension in the reed is used to keep the material on the roof.

As the bundles are put on the roof a "sway" or hazel stick and high tensile steel rod are fastened again horizontally to the rafters by inserting a steel spike 10" long with a built in hook holding the sway and the point driven into the rafter 1" to 2", by adjusting the angle of the spike and allowing for the thickness of fire retardant and battens this ensures that the fastenings are at least 5" under the following courses. In total 13 courses build up each side. Although known as Norfolk Reed the material came from Southwold marsh in Suffolk each one measures about 25" around the butt and varies in length from 4 to 8 feet long and weighing 5 to 8 pounds ( sorry for the non EC measurements but I still measure in fathoms, long and short hundreds and squares ! ) For these three cottages 2,970 bundles have been used. 1,170 spikes ranging from 8 to 14 inches, 2,496 feet of hazel rod and the same in high tensile steel rod. The spikes are made for me at Buntingthorpe and I coppice with other members of Rutland & Leic  Master Thatchers Association part of Rockingham great forest for my Hazel wood requirements. All the "wood work" that can be seen is Hazel wood cut and prepared by me as I require it.

At the apex of the roof timbers a roll of reed is laid to maintain the bend in the bundles and as each course is laid any reed oversailing the top is cut off and the other side thatched so that the cut ends link into each other forming a watertight seal. The straw ridge is used because reed is brittle and cannot be bent over the apex and the fastening method would open up the surface. One ton of straw from Dunmore in Essex has been used ( Maris Widgeon for the farmer readers ) The straw is shaken into a loose heap and pulled out a hand full at a time and bundled up so that all the straws are parallel and the leaves and rubbish are removed. The ridge is made of three components, the first (Skirt) makes the area for the cut pattern the second (Wrap Over) covers the first and over a second roll used to fix the wooden patterns, the third is bent over the apex and the third fixing roll. The internal fixings in the ridge and the surface fixings are all of hazel rods mainly split into quadrants of 4, 6, or eight held by shorter split sticks or spars twisted and bent into a "hair pin" shape and driven into the rolls some 4,000 of these are used together with 1,600 feet of liggers or the horizontal wooden patterns you can see, The diamond shape patterns that can be seen are a modified type of spar, 800 being used. Simple Cut away. Thatched to the following specification

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