BCD 2018

80 C AT H E D R A L COMMU N C I AT I O N S C E L E B R AT I N G T W E N T Y F I V E Y E A R S O F T H E B U I L D I N G CO N S E R VAT I O N D I R E C TO R Y 1 9 9 3 – 2 0 1 8 A marram-thatched roof at Sandaig on the Island of Tiree, now deteriorating rapidly and exposing its turf divots and pole rafters indeed skilled working thatchers in Scotland, and a willingness to pass on the skills. However, numbers are low; a list of active thatchers held by HES is still in single figures, and there is at present no active programme for skills to be passed on. A comprehensive N/SVQ (National/Scottish Vocational Qualification) was developed specifically to train thatchers in Scottish methods, but there is no college currently delivering the programme. Part of the response to the survey should be to revive the training programme and make it fit for purpose. The thatching tradition in Scotland is different from that of much of England where long straw, water reed and combed wheat reed are more commonly found. Due to a real or perceived lack of local skills and materials, and often for reasons of practicality, it is not uncommon to see the local vernacular replaced with a standardised English thatch style, inappropriately detailed. Perhaps not surprisingly, this is sometimes due to the unwillingness of visiting thatchers to do work in what they consider a ‘substandard’ way. These styles, however accomplished, lack authenticity in the rural landscape. Inevitably, most types of traditional Scottish thatch do not have the durability of alternative materials, and the high maintenance requirement means that the burden of maintaining a traditional thatched roof is often neither desirable nor feasible. For this reason, examples of traditional Scottish thatching are increasingly being limited to open-air museums or maintained as holiday lets. Ian Whyte, writing about blackhouses in 1980, suggests prophetically that soon ‘only the Blackhouse Museum at Arnol will survive as a memorial to a vanished housing and social tradition’. Thatch is a natural and sustainable product with good environmental and aesthetic qualities, but it is also perishable and there are much more effective and durable roofing materials readily available. The continued use of thatch will therefore only be sustainable if local materials can be accessed affordably and the necessary skills can be found at a price that is viable for the building owner, appropriately supported by heritage agencies. A PLAN FOR THE FUTURE Following the publication of the survey, HES has undertaken to develop and implement an action plan to prevent the further loss of thatched buildings and to support their conservation. Proposals include reviewing the statutory designation of some, to ensure their significance is recognised – a process that has already been started by the Listing and Designations team, focussing on the Category C listed buildings that may be most at risk of being overlooked, and the best examples of particular types of thatch. Inevitably this exercise will also lead to some buildings being de-listed – those that have been lost completely or significantly altered; but the review will enable better protection of the thatched buildings that do remain, and will raise the profile of this building type in the historic environment. Thatched buildings are now so scarce that arguably all of those with any historic or architectural merit should be protected. If these buildings are valued, and the response to the survey suggests they are, then intervention will be necessary. This could be in the form of taking significant and at-risk thatched buildings into care, enforcing planning regulations more stringently for thatched buildings and committing additional financial support. It is clear that the grants offered by HES’s Thatched Buildings Maintenance Scheme have been instrumental in enabling property owners to continue to maintain thatched roofs. Without this financial support, it is likely that many more buildings would have been lost. However, it is equally clear that this is largely dependent on the good stewardship and effective delivery of the grant scheme. It is notable that in the Western Isles (particularly in the Uists) the management of grant funding and listed building control has resulted in an increase in the recorded number of thatched buildings: the survey identified 42 in the Uists, considerably more than expected. Good management practices and support for the development of local skills and materials sourcing could promise similar results in other areas where thatch has declined. The HES grants (see Further Information) have now been assimilated into the larger Historic Environment Support Fund, which enables a broader variety of activities to be financially supported, including training, materials sourcing and enabling work. HES has undertaken to continue to financially support those who maintain thatched buildings, and provide additional financial support and training for activities that contribute to the maintenance and survival of Scottish thatching skills and materials. Without action now, it is likely that thatched buildings will indeed soon be confined to open-air museums and holiday cottages. With concerted action and dedication, there is a chance to reverse this decline and avoid the preventable loss of a beautiful and distinctive type of Scottish vernacular building. Further Information For more information on Historic Environment Scotland grants and funding see http://bc-url.com/hes-fund. A Fenton, ‘Thatch and Thatching’, Building Construction in Scotland: Some Historical and Regional Aspects , SVBWG, Dunbar, 1976 J Snow, ‘Scottish thatch – a vanishing tradition’, The Victorian , no 34, 2010 SPAB, A Survey of Thatched Buildings in Scotland , Edinburgh, 2016 (http://bc-url. com/scot-thatch) B Walker, C McGregor and G Stark, Thatch and Thatching Techniques: A Guide to Conserving Scottish Thatching Traditions , Historic Scotland Technical Advice Note 4, Edinburgh, 1996 I Whyte, ‘The Lewis Blackhouse in 1980: the end of an old tradition’, Northern Studies , no 16, 1980 John Wilson Associates, Thatched Buildings Survey of Tiree , Oban, 1986 JESSICA HUNNISETT-SNOW MRICS IHBC is a senior technical officer at Historic Environment Scotland. A version of this article was published in the Scottish Vernacular Buildings Working Group journal Vernacular Building (vol 40, 2017).