Historic Thatched Pub Destroyed by Fire in Milton Keynes

The Swan Inn in Milton Keynes – an historic thatched pub dating to the 13^th Century – was severely damaged by fire yesterday.  Most of the thatch was destroyed and substantial damage done to the building.

Initial thoughts are that sparks from the chimney are to blame.  Staff failed to extinguish the fire and ultimately 40 firefighters were in attendance. 

Dr John  C Mitchell

Thatch Fire in Ibberton in Dorset

Reports of a fire over night in the Dorset village of Ibberton have been received.  It appears to have started in the early hours of this morning and was fought by up to 30 firefighters.  No injuries have been reported and one fire crew remains on the scene damping down.


EXPORT AND GENERAL INSURANCE SERVICES LTD
Providing Insurance Cover to the owners of thatched properties

Fire crews from Hampshire and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Services tackle thatch fire near Andover

Thatched property fire at Monxton ...

28 Nov 2011

Source: http://www.hantsfire.gov.uk/stories.htm?newsid=61161

At 1909 hours yesterday [Saturday 26 11 11] Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service control operators were alerted to a fire at a thatched property at Monxton Road, Monxton near Andover.  A total of six fire appliances were mobilised to the scene from Andover, Odiham, Alresford, Winchester and Basingstoke fire stations, including two fire appliances from Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The fire involved the thatched roof around the chimney of the cottage measuring 16 meters by 20 meters.  Firefighters used 2 CAFS jets and 1 hose reel to extinguish the fire before continuing to strip the damaged thatch from the roof.

Watch Manager Kevin Francis from Andover Fire Station who was part of the first crew in attendance said:

“A passer-by had noticed the fire around the chimney and alerted the occupant who was inside the property and unaware that the there was a fire.  Initially we mobilised to what was first thought to be a chimney fire.  However, more calls about the fire were coming into Fire Control and it quickly became apparent that the fire had spread and was involving the thatched roof so a full pre-determined attendance of fire appliances was mobilised to assist..  As we approached the village the flames were visible and up to 4ft above the height of the chimney stack and it was heavily smoke logged in the vicinity.”

He continued:

“Upon arrival firefighters investigated the interior of the property and crews were able to quickly asses the situation as the occupant had already ensured that access to the loft hatch was clear.  Once the it was established that there was no smoke or fire within the roof space firefighters assisted the house holder by salvaging items from the cottage.   Meanwhile, crews on the exterior of the property tackled the blaze around the chimney by using a Compressed Air Foam System.  This quickly killed the fire, which had tunnelled down about 6ft into the thatch, and enabled the firefighters to probe the thatch for any further hotspots and stop the fire from spreading further by targeting the foam at the affected areas.  Crews then worked together spending around three hours stripping the damaged thatch by hand which is a pretty arduous task.”

Ron Hedger who was the officer in charge of the incident advised:

“Crews did a fantastic job and this incident could have had a much more serious outcome.  Whilst statistically a home with a thatched roof has no greater tendency to catch fire than a home with a conventional roof, the difference is that, if a thatched roof does ignite, the fire can be very difficult to control and the consequences much more destructive.  An incident involving thatch is also usually extremely prolonged and also have a great demand on our resources and personnel.  However, in this case it is apparent that a combination of the firefighters use of the Compressed Air Foam System and traditional firefighting methods of creating a fire break in the thatch meant that length of time we were in attendance was reduced dramatically.  I am pleased to say that other than a few muddy footprints inside the cottage the occupant was extremely pleased and relieved to find that there was no water or fire damage inside the cottage as in this case it is also notable that damage to the property was minimal as the traditional method of using extensive amounts of water to extinguish the fire and dampen the thatch were not required.”

Thatched House Picture Competition

We are initiating our first ever Thatched House Picture Competition! 

The main prize is 6 bottles of Champagne with a picture of your house incorporated into the professionally designed label!  As the competition will be run in 4 quarterly heats, each heat winner will receive a bottle of either red or white wine (labelled with the winning picture).  Each heat winner will be entered into the final competition.

 

The first round will be judged on Friday December 16th and the winner contacted within 48 hours - so get photographing your thatched house from every angle.  Clearly the autumn / winter theme is 'in' at the moment and we would like your pictures to have a seasonal flavour.

To enter, email photographs along with your name, your insurance renewal date and your address to:

 

john@exportandgeneral.co.uk

Or post entries to:

John Mitchell, Export and General Insurance Services Ltd, Worting House, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG23 8PX

Competition rules will be emailed / posted on request.

The competition is only open to the owners of thatched properties in the UK. Multiple entries are welcomed and the judges decision is final.  If you do not wish your photograph to be used on our site, please say so.   We wish to display all photographs on our website along with the name of the village and county of location.  The date the property was built would also be an interesting addition.

GOOD LUCK - and we look forward to seeing your houses!

Brief History of Thatch and Thatching

Brief History of Thatch and Thatching

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thatching

The tradition of thatching has been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years, and numerous descriptions of the materials and methods used in England over the past three centuries survive in archives and early publications.

In equatorial countries thatch is the prevalent local material for roofs, and often walls.  There are diverse building techniques from the ancient Hawaiian hale shelter made from the local ti leaves, lauhala or pili grass of fan palms to the Na Bure Fijian home with layered reed walls and sugar cane leaf roofs and the Kikuyu tribal homes in Kenya.  The colonisation of indigenous lands by Europeans greatly diminished the use of thatching.

Thatch has probably been used to cover roofs in Europe since at least the Neolithic period, when people first began to grow cereals. Wild vegetation, especially water reed (Phragmites australis), was probably used before this but no records or archaeological evidence for this have survived ”.

Early settlers to the New World used thatch as far back as 1565. Native Americans had already been using thatch for generations. When settlers arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, they found Powhatan Indians living in houses with thatched roofs. The colonists used the same thatch on their own buildings.

In most of Europe and the UK, thatch remained the only roofing material available to the bulk of the population in the countryside, and in many towns and villages, until the late 1800s.  The commercial production of Welsh slate had begun in 1820 and the mobility which the canals and then the railways made possible meant that other materials became readily available. The number of thatched properties actually increased in the UK during the mid-1800s as agriculture expanded, but then declined again at the end of the 19th century because of agricultural recession and rural depopulation. Gradually, thatch became a mark of poverty and the number of thatched properties gradually declined, as did the number of professional thatchers.

Thatch has become much more popular in the UK over the past 30 years, and is now a symbol of wealth rather than poverty.  There are now approximately 1,000 full time thatchers at work in the UK, and thatching is becoming popular again because of the renewed interest in preserving historic buildings and using more sustainable building materials.

Thatch material

There are more thatched roofs in the United Kingdom and Ireland than in any other European country.  Good quality thatching straw can last for more than 45–50 years when applied by a skilled thatcher. Traditionally, a new layer of straw was simply applied over the weathered surface, and this ‘spar coating’ tradition has created accumulations of thatch over 7’ (2.1 m) thick on very old buildings. Over 250 roofs in Southern England have base coats of thatch that were applied over 500 years ago, providing direct evidence of the types of materials that were used for thatching in the medieval period. Almost all of these roofs are thatched with wheat, rye, or a 'maslin' mixture of both. Medieval wheat grew to almost 6 feet (1.8 m) tall in very poor soils and produced durable straw for the roof and grain for baking bread. Information on UK thatching materials, methods and traditions, and the work that is being done to preserve them, is available on the Conservation of Historic Thatch

Technology in the farming industry has had a significant impact on the popularity of thatching. The availability of good quality thatching straw declined in England after the introduction of the combine harvester in the late 1930s and 1940s, and the release of short-stemmed wheat varieties. The increasing use of nitrogen fertiliser in the 1960s-70s also weakened straw and reduced its longevity. Since the 1980s, however, there has been a big increase in straw quality as specialist growers have returned to growing older, tall-stemmed, 'heritage' varieties of wheat such as Maris Wigeon, in low input/organic conditions.

All of the evidence indicates that water reed was rarely used for thatching outside of East Anglia. It has traditionally been a 'one coat' material applied in a similar way to how it is used in continental Europe - weathered reed is usually stripped and replaced by a new layer. It takes 4-5 acres of well-managed reed bed to produce enough reed to thatch an average house, and large reed beds have been uncommon in most of England since the Anglo-Saxon period. Over 80% of the water reed used in the UK is now imported from Turkey, Eastern Europe and China. Although water reed might last for 50 years or more on a steep roof in a dry climate, modern imported water reed on an average roof in England will not last any longer than good quality wheat straw. The lifespan of a thatched roof is also dependent on the skill of the thatcher, but other factors need to be taken into account, such as climate, quality of the materials used, and the pitch of the roof.

Thatch is fastened together in bundles with a diameter of about two feet. These are then laid on the roof with the butt end facing out and secured to the roof beams, after which they are pegged in place with wooden or steel rods. The thatcher adds the layers on top of each other, finishing with a layer to secure the ridgeline of the roof. This method means thatch roofs are easy to repair, can endure heavy winds and rain and only need a stable supporting structure.

In areas where palms are abundant, palm leaves are used to thatch walls and roofs. Many species of palm trees are called "thatch palm", or have "thatch" as part of their common names. In the southeastern United States, Indian and pioneer houses were often constructed of palmetto-leaf thatch.  The chickees of the Seminole and Miccosukee Indians are still thatched with palmetto leaves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thatching