Half of Ireland slept under thatch in the 1800s and the craft is now nearly gone

Before the slate and the tile took over, as much as half the population of Ireland lay down each night under layers of sod and wheat or flax straw, stitched into place by a thatcher working in either the slice or the sketch style. The walls beneath them were lime mortar if the family could afford it and mud tempered with straw, reeds or animal matter if they could not, and the roof above needed renewing within five to twenty years, which is why the trade passed from father to son.

As durable as they are environmentally friendly, Irish thatched cottages are the products of centuries of history and tradition. While they currently make up a minuscule percent of the total housing stock in Ireland, in the 1800s, as much as half of the population slept under thatched roofs.

The materials used in construction varied across the years, from region to region, and depending upon the wealth of the family. For the walls, lime mortar was the most desirable – but also the most expensive – material. Mud tempered with strengthening agents such as straw, reeds, or animal matter was a popular alternative.

For the iconic roofs, overlapping layers of sod were placed on the timbers. On top of this went the straw thatch, derived from a variety of materials such as wheat and flax, carefully cut and threaded by a thatcher in either the slice or sketch style. It would often take as many as 5,000 handfuls of straw to complete a roof.

The trade of thatching was passed down through the generations, from father to son. The work was fairly steady since thatching must be replaced every 5 to 20 years, depending on the material and its condition.

Today, with the general decline in the popularity of thatched cottages, thatching has become rare as a family trade, but a number of groups and individuals have dedicated themselves to the craft throughout Ireland to restore existing cottages and build new ones.

As closely associated as thatching is with Ireland, it was also widely practiced in other countries. Examples of thatched roofs can be found in Japan, Peru, Germany, Bali, and Denmark, to name just a few.

Still, there’s nothing quite as picturesque or evocative as a quaint one-story thatched cottage nestled between stone walls and fields of green.

Here, read Seamus Heaney’s ode to the art, “Thatcher.”

Bespoke for weeks, he turned up some morning

Unexpectedly, his bicycle slung

With a light ladder and a bag of knives.

He eyed the old rigging, poked at the eaves,

Opened and handled sheaves of lashed wheat straw.

Next, the bundled rods: hazel and willow

Were flicked for weight, twisted in case they'd snap.

It seemed he spent the morning warming up,

Then fixed the ladder, laid out well-honed blades

And snipped at straw and sharpened ends of rods

That, bent in two, made a white-pronged staple

For pinning down his world, handful by handful.

Couchant for days on sods above the rafters,

He shaved and flushed the butts, stitched all together

Into a sloped honeycomb, a stubble patch,

And left them gaping at his Midas touch.

* Originally published in 2015, updated in 2026.