Your bike and a thatch.
- Thread starter EltonFrog
- Start date
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southcoast
Über Member
Wasn’t sure what to expect when I first opened this thread! 
Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
southcoast
Über Member
That Dawes Kingpin looks in amazing condition, what year is it? 
OP
OP
EltonFrog
Legendary Member
68 ish, I restored it including sending it to Mercian for a respray a few years ago.That Dawes Kingpin looks in amazing condition, what year is it?
southcoast
Über Member
booze and cake
probably out cycling
Thanks @CarlP for leading me to some London based thatched history
‘The immoderate drinking of fools and the frequency of fires’ was a description of London in the 1170's by William Fitzstephen. 850 years later the drinking continues to be embraced by the population with gusto, but thankfully the frequency of tragic fires has decreased. But as Grenfell shows it still happens in the modern age. Apparently one of the first building regulations in London was the banning of new thatched buildings, which was introduced in the year 1212.
By the time of the 'great fire of London' in 1666, the cities buildings were mostly free from thatch, but it was the timber houses that burned so well in the dry summer that year. So by Royal declaration the 1667 Rebuilding Act introduced stricter building regulations aimed at eliminating some of the risks that caused the 1666 tragedy.
As far as I know the only building in London permitted to have a thatched roof, is the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe theatre which was completed in 1997, the regulations waived so it could be built with original materials. The Globe roof underwent some restoration in 2008 when the original Master Thatchers came back with a team of ten men to work on the iconic roof for 4 weeks. They used 800 bundles of sedge (a grass-like plant from the Norfolk Broads), 10,000 English hazel spars, 2,500 feet of liggers (thatching strips) and 600 litres of fire retardant fluid.
The Globe had previously already burnt to the ground in 1613 in a fire caused by canons used during the performance of Shakespeare play Henry VIII.
https://www.historyextra.com/period/elizabethan/globe-theatre-fire-london-shakespeare-william-facts/
It was rebuilt and opened again, before being closed by the Puritans in 1642, and was completely demolished a few years later to make way for houses.
I went along to have a look at the refurbished Globe this morning.
More info: https://thatchinginfo.com/thatching-in-the-city-of-london/
‘The immoderate drinking of fools and the frequency of fires’ was a description of London in the 1170's by William Fitzstephen. 850 years later the drinking continues to be embraced by the population with gusto, but thankfully the frequency of tragic fires has decreased. But as Grenfell shows it still happens in the modern age. Apparently one of the first building regulations in London was the banning of new thatched buildings, which was introduced in the year 1212.
By the time of the 'great fire of London' in 1666, the cities buildings were mostly free from thatch, but it was the timber houses that burned so well in the dry summer that year. So by Royal declaration the 1667 Rebuilding Act introduced stricter building regulations aimed at eliminating some of the risks that caused the 1666 tragedy.
As far as I know the only building in London permitted to have a thatched roof, is the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe theatre which was completed in 1997, the regulations waived so it could be built with original materials. The Globe roof underwent some restoration in 2008 when the original Master Thatchers came back with a team of ten men to work on the iconic roof for 4 weeks. They used 800 bundles of sedge (a grass-like plant from the Norfolk Broads), 10,000 English hazel spars, 2,500 feet of liggers (thatching strips) and 600 litres of fire retardant fluid.
The Globe had previously already burnt to the ground in 1613 in a fire caused by canons used during the performance of Shakespeare play Henry VIII.
https://www.historyextra.com/period/elizabethan/globe-theatre-fire-london-shakespeare-william-facts/
It was rebuilt and opened again, before being closed by the Puritans in 1642, and was completely demolished a few years later to make way for houses.
I went along to have a look at the refurbished Globe this morning.
More info: https://thatchinginfo.com/thatching-in-the-city-of-london/
Last edited:
OP
OP
EltonFrog
Legendary Member
Thanks @CarlP for leading me to some London based thatched history
‘The immoderate drinking of fools and the frequency of fires’ was a description of London in the 1170's by William Fitzstephen. 850 years later the drinking continues to be embraced by the population with gusto, but thankfully the frequency of tragic fires has decreased. But as Grenfell shows it still happens in the modern age. Apparently one of the first building regulations in London was the banning of new thatched buildings, which was introduced in the year 1212.
By the time of the 'great fire of London' in 1666, the cities buildings were mostly free from thatch, but it was the timber houses that burned so well in the dry summer that year. So by Royal declaration the 1667 Rebuilding Act introduced stricter building regulations aimed at eliminating some of the risks that caused the 1666 tragedy.
As far as I know the only building in London permitted to have a thatched roof, is the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe theatre which was completed in 1997, the regulations waived so it could be built with original materials. The Globe roof underwent some restoration in 2008 when the original Master Thatchers came back with a team of ten men to work on the iconic roof for 4 weeks. They used 800 bundles of sedge (a grass-like plant from the Norfolk Broads), 10,000 English hazel spars, 2,500 feet of liggers (thatching strips) and 600 litres of fire retardant fluid.
The Globe had previously already burnt to the ground in 1613 in a fire caused by cannons used during the performance of Shakespeare play Henry VIII.
https://www.historyextra.com/period/elizabethan/globe-theatre-fire-london-shakespeare-william-facts/
It was rebuilt and opened again, before being closed by the Puritans in 1642, and was completely demolished a few years later to make way for houses.
I went along to have a look at the refurbished Globe this morning.
View attachment 465402
More info: https://thatchinginfo.com/thatching-in-the-city-of-london/
Fab! That more like it.
D
Deleted member 26715
Guest
So old original thatched roofs last 100's of years, but the modern version had to be repaired in under 10, doesn't say a lot for the quality of work does it.
Slick
Guru
To be fair, our expectation levels of how that roof should perform has changed a bit since the Globe was first erected.
It has more to do with the materials used, wheat straw was the most common material but changes in agriculture meant that the straw was shorter, so combine harvesters could process the wheat quicker and of course the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides weakened the the straw so reed straw became the norm for thatching which doesn’t last as long,rather than the standard of work.
biggs682
Itching to get back on my bike's
- Location
- Northamptonshire
MBIFO a thatched roof in Earls Barton this morning .
