English Thatched Country Cottages and Staddle Stones

Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, rushes or even heather. It is an ecologically friendly roof, and these days is not the fire hazard it was hundreds of years ago. Gradually, thatch became a mark of poverty and the number of thatched properties gradually declined, as did the number of professional thatchers. It has become much more popular in the UK over the past 30 years, and is now a symbol of wealth rather than poverty.

These village fire hooks, which I saw in the little village of West Lavington, Wiltshire are from the 17th C. They were used to tear burning straw from the thatched roofs of houses and haystacks in order to prevent the fire from spreading. They were last used in 1932 when a burning haystack became a fire hazard to nearby cottages.

The mushroom shaped stone at the entrance to the driveway is called a Staddle Stone. A Granary building would have stood on the top of several of this type of stone. The mushroom shape is to prevent the rats getting into the building.

This is an example of a Granary dated from 1800. I took this photo in Devon. The corn was stored in wooden bins ranged round the walls. 

The farm that H's family owned in Surrey had a large wooden shingle tiled barn cum granary standing on this type of stone, and it is still intact to this day.

This is a pen and ink drawing we have of their Surrey Farmhouse, which was drawn by H's cousin. I have just taken a section of the drawing so that you can see the Granary/Barn.