The Germanic immigrants to this area brought with them the custom of rye straw roof thatching. Rye is a cereal grain similar to wheat, but with a habit of growth yielding stalks almost twice as high ...

A thatcher with a three-year waiting list for his services said a shortage of straw had caused problems for his industry. Chris Dodson, who runs a thatching company based in Sawtry, Cambridgeshire, ...

A top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee dismissed suggestions from U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle that the "sloped roof" of attempted assassin Thomas Crooks’ sniper ...

The custom of continuing to thatch farm buildings with rye straw throughout the 19th and into the 20th century was among the most intriguing. This traditional craft was handed down ...

Kraus can only look at what's left to do right now. He's too sore to work on this house barn. I have *** little bit in my eye, my eye and in my back, Stephan is one of three Germans who were injured ...

GRASPING AT STRAWS is all the rage among a growing number of British homeowners, as Mark Phillips now shows us: When it comes to housing design, it's hard to get more retro than this: a thatched roof, ...

A NEW school in Ireland is training up a fresh generation of thatchers in a bid to save the country’s disappearing thatched roofs, an iconic feature of the Irish landscape. In a hall in Portnoo, ...

As the 90-degree temperatures, black roofs and concrete transform Baltimore into a toaster oven, Heather Bathon and Michael Furbish enjoy summer’s remnants in a home made cool and quiet by 18-inch ...

A master thatcher said it was important to "safeguard" the industry or otherwise villages risked "losing character". Poor harvests of long straw over the last two years, aging machinery and shortages ...