Sundayafternoon on Insh Meain, the least visited of the Aran Islands.
A traditional house, with corrugated galvanised sheet roof:
the other side of the road, the telephone exchange, thatched roof:
Is it very noisy inside one of those houses when it’s raining?
I don’t know, actually friends bought a house with a similar roof, only to find when reroofing there was still about four foot of the old thatch under it. It was nice and warm in there.
The thatched roofs I’ve seen (in England, not Ireland,) are much thicker that the construction of this one. Really, really thick. Is this really thatch?
I once stayed in a house roofed like that on the West Coast of the south island in New Zealand. Rain on the roof was thunderous. I found it strangely relaxing though.
Perhaps its a thatch veneer, to make the building fit in with its surroundings more.
djm
It is really thatch but it is reed thatch, straw or rush thatch would be the more traditional way of doing it and those roofs can become very thick over time. On the other hand so can reedthatch roofs, if you keep adding to them for a long time. It’s likely the (1989) telephone exchange has a different waterproof seal under the thatch with the thatch only being cosmetic.
Below is a more traditional roof, as it happens Teach Synge, the house John Millington Synge stayed at when on Inish Meain learning Irish.
I love the sound of rain on a tin roof. My grandparents, like many in the southern Appalachian mountains, had a tin roof on their house. It was wonderful to sleep in one of the bedrooms in the attic during a rainstorm, sunk down into an old feather bed and covered with several patchwork quilts. ZZZZZZZ…
I once came across a huge, modern, beautiful house that some American was having built in the Irish countryside. The fellas were up thatching the roof. It was hilarious! I bet they charged a pretty penny.
Like this?
“Old Thatch”, a 17th Century Cottage in which Enid Blyton lived, is not far away from my house.
Yeah, something like that.
Wow! Look at that garden! I can’t believe people who go away on long journeys and come back with pictures of the exact same things as what is in their own backyards. If I could ever go on a trip to a place like England this is the type of stuff I would like to see.
djm
Great photos. Those thatched roofs are true works of art.
My house has a metal roof. Yes, it truly IS wonderful when it rains. Unfortunately, we can’t hear it quiet as loudly now since we put insulation in the attic. Before that, it was kinda like a roar now that you mention it.
There is no better way to go to sleep than to the sound of a rain storm on a metal roof.
Metal roofing is pretty common out here, and the old rusty galvanised stuff, complete with cork-gasketed nails, were leaky and loud. The new stuff is a grand improvement. You can’t hear it unless you try, and they’re great for rainwater collecting, too.