Editing Thatching (section)

==History==
Thatching methods have traditionally been passed down from generation to generation and numerous descriptions of the materials and methods used in [[Europe]] over the past three centuries survive in archives and early publications.

In some equatorial countries, thatch is the prevalent local material for [[roof]]s, and often [[wall]]s. There are diverse building techniques from the [[ancient Hawaiian]] ''hale'' shelter made from the local [[Cordyline fruticosa|ti leaves]] (''Cordyline fruticosa''), [[lauhala]] (''Pandanus tectorius'')<ref>{{cite book | first1 = Lex AJ | last1 = Thomson | first2 = Lois | last2 = Englberger | first3 = Luigi | last3 = Guarino | first4 = RR | last4 = Thaman | first5 = Craig R | last5 = Elevitch | year = 2006 | chapter = Pandanus tectorius (''Pandanus'') | edition = 1.1 | editor-first = Craig R | editor-last = Elevitch | title = Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry | publisher = Permanent Agriculture Resources (PAR) | location = Hōlualoa, [[Hawai‘i|HI]] | url = http://www.agroforestry.net/tti/P.tectorius-pandanus.pdf | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121021015441/http://www.agroforestry.net/tti/P.tectorius-pandanus.pdf | archive-date = 2012-10-21 }}</ref> or [[Heteropogon contortus|pili grass]] (''Heteropogon contortus'').
[[File:PrayerAtBesakih.jpg|thumb|right|The multi-tiered [[Meru tower]]s of the [[Besakih]] [[Balinese temple|temple]] in [[Bali]] are thatched with black ''[[Arenga pinnata|ijuk]]'' fibres.]]
Palm leaves are also often used. For example, in Na Bure, [[Fiji]], thatchers combine fan palm leaf roofs with layered reed walls. Feathered palm leaf roofs are used in Dominica.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hawaiianthatch.com/index-3.html |title=Products |access-date=2014-02-01 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140201101759/http://hawaiianthatch.com/index-3.html |archive-date=2014-02-01 }}</ref> [[Imperata cylindrica|Alang-alang]] (''Imperata cylindrica'') thatched roofs are used in Hawaii and Bali. In Southeast Asia, mangrove [[Nypa fruticans|nipa palm]] leaves are used as thatched roof material known as [[attap dwelling]]. In Bali, [[Indonesia]], the black fibres of the [[Arenga pinnata|sugar palm]], called ''ijuk'', is also used as thatching material, usually in [[Balinese temple|temple]] roofs and meru towers.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Indonesian Town Revisited, Volume 1 of Southeast Asian dynamics | author = Peter J. M. Nas | publisher = LIT Verlag Münster | year = 2003 | isbn = 9783825860387 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=lyB0mHURvIsC&q=Meru+towers+thatched+ijuk+roof&pg=PA215 | page = 215 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170313214817/https://books.google.com/books?id=lyB0mHURvIsC&pg=PA215&dq=Meru+towers+thatched+ijuk+roof&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi9oo6K-tLSAhWMq48KHT1kAQoQ6AEIGTAA#v=onepage&q=Meru%20towers%20thatched%20ijuk%20roof&f=false | archive-date = 2017-03-13 }}</ref> [[Sugar cane]] leaf roofs are used in Kikuyu tribal homes in [[Kenya]].<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.polynesia.com/fiji/fijian-houses.htm | publisher = Polynesia | title = Fiji | contribution = Houses | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090726070521/http://www.polynesia.com/fiji/fijian-houses.htm | archive-date = 2009-07-26 }}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | title = Low-Tech Building Craze Hits Hawaii; Indigenous Thatched-Roof Hale Once Out of Favor, Now Seen as Status Symbol on the Islands | newspaper = The Washington Post | first = Matt | last = Sedemsky | date = Nov 30, 2003}}.</ref>

Wild vegetation such as [[Phragmites australis|water reed]] (''Phragmites australis''), [[bulrush]]/cat tail (''Typha'' spp.), [[Cytisus scoparius|broom]] (''Cytisus scoparius''), heather (''Calluna vulgaris''), and rushes (''Juncus'' spp. and ''Schoenoplectus lacustris'') was probably used to cover shelters and primitive dwellings in Europe in the late Palaeolithic period, but so far no direct archaeological evidence for this has been recovered. People probably began to use straw in the Neolithic period when they first grew cereals—but once again, no direct archaeological evidence of straw for thatching in Europe prior to the early medieval period survives.{{Sfn | Letts | 2000}}{{Rp | needed = yes | date =February 2013}}

Many [[indigenous people of the Americas]], such as the former Maya civilization, Mesoamerica, the Inca empire, and the Triple Alliance (Aztec), lived in thatched buildings. It is common to spot thatched buildings in rural areas of the Yucatán Peninsula as well as many settlements in other parts of Latin America, which closely resemble the method of construction from distant ancestors. The first Americans encountered by Europeans lived in structures roofed with bark or skin set in panels that could be added or removed for ventilation, heating, and cooling.  Evidence of the many complex buildings with fiber-based roofing material was not rediscovered until the early 2000s. French and British settlers built temporary thatched dwellings with local vegetation as soon as they arrived in New France and New England, but covered more permanent houses with wooden shingles.

In most of England, thatch remained the only roofing material available to the bulk of the population in the countryside, in many towns and villages, until the late 1800s.<ref name="MoirLetts">{{Citation | first1 = J | last1 = Moir | first2 = John | last2 = Letts | title = Thatch: Thatching in England 1790–1940 | publisher = English Heritage | journal = Research Transactions | volume = 5 | year = 1999}}.</ref> [[Slate industry in Wales|Commercial distribution of Welsh slate]] began in 1820, and the mobility provided by [[canals]] and then [[railways]] made other materials readily available. Still, the number of thatched properties actually increased in the UK during the mid-1800s as agriculture expanded, but then declined again at the end of the 19th century because of [[agricultural recession]] and rural depopulation. A 2013 report estimated that there were 60,000 properties in the UK with a thatched roof; they are usually made of long straw, combed wheat reed or water reed.
<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cotswoldlife.co.uk/out-about/places/cotswold-thatched-roofs-1-1630098 |title=Cotswold Thatched Roofs |access-date=11 December 2018 |website=Cotswold Life |date=20 February 2013|quote= they are set to increase and some house builders are meeting the demand for new homes with thatched roofs. 
}}</ref>

Gradually, thatch became a mark of poverty, and the number of thatched properties gradually declined, as did the number of professional thatchers. Thatch has become much more popular in the UK over the past 30 years, and is now a symbol of wealth rather than poverty. There are approximately 1,000 full-time thatchers at work in the UK,<ref>{{Citation | last = Letts | first = John | edition = unpublished | title = Survey | year = 2008}}.</ref> and thatching is becoming popular again because of the renewed interest in preserving historic buildings and using more sustainable building materials.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/magical-thatched-homes-that-will-enchant-you/ss-BBIRVia#image=21|title=Magical thatched homes that will enchant you|website=www.msn.com|access-date=6 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180402035458/http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/magical-thatched-homes-that-will-enchant-you/ss-BBIRVia#image=21|archive-date=2 April 2018}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px">
File:Darß.6.JPG|Thatch works on a house in Mecklenburg, [[Germany]]
File:Born.Zingst.1.JPG|Fishermen's Church in [[Born auf dem Darß]] municipality, Germany
File:Thatched cottage in the sand dunes by Denmark.jpg|Thatched cottages in the [[Dune|sand dunes]], Denmark
File:Ireland Victor Grigas 2011-29.jpg|Thatched roof house in [[Kilmore Quay]], [[Ireland]]
File:Cahire.JPG|[[Cahire]] Breton cottages at [[Plougoumelen]], Brittany, France
File:Thatched roofs in Kerene.jpg|Thatched roofs in [[Kerene]], [[Ethiopia]]
File:Efteling Entrance.jpg|[[The House of the Five Senses]] the largest thatch roof in the world in [[Kaatsheuvel]], [[Netherlands]]
</gallery>