Shropshire thatcher keeps up the family tradition

For 28 years Bryan, from Myddlewood, near Wem, had clambered up thatched roofs across Shropshire and Mid Wales in all weathers keeping the traditional craft alive and helping to preserve the picture-postcard look of villages in the region.

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And before he retired, master craftsman Bryan taught nephew Paul Draycott all he knew about the roofing method in a bid to keep the skill alive for future generations.

Now Paul, himself a master thatcher, has been handed his toughest assignment ever – proving his worth by thatching the roof of the man who first taught him the tricks of the trade.

In recent weeks Paul, a 43-year-old master thatcher from Bicton Heath in Shrewsbury, has been replacing the roof at the cottage where Bryan and wife Pauline live.

This week, 77-year-old Bryan joined his nephew on the roof of the Tudor cottage in Myddlewood.

During his career, Bryan thatched roofs at homes across the region, and even worked on heritage villages in Wales and Boston, USA. He picked up the trade from his father, who had learned it in the Army.

Bryan, who estimates he thatched about 1,000 roofs during his career, said: "It was wonderful. It took me back many years and I have missed it.

"We used to be out in all weathers and I'm 77 now so it's too physical for me.

"This house has been in my wife's family since 1581 and when I was a thatcher I did the roof 40 years ago.

"It needed re-doing this year and I knew it needed the best thatcher around. Paul did a fantastic job and we're very proud of him.

"It's nice to see Paul keep it going. He was a natural when he started and he took to it immediately. I trust him implicitly and I like to stand back and let him get on.

"I look at his work now and again and walk away wishing I was 30 years younger."

And Paul, who went on his first family thatching jobs 30 years ago and later trained as a master craftsman in Northampton, said Bryan was not too tough a taskmaster.

He said: "It wasn't that nerve-wracking even though he was watching me.

"It was quite a complex job but he fully trusts me now. I started when I was 13 and I was just sweeping up, but I always made a note of what my uncle was doing. I wasn't let loose on my first roof until I was 18.

"The family business was originally three brothers and it was called Cosy Thatch – Bryan was the boss and he worked with his brothers Ken and Peter."

Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw or water reed, and it has been used worldwide.

By Tom Johannsen