Calls for thatch training after ‘tiger trap' health and safety risk spotted at NI folk park

Belfast Telegraph

17-05-2025

One member of the public warned that the 'tiger trap' was spotted at eye height on a property that was first built in the 1850s in Coshkib, Cushendall before being dismantled and moved to the museum in 1965.
They said the pegs 'could have taken someone's eye out'.
'It is unbelievable for a thatcher to leave a job that way so someone over 5ft 10 could lose an eye or worse;' they continued.
The unimpressed visitor, who spotted the problem last October, informed National Museums NI (NMNI) of the hazards. But after not receiving an initial response they approached the Health and Safety Executive and Ards and North Down Borough Council with concerns.
A spokesperson for NMNI, which cares for 24 thatched buildings across its two outdoor museums, insisted swift action was taken.
'In November 2024, following a complaint about exposed pegs on a thatched outbuilding at Coshkib Hill Farm, Ards and North Down Borough Council carried out an inspection,' they said.
'We acted promptly by closing the area in question, and bringing in a specialist contractor to resolve the issue.'
But a trained master thatcher with over 30 years' experience in the trade believes more needs to be done to protect the craft in Northern Ireland.
Mark Taggart is demanding that museums which don't properly reflect our thatched heritage be held accountable.
Mr Taggart said the blame lies with the training provided to those tasked with carrying out specialist work as there is no set specification currently in place when working on thatched roofs.
'It's a real shame that museums like these — which are supposed to be preserving these trades and old traditional skills — are lacking,' he said.
'Of all the places to be correct, it is a shambles that the Ulster Folk Museum are not representing our heritage properly.
'They are not across the (specification) of the methods used as some are spotted as English methods using English tools, not like what way we would have built them here.
'The state of some of the roofs is appalling as well with huge dips in the thatch.'
The 59-year-old craftsman said that an official depth specification for working with thatch — which all workmen need to abide by — is the only solution to 'combat cowboy thatchers'.
'This type of thatching really should be lasting longer, not just a couple of years, and the reason it doesn't is all down to who is carrying out the work,' he said.
'Where are they trained? Who is teaching our future thatchers? Who vets the trainers teaching the craft?
'They say the craft is under extreme risk, but it already is, and if nothing is done about it, it will die out.
'I personally believe that these training schools that are currently running and teaching people these skills are sewing the seeds of total destruction of the trade and something needs to be done about it.'
A spokesperson for the Department for Communities confirmed that there is 'no dedicated thatch training school in Northern Ireland.'
'However, the department's Heritage Skills Centre at Moira runs heritage skills training and taster days in a range of areas such as thatching,' they added.
CITB NI is the Industry Training Board and Sector Skills Council for Construction.
A spokesperson for the body said that 'there is no British Standard governing the specification of work to thatched roofs'.
'Though there are common depths employed for thatch in England, this is not the case in Northern Ireland,' they said.
'The key issue, therefore, in respect of training, is that students are clear on the implications for weathering, loading and longevity of applying different depths of thatch to roofs and that owners are clear on what they are purchasing when work is proposed.'
Earlier this month, CITB NI received £739,878 from the National Lottery Fund for their Future for Thatch project which aims to provide a training programme for a new generation of thatchers and support thatched building owners to care for their roofs.
The spokesperson continued: 'Depth will form part of the case-by-case specifications for works undertaken as part of the Future for Thatch training programme.'
In 2022, the Department for Communities published a report that recorded 186 thatched buildings in Northern Ireland.
The survey recorded that 36 of these buildings had metal coverings and that 29 of these sites were in very poor condition.