One of only two thatched buildings in Swanage in Dorset has been given a smart new look, but the work revealed a bit of a surprise.
The cellar room of The Globe Inn is a former barn which has been part of the Bell Street pub for the past 220 years and was long overdue a new thatch when a group of friends and neighbours took over the tenancy in July 2024.
The Purbeck Thatcher, Nathan Yates, hard at work on The Globe’s new thatched roof
Original tarred twine was in great shape
However they didn’t realised quite how overdue, until Nathan Yates the Purbeck thatcher stripped the roof back to basics to install fireboards, and discovered that the oldest layer of thatch was original and dated back to the 17th century.
Remarkably, the tarred twine which held the layers of reed in place were not only still intact but also in great condition – but they have now been replaced by wire fixings.
There were many layers of thatch on the building, the newest of which was at least 40 years old – but after a month of traditional work on the roof, it now boasts a brand new thatch of Austrian reed, which is already getting a lot of love.
Staff at The Globe are now looking forward to showing it off at a day of musical entertainment on Saturday 12th July 2025 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Live Aid in support of Swanage Food Bank.
Hannah Jameison, right, toasts the future of The Globe’s beautiful new thatch
“Nothing more beautiful than new thatch”
Hannah Jameison, of The Globe, said:
“The thatchers, Nathan and Gary, finished work on Wednesday and the scaffolders had cleared everything away by Thursday, so we now have a wonderful new thatch on our cellar!
“We have already had so many positive comments about and people have come to The Globe specially just to look at the work.
“It is only one of two thatched buildings anywhere in Swanage – the other is Barrowdown Cottage in Ulwell – and there is nothing more beautiful than new thatch to set off a historic building.
“And it is ready just in time to be at the centre of celebrations when we have a day in honour of the 40th anniversary of Live Aid at the pub on Saturday 12th July 2025 from 12 noon to 10 pm, with live music, video clips of the original concert, and a barbecue – it will be amazing!”
The Globe’s pub garden will host live music and a barbecue for a celebration of Live Aid’s 40th anniversary on Saturday 11th July 2025
Pub has flourished under new team
The Globe Inn has a long history – the oldest part of it, a former barn, goes back to the 17th century
Two Purbeck stone houses were merged into one pub about 220 years ago and it is believed to have been called The Globe ever since – although as it predates the Great Globe at Durlston Castle, which was created in 1887, no one is certain how the pub got its name.
Friends and former customers of the pub Paul and Hannah Jameison, Martin and Sharon Patterson and Nick, Sue and Nicola Hones decided to run The Globe themselves when the lease came on the market in spring 2024.
The new tenants, who are all residents of Bell Street and live within 20 yards of the pub, have been open for a year now and have seen it flourish under their stewardship.
Rethatching the cellar was a priority for the new team, both to fit fireboards for the first time and to smarten up the tired thatch which was last refreshed in the 1980s.
The previous thatch was showing its age when the new landlords took over in 2024
The Globe’s new thatch will be finished off by a finial of a dog and sausages, sponsored by Swanage Army Link
Cellar may have once been the morgue
The Purbeck Thatcher, Nathan Yates, did the work over the course of a month and said:
“There were seven layers of thatch on there, the oldest layer was as old as the actual building and it took a lot of stripping, and I don’t think any of it has been touched for the past 40 years.
“Thatching is almost the oldest form of roofing, but as there was an abundance of stone in Purbeck, very few properties in town ended up being thatched.
“Apparently this was the Swanage morgue at one time – or that’s what locals say, I’m not sure how true that is. But it is definitely the oldest building around here, it stood on its own in fields in the 17th century, and everything else was built around it.
“There’s a really big straw shortage at the moment, practically down to zero stocks, because there have been three bad harvests in a row, although touch wood, this coming harvest looks good, as long as the weather continues to stay dry.”
Nathan Yates uses a leggett to pat the thatch to the right angle for a perfectly rainproof roof
“We had to get special permission”
Nathan added:
“We had to get special permission to change it to water reed – English Heritage have made an exception to allow properties to be rethatched in reed instead of wheat straw this year because of the shortage.
“But we discovered that the original thatch here from the 17th century was actually water reed, probably cut at Arne in those days because it would be the closest point to Swanage where they could get it, and they probably didn’t grow a lot of straw here at the time.
“Thatching itself is done to the same principals as it has been for centuries, although now we use wire fixings instead of tarred twine and use a drill bar to fix them to the battens. Before there would have been a poor apprentice inside, covering string in tar and pushing it back outside to the master thatcher for it to be tied off.
“Most of the tools are much the same as they’ve always been – a paddle – which we call a leggett – a spar hook to cut straw to length and a pair of shears. The old spar hooks are by far the best, mine is from the 1920s and still works every single day with me.”
The pub’s cellar is housed in the 17th century thatched building
A dog running off with sausages
Although Swanage itself has few thatched properties, Dorset as a whole has more thatch by volume than any other county in England, although Devon lays claim to the greatest number of thatched properties and maintains a friendly rivalry with its neighbour.
The process of thatching involves layering and securing bundles of reed or straw onto a roof in layers from the eaves up to the ridge, with each layer overlapping the previous one, patted into place with the leggett and secured by wire fixings.
The ridge of the roof always has to be in straw, no matter how short stocks run, as reed is too brittle to use – and is often topped with a finial, a decorative ornament made of straw, as a finishing touch.
After much discussion between rival football fans whether it should Tottenham’s cockerel or Liverpool’s Liver Bird, The Globe is now looking to take a neutral stance and install one of a dog running off with a string of sausages!
Bell Street friends and neighbours who bought the tenancy of The Globe, from left, Hannah Jameison, Paul Jameison, Sue Honess, Nick Honess, Martin Patterson, Sharon Patterson and Nicola Honess
Further information
- Details of all events at The Globe are on its Facebook page
