The Featured Researcher for March 2025 was Alexander Murray-Gibbons, with a project titled, ‘A Tradition at Risk? A comparative study of vernacular thatching traditions in the Highlands and Islands as a contribution to safeguarding as Intangible Cultural Heritage.’
HEIs: University of the Highlands and Islands, Institute for Northern Studies
Supervisors: Professor Ullrich Kockel & Professor Mairéad Nic Craith (UHI); Ali Davey & Jessica Hunnisett (Historic Environment Scotland)
In 2021, Highlands and Islands thatching was designated as ‘critically endangered’ by the Heritage Crafts Association, meaning these skills will be lost within a generation if steps are not taken to safeguard them. As one of the few remaining practitioners in vernacular thatching based in Scotland, I felt a responsibility to make a contribution to their continuation for future generations.
Although I consider myself first and foremost a craftsman, I have always had a passion in the study of the buildings I have worked on, as well as the techniques I have practiced, to ensure my work is rooted in an evidence base. However, I had always felt a strong desire to go deeper into this research beyond what was possible around my day to day working life.
When the techniques I was practicing were designated ‘at risk’, this was the catalyst I needed to realise one of the many strands necessary for the safeguarding of the craft was academic study. However, I had always struggled to understand which subject area to place the study of vernacular buildings and craft practices. Perhaps it is important to state that by ‘vernacular’ I refer to buildings and practices of people and place, usually small scale and using local natural materials. After a number of years casting around for approaches to studying historic thatching techniques, including from architectural and archaeological perspectives, I was inspired by the works of Alexander Fenton to approach the subject from through ethnology, which he defines as ‘…[A] discipline of partnership, adding its own dimension to research into the past and present condition and environment and form of culture of mankind through the ages’ (Fenton & Mackay 2013, p.42).
Once I began to approach the study of the craft as ‘ethnology’, ‘folklife’ and ‘social anthropology’, the subject opened up and took on a new dimension for me. It was at this point that I was lucky enough to discover the work of my now supervisor, Prof. Ullrich Kockel at the University of the Highlands and Islands. He encourages an approach of ‘creatively ethnology’, essentially pairing the traditional ethnological study with being ‘proactive in developing contemporary and future orientated fields of inquiry’ (Kockel & McFadyen 2019, p.202). This adds a future dimension to the work, which is particularly helpful when it comes to a craft, as it recognises it as a living and evolving tradition, rather than a heritage antiquity.
I also became increasingly aware of traditional craftsmanship being one of the domains of Intangible Cultural Heritage as defined by UNESCO through the work of my co-supervisor, Prof. Mairead NicCraith. This came to the fore when, on Christmas eve 2023, UK government ratified the UNESCO convention on intangible cultural heritage, placing a legal duty on them to take steps to safeguard a range of traditions in the UK, including craftsmanship. Given ‘Highlands and Islands thatching’ is already designated as ‘critically endangered’, this puts it near to the top of the list of priorities.
Being from a practitioner background, it was important to me from the outset that my research would make a real impact on the precious collection of thatched buildings remaining in Scotland, as well as the small handful of tradition bearers who are still thatching. Therefore, I decided that the basis of my methodology would participant observation after drawing inspiration from Jim Souness, who undertook a variety of thatching projects in the 1980s and 90s and wrote them up in beautiful detail, as well as Henry Glassie and Trevor Marchand, who tread the line between the craftsman and researcher. I was fortunate enough to gain funding through SGSAH’s combined doctoral award programme, meaning the project has industry partners, in this case Historic Environment Scotland. This keeps the project rooted in the industry and maximises the benefits of working together, drawing on the expertise and experience of HES through my supervisory team.
The study will also have a geographical dimension, looking at neighbouring countries and regions to Scotland to understand how their vernacular thatching traditions are perpetuated. This will include Northern Ireland, Donegal, northern England, The Isle of Man, Denmark and Sweden to see if similarities can be found in thatching traditions, and how we can learn from each other to create a sustainable future for the craft.
Having completed my probationary review, which focussed on the historic practice of thatching in the Highlands and Islands, I am looking forward to the my fieldwork ahead to understand the present condition of the craft and how it can be sustained into the future.
