07/05/2026
Laser survey at Curry’s Cottage 🏠
As part of a programme of studying thatched cottages, CITB Northern Ireland commissioned IAC Archaeology to carry out a study of Curry’s Cottage this month.
Over the course of two days a “data cloud” was generated which will enable them to create a digital model of the cottage, with detailed information on the thickness of the mud walls and structure of the roof including the lattice of smaller branches that support the turf scraws.
With the help of Nathan Morrow ('The Rock' Stone Masonry), Hearth was able to carry out an additional survey using infra-red technology. We had hoped this might provide information about variations in the structure of the walls, but unfortunately their thickness prevents analysis of some variations we suspect are there.
Enda Lydon of IAC said that although cottages like this are impossible to date stylistically, and the main timbers may be bog-oak or reused from earlier structures, the brushwood below the scraws can now also be dated using Carbon-14 technology. The alleged date of “about 300 years ago” which is attributed to Curry’s has never felt very satisfactory, but perhaps our next survey will establish a more accurate date using Carbon-14!
