Geograph - photograph every grid square

A very rare example of a traditional roofing style that has been replicated here in recent years: rope underthatch with slate edging. This type of material, although relatively cheap and easily obtainable, did not stand up well to the prevailing wet and windy weather.
Although we now find these little old-fashioned cottages romantic, the fact is that many impoverished agricultural labourers lived in rough-and-ready dwellings that were little more than hovels, too flimsy or too despised to have survived into modern times.