Queen Charlotte’s Cottage, Kew Gardens

Added on November 27, 2010

Queen Charlotte’s Cottage in Kew Gardens was built around 1770 for Her Majesty as a pleasant ‘rustic’ retreat in which she could take tea with her family.  When refurbishment was started in 2008 Bardsley and Brown were delighted to be asked to reridge the cottage and to rethatch the small pavilion near it as part of the restoration.  To call it a cottage is a slight understatement though, you could fit two or three traditional cottages inside it!  It is set in in a quiet corner of Kew Gardens, quite a distance from the main tourist attractions and the beautiful woodlands around it, including a conservation area, are still a favoured spot for picnics.  Work on the cottage was enlivened by frequent appearances of flocks of parrots and wonderfully exotic looking pheasants.

Squirrel trouble

The old lead flashing below the chimneys needed replacing as, surprisingly,  it had been eaten by squirrels.  Apparently squirrel damage to lead is a fairly common occurrence.  There are several theories about squirrels eating lead, the most likely one being that as their teeth continue to grow throughout their lives, they need to chew constantly on hard substances to keep them trimmed!  No-one seems to know if this gives squirrels lead poisoning or not but it is certainly very bad for the lead flashing on old chimneys.

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As you can see, they had chewed away quite a large amount of lead.  After replacing the old flashing and repointing the chimney, the new lead was covered with wire netting to discourage the squirrels in the future.

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Getting materials up to the roof

The roof of the cottage was unusually high for thatch so pulleys were used to bring bundles of sedge and hazel spars up to the level of the eaves where they could be stacked on the scaffolding.  However all the bundles still needed to be carried by hand up the ladders to the ridge.

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The ridge

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The cottage was thatched in Norfolk reed and, as is usual with reed thatch, the ridge is made of sedge,  a tough and scratchy looking riverside grass with razor sharp leaf edges.  The materials and the ridge pattern matched those used originally on the cottage.

The finished ridge

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And finally, The cottage with all the work completed

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