An Iceland Turf Tribute to Pink Floyd

Posted by
90 visits
Posted in

Brian Wilson: Traditional Craft Maestro ANOTHER TURF in THE WALL    (by Pink FJORD)   We don’t need no new construction, We don’t need cement at all. No concrete mortars in our buildings, We don’t need no bricks at all.   Hey! Helgi! Leave them spades alone! All in all it’s just, another Turf in the […]

Brian Wilson: Traditional Craft Maestro

ANOTHER TURF in THE WALL    (by Pink FJORD)

 

We don’t need no new construction,

We don’t need cement at all.

No concrete mortars in our buildings,

We don’t need no bricks at all.

 

Hey! Helgi! Leave them spades alone!

All in all it’s just, another Turf in the wall.

All in all you’re just, another turf in the wall.

 

We don’t need no stainless fixings,

We don’t need no steel at all,

No pressure-treated graded timber,

We ain’t got no trees at all!

 

Hey! Helgi! Leave them saws alone!

All in all it’s just, another Turf in the wall.

All in all you’re just, another turf in the wall.

 

We don’t need no Health & Safety,

We don’t need hard hats at all,

No spirit levels, no tape measures,

These buildings ain’t got far to fall!

 

Hey! Helgi! Leave them plans alone!

All in all its just, another Turf in the wall.

All in all you’re just, another turf in the wall.

 

We don’t need no Regulations,

We don’t need no plans at all,

Just split the Reisifjol, lay the Klambra,

Strengur turfs to bind it all.

 

Hey! Helgi! Leave them cakes alone!

All in all its just, another turf in the wall.

All in all you’re just another turf in the wall.

 

(With huge apologies to Roger Waters!)

Brian Wilson 2022

 

Name: Brian Wilson

Organisation: Wildland Services, EBUKI (Earth Building UK and Ireland)
Dates: 22-29th May 2022
Location: ICELAND (Reykjavik and Skagafjordur)
Funding Agency: Erasmus+
Project Promoters: ARCH
Hosting Agency/Partner: Byggasafn Skagfirdinga
Host/Tour Organiser: Bryndis Zoega
Summary of Itinerary: 
The main focus of this study tour was on the Vernacular Architecture of Iceland, including its Heritage and Management, with particular reference to the Icelandic Turfhouse.
Visits to cultural and buildings heritage sites and museums allowed first hand experience of several of these remarkable and unique buildings, and provided a backdrop to lectures, demonstrations and ongoing discussions on the conservation of turf buildings, turf as a building material, the tools and skills related to the use of turf, and the craft of turf building.
Sites visited included Skagafjordur Heritage Museum, Glaumber Turf Farm, Turf church at Vidimyri, National Museum Buildings Collection at Skagafjordur, Holar Cathedral, Nyibaer Turf Farm, Grafakirkja (church), and the excellent Settlement Exhibition, Reykjavik
A 3-day practical course in turf building was also held – by the Heritage Craft School (Fornverkaskolinn) and instructor Helgi Sigurdsson – during which all participants were able to handle traditional tools, cut various sizes and shapes of building turf and to assemble parts of a traditional building on site. (Upper section of wall, driftwood carpentry on roof structure, turf roof covering of a typical hay storage barn)
Fornverkaskolinn is a partnership between the Carpentry Dept of NW Iceland College, Skagafjordur Heritage Museum, and the Tourism Dept at Holar University College
Outcomes:
This study tour has given me a very comprehensive overvue of turf building in Iceland, both historical and contemporary, and both theoretical and practical. Turf buildings have survived longer in Iceland, particularly in areas where stone and timber were either unavailable, poor quality, or were in short supply. The north of the country (perhaps because of a dryer, colder climate) retains some particularly fine representative vernacular buildings. They are an outstanding example of good use of local resources, minimal impact, sustainable building practices, and of appropriate technology. The techniques in heritage craft turf building have evolved over centuries in response to the need to build strong, warm, durable structures in areas with minimal timber, poor quality stone, no mortar, harsh climate, and seismic activity.
Icelands heritage of turf buildings is  in danger of being lost, or at least of falling into increasing disrepair, if some major challenges are not recognised and addressed. These include funding, climate change, and loss of skills/knowledge. Pressure of increased tourist visiting may also become a threat to these buildings.
Professional and Personal Intentions: 
I have a professional interest in sustainable building using natural materials. In Scotland this means mostly stone, timber and thatch, but I have also built with turf, although the Scottish highland turf building traditions have been largely lost in recent centuries. some of my work includes archaeological restoration and reconstruction (brochs, crannogs, roundhouses, Creelhouses) and I am very interested in the overlap in the Scottish and Icelandic building heritage and traditions. I intend to try to incorporate what I have learned of the Icelandic ways into my own building practices, demonstrations and training courses.
Evaluation:
This course was everything that I had hoped and expected it to be – and much more. The study group was a well chosen mix of varied professionals who were able to combine their skills, opinions and curiosities for mutual benefit. And the hosts and instructors were hospitable, friendly, knowledgeable and well organised. The tour also worked well socially, with visits to cultural sites, eateries, hot pools and scenic stops some of the highlights of the week. I hope to find a way to return to Iceland to follow up some of the themes of this tour, and to explore much more, as soon as possible, perhaps as soon as next year.
I would like to conclude with a big thank you to everyone who has been involved in the organising, funding, planning and implementation of this excellent program, and I hope it will be able to continue, in some form, for years to come.
Brian Wilson,
Wildland Services,
Ullapool,
Scotland

 

Blog Post Location

Recent Posts

Loading…
Matt Dale
72 visits

Slovenia: Bohinj Wildflower Festival Study Tour

Our guide Lucija Gartner manages a farm with her family and balances traditional farming with some diversification techniques. They have converted one of their old farm buildings into tourist accommodation and offer guided tours and cheesemaking workshops for visiting tourists. The cheesemaking workshop was one of the highlights
Seona Anderson
Seona Anderson
49 visits

Slovenia: Wildflowers & Sustainable Tourism

Faced with a crowded national park and local communities and crafts struggling to survive from traditional activities,  their strategy is to encourage and promote tourism as a way to help the communities thrive. Educating the local communities (from school children to farmers) is key to the success of the programme. Tourism is seen as the generator of sustainable change. It was interesting to hear that their Slovenia Green Platinum Scheme was inspired by the Green Tourism Scheme in Scotland. The Triglav National Park and more particularly Bohinj have now taken it a step further by creating a Triglav Quality Mark and a specific Bohinj brand .
Seona Anderson
Seona Anderson
45 visits

Slovenia Bohinj Wildflower Festival Story Map Report

The Wildflower Festival provided a way to encourage locals to keep the meadows uncut for longer periods of time, reduce pressures on the local communities by offering a tourism package that moves away from ‘lake, sun, beer’ model, outside of the peak season. It futher, spotlighted the cultural/social dimensions of nature, which is something I’ve been wanting to build more experience in as it is an important aspect of my current role, helping to develop an ecosystem health approach to protected area monitoring, which involves incorporating society and people into measuring the health of a given ecosystem.
Lana Blakely
418 visits

Wetland & Coastal Management in the Odra Delta – a model for Mersehead?

It was a great opportunity to be able to spend a week looking at the various types of parks and reserves in the Odra Delta and seeing the benefits and challenges of each. I think we were all blown away by how rich and diverse the wildlife and landscapes are, not just within the protected areas, but in the general landscape of the region as a whole. The main issues facing protected areas and wildlife in general in Poland seems to be a familiar one, lack of funding, staffing and awareness, which is all too familiar a problem in the UK as well. Due to Poland’s history, many people do not feel a connection to the land and so one of the results is that volunteering is nearly non-existant, which is a shame as this could be a rich source of help that is currently unavailable. It will also be interesting to see how the reserves will cope with climate change; increased pressure from predation and invasive species is tied in to this (as seen at Ujscie Warty NP) and subsequently pressure on staff time and funding for projects to deal with this. Hopefully the diversity of the landscapes means […]
Amee Hood
596 visits

Latvia Report 2019 (and Species List)

A group report covering a range of perspectives and topics from the NET Latvia course 2019. Although a trip focused on understanding the management of nature conservation in Latvia our hosts made sure we received a healthy dose of cultural history to compliment and broaden our understanding of Latvia and its people.
Lucy Elliff
106 visits

LATVIA: A CULTURAL JOURNEY NOT JUST A NATURAL ONE!

From the wetlands of Kemeri National Park through to the wooded sand stone valley of Gauja National Park the visiting tourist cannot fail to be impressed by the abundance of information signs, play areas, picnic spots, fire pits, boarded walks and walking trails which manage to make you feel welcome without compromising on the natural beauty of the landscape. I think all in the group would agree that we were excited about the accessibility of Latvia to a tourist with return trips already being mapped out. Nothing demonstrates this tourism infrastructure more than the Latvian Nature app, freely available and translated into English it enables you to maximise your visit to Latvia from the comfort of your pocket.
Richard Cooper
624 visits

ĶEMERI NATIONAL PARK – BOGS, WETLANDS, AND RE-MEANDERINGS

An account of the history and restoration works undertaken of one of Latvia’s major peat bogs – and the restoration of an adjoining river and associate flood plains.
Duncan Bruce
217 visits

Forestry in Latvia

In terms of organisational structure there are strong similarities to Scotland. The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) develops policy. The State Forest Service sits within the MOA and enforces legislation across the industry whilst providing support and issuing licences/permits for all forests regardless of ownership. Finally, the Latvia State Forests Joint Stock Company operates as a commercial entity and manages all state owned forests. However as Normunds went into more detail and as we visited more forests throughout the week it became clear that organisational structure was where any similarities to forestry in Scotland ended. In terms of forest cover, ownership and management Scotland and Latvia could hardly be more different. It was fascinating to spend time in a country with such a different approach, where forestry seems to be winning out over intensive tree farming. Since being back at work I’ve been looking at my sites differently, wondering how much of what I saw could work here and daydreaming of Wolf , Moose, Lynx and Bear…. Paldies Latvia!

Back to Top