I built this "byre" or barn in Ireland where I grew up, in the traditional style using locally sourced and grown materials.

I built this "byre" or barn in Ireland where I grew up, in the traditional style using locally sourced and grown materials.

I began the Byre in 1992 on my fourteenth birthday and finished thatching it 2 yrs later.

The dry stone walls are 2 ft thick at the base and it is 23 ft high at its highest point.

Rolls of sod called "scraws" are cut and rolled out on the roof. The thatch is pegged into this using twisted hazel rods called "scallops." The old man Bertie Munns taught me how to make the traditional Irish thatched roof.

I sowed an acre of rye to use for the thatching.

The roof initially gets two coats of thatch. Then a new layer is needed every 15 years.

My sister kept her horse in this building for many years.

In 2015 the roof was re-thatched. It now looks like it has been there hundreds of years.

Stone Silo

The walls are two feet thick solid mortared stone.

The door surrounds and steps are made from Swenson granite.

The steps are cantilevered from the wall. You enter from the first floor of the adjoining barn.

The steps do a complete 360 degrees to the lookout level at the top.

There is a large hot tub on the floor level and a mini bar for sun downers at the top.

Ruined Castle / Folly

A folly is built as a ruined castle. Here a set of steps go to an upper level where you can have an evening around an open fireplace.

We imported this antique window from Ireland, for the folly.

The corner flares out towards the bottom, as in medieval fortifications so projectiles are hurled back at the attackers.

Surrounding the structure are fallen chunks of masonry for authenticity.

Extension to Battel Chapel, Norfolk CT

Each stone was hand carved to precise dimensions at my stone yard in Kent.

This stone is a "double springer stone" from which the two arches in the corner start.

The granite stone and the ashlar style was chosen to match the existing chapel from the 1880s.

The arches are constructed over wooden forms.