26/08/2026
One of the structural issues that we face in Orkney is that very often the structure is more about holding the roof down in high winds, rather than holding up its weight. These pictures, showing an interesting answer to this problem, reached me from Greenland in the last few days (HT Maiwenn Beadle ) This is the 19th century blubber house at the Nanortalik Outdoor Museum and the vertical timber carefully jointed into the horizontal one held down by the wallhead stones makes sure that this roof is well anchored. A cool detail and a lot nicer than a galvanised strap with a few thunderbolts. It's worth remembering that the southern tip of Greenland is just a little further south than Sumburgh Head in Shetland so conditions aren't so far apart as you might think (except for the snow and the polar bears)
