School: Doire na Groighe (B.), An Bhán-tír (roll number 7450)

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1. Old Houses

   

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   In olden times the houses were made of mud The mud contained none of the black earth; it was blue or yellow. In the mixing of the mud chopped rushes were used to hold the mud together. The houses were made with very small windows and the windows were very tiny in the cabins with only one pane of glass about one foot by nine inches. People have heard that scraped sheep-skins were used instead of glass. The houses were not built on level foundations but were built according to the slope of the ground. Many were built on the southern or eastern slopes of little hills so as to get shelter from the north and west winds. As time went on stone facings were put to the mud walls and the walls were plastered with mortar or else rough casted. The walls of those kinds that still remain in some of the houses are about three feet in thickness. When the walls were built the rafters were placed on the walls and no wall plates were used. Taobhawns were the cross pieces of the rafters. The rafters had many pieces fastening them to each other. Over the rafters at first were placed "scraws" cut in peaty ground. The roof was completely covered with those scraws. Next straw was sewn on to the scraws and then thatched with rushes or reed using spars. The houses of the richer classes were roofed with a very small slate those were plastered to each other

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. objects
      1. man-made structures
         1. buildings
            1. residential buildings (~2,723)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Thomas Singleton

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Drominagh South, Co. Cork