School: St Egney's (C.), Buncrana
- Location:
- Buncrana, Co. Donegal
- Teacher: Ellen Daly
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1112, Page 424
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- XML School: St Egney's (C.), Buncrana
- XML Page 424
- XML “Thatching”
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- When a man is thatching a house he takes a handful from the sheaf of whatever he is thatching with, that is beside him, and he spreads it evenily over a little part of the roof of the house. Then he takes another handful, and spreads it evenly also over another little part of the roof. When that sheaf is finished someone handsd another sheaf up to him and so on until the roof is all thatched. Then the ropes are tied on at both sides of the roof, and they are tied to little pieces of sticks that are stuck in the walls.
In this district, the men usually thatch with either straw or flax, or bent, and most houses are thatched once every year. Some men thatch with rushes, or wheat straw, or rye straw or oat straw, and some even use lint. When men are going to thatch a house they always choose a good dry, calm, day, because of it was, a windy day, the thatch would be all blown off before the men would have time to put on the ropes and to fasten them. Some men make their own ropes from straw for fastening on the thatch to the roof(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Annie Mc Laughlin
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Liafin, Co. Donegal
- Informant
- Denis Mc Laughlin
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 56
- Address
- Liafin, Co. Donegal
