School: Howth (C.)

Location:
Howth, Co. Dublin
Teacher:
M. Ní Bhuain
Browse
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0792, Page 66

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0792, Page 66

Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.

See copyright details.

Download

Open data

Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

  1. XML School: Howth (C.)
  2. XML Page 66
  3. XML “Thatching”

Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.

On this page

  1. Thatching
    The majority of the country homes of Ireland are thatched, with straw princippally oaten or wheaten straw.
    To thatch a house well and waterproof, and at the same time, trim and neat is an art not easily acquired but there are thousands of countrymen in Ireland to-day who are experts at this particular work.
    Thatching requires deftness of hand and good taste. The straw is first prepared by pulling it from the rick and shaking all short straw away, while you still hold the handful, it is then put horizontal on the ground till a large bundle is pulled, it is then damped with water and small planks put on it to press it flat. This is continued until you have enough to thatch the house. The frist coat of thatch is sewed on to the roof lathes with rope of twist sedge a wiry grass that will stand for centuries then the next coat is either pushed through that coat, with a thatching awl or laid on, and "scalloped"
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. activities
      1. economic activities
        1. trades and crafts (~4,680)
          1. thatching (~353)
    Language
    English
    Informant
    Mr W. Tooher
    Gender
    Male
    Address
    Howth Demesne, Co. Dublin