The houses now are different to the houses long ago. There were no lovely slated houses as there are now. Long ago, they had only houses made of clay and wattles.
It is not so long ago since the foundation of the houses was built with rough stone, and the remainder of it was made of wood. Their height was six foot, their roofing consisted of a rough forest timber, the next process was bog scraw, to put on the timber, to keep the thatch in its place. Some were thatched with rushes, some with straw, and some with heather. The material was a straw rope to keep down the thatch.
The thatcher used to have a needle for the rope so as he'd pierce the roof with it and the man inside would take it out of the needle