School: Brosna (B.) (roll number 13018)

Location:
Brosna, Co. Kerry
Teacher:
Aonghus Ó Laochdha
Browse
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0449, Page 304

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0449, Page 304

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: Brosna (B.)
  2. XML Page 304
  3. XML “Thatching”
  4. 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. (continued from previous page)
    the bottom of the thatch and also for cleaning the "course". The needle was used for sewing the first coat of thatch in the rafters.
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
  2. Thatching
    Long ago the people of Ireland used thatched houses.
    These houses were very warm and comfortable.
    First the scraws were cut in the bog and left to dry for a fortnight or so. When they were dry they were placed on the rafters and covered over with rushes, reed, or straw. At first the oats was threshed with a "Flail" [?] and the remaining of straw was "drawn" and made into neat sheaves. The bogdeal was found in the bog with a "spit'. Then it was brought home and out into seallops about two and a half feet long. It was put in a dry place them to season it well before putting up on the house. For a thatcher it was necessary for him to have a thaching knife, a handleather, and a rack. He used the thatching knife for cutting the thatch at the eve of the house. He used the handleather for driving the scallops through the
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.