School: Drumakill (roll number 6365)
- Location:
- Drumakill, Co. Monaghan
- Teacher: Florence Harrison
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0943, Page 037
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- Long ago men went about thatching houses just as men go about doing carpenter work now. Oat straw was used and it had to be shaken out and made into long strong sheaves. The thatcher had an instrument called a "thatcher needle". It was a forked piece of iron attached to a wooden handle with this he caught the end of the straw and pushed it up under the old thatching. When the thatching was done they poured buckets of water down the thatch. When this was done the thatch lay flat and they raked it down with a rake and clipped the eaves to make it neat looking. Then they got sallow rods and pointed them. These were called "scolobs". They were placed along the thatch to keep it on and the points of the "scolobs" were stuck in the thatch.
- People long ago polished their boots with soot wet with water. Later they burned straw and mixed paraffin and turpentine with the ashes to make a better kind of polish.
- Collector
- Violet Somerville
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Drumleek South, Co. Monaghan
