School: Drumcar (roll number 16771)
- Location:
- Drumcar, Co. Louth
- Teacher: Mrs Bell
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0671, Page 097
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- XML School: Drumcar
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- XML “An Old Craft”
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- The only craft we have and practice mostly in this locality is house thatching. Thatching is a trade in itself. We have very few thatchers in this locality. The thatchers we have now are getting old, and the young men are not following up this trade. It is a very tedious job.
When we set about to thatch a house we first see about getting good straw. The straw is then drawn and pulled into small bundles. It is pulled so that the short bits may be taken out and the long ones left for thatching. When the thatcher starts work he begins to pull off the old thatch as he goes along.
The straw is soaked in water and it is drawn to the house. The thatcher is up on the ladder thatching, he has another person handing him up the bundles. He uses a fork called 'the thatching fork', and it presses each bundle closely and firmly together so that the rain cannot leak through. When he has all the thatch on it, he clips all the loose bits and the bits that hang, very carefully with clippers. When it(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Violet Parker
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Drumcar, Co. Louth
