School: Raharney (B.)
- Location:
- Raharney, Co. Westmeath
- Teacher: S. Ó Conmhidhe
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0727, Page 037
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- XML “Old Crafts - Thatching”
- XML “Old Crafts - Flax-Growning”
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- (continued from previous page)There is much trouble attached to the thatching business. First you want good straw which you shake into what they call a bed about three feet high, then you throw a certain amount of water on it so as to have it damp, this done you pull it into bundles. Then you have to get what they call Scallops These are thin rods got either from hazel or Privet growths from one or two years old. The man known as the thatcher starts on the eve of the house and sticks in small fistfuls of straw with a Thatching fork until he reaches the top of the house and when he has that done he calls that a stroke, after every two strokes he throws water on it and strikes it down with a striking Rake he then scallops it, he keeps at this work until he has all the house done, and when finished off it looks well.
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