School: Grangegeeth (roll number 2630)

Location:
Grangegeeth, Co. Meath
Teacher:
Seósaimhín, Bean Uí Dhubhghaill
Browse
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0714, Page 347

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0714, Page 347

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: Grangegeeth
  2. XML Page 347
  3. 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. Thatching was a great trade at one time. Long ago all the houses were thatched with wheaten or oaten straw. The thatchers would thatch the houses every spring. They used thatching forks and ladders. They pulled bundles of the long straw and made wangles of handfuls of it. They would lift up the last wangle and put in the next under it. Then, they push it in with the thatching fork and beat it down in place. When the thatching is finished they spill buckets of water on the thatch to level it down. Then they cut the eave with an eave knife. They run wires along the eave of the house and stick pegs in the thatch. Peter Dunne of Newtown is the only thatcher around here. A thatching fork is made up of a wooden handle and two iron prongs. It is said that the wheaten straw is the best to thatch a house. The houses that are thatched with the oaten straw would have to be
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. activities
      1. economic activities
        1. trades and crafts (~4,680)
          1. thatching (~353)
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Lily Reid
    Gender
    Female
    Address
    Grangegeeth, Co. Meath
    Informant
    John Reid
    Relation
    Parent
    Gender
    Male
    Address
    Grangegeeth, Co. Meath