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| Title |
Using corn to thatch a roof. |
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| Description |
You would want to have your corn sowed before the cuckoo would sing, because "cuckoo corn never ripened", we used to say. And then we needed the corn to ripen because it was needed for thatch for the house. And it had to be cut with the hook, there was no other way of cuttin' it anyway. But when you cut it with the hook it was perfectly in shape, you tied it in small sheaves and put it in stooks. And then it was thrashed with a flail, on the barn floor. And the straw was used for thatchin' the house. And it had to be ripe. It had to be ripe to thrash all the grain out of it. Because if you put corn on, that wasn't ripe, when it would get wet and damp, it would shoot new corn from it. So to keep your house properly thatched you had to cut your corn with the shearin' hook and handle it carefully, the straw, and use it for thatch. There would be a local thatcher. If the straw was put on by a good thatcher it would last twenty years, maybe. So there would always be a local man that would go round thatchin'.
Ref: 90-06-16.
Interviewer: Sandra Matchett, Fermanagh County Museum.
© Fermanagh County Museum. |
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| Speaker |
George Sheridan |
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| Sound |
90-06-16.mp3
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