Old Houses

transcribed at

Old Houses  [duchas:4867448]

All the houses in this locality were made of mud and stones and covered with thatch.  Each farmer grew a little plot of oats and with the straw the houses were thatched.  The scollops were made from sally-rods, black-sally was considered the best.  Near every houses there was a little plot of sally trees and from these the sally rods were got.  The rods were cut into lengths of almost two feet and if thick enough they were split and then pointed at both ends.  The crooked ones were not pointed except at one end and were used as "stretchers", that is when the thatch was being put on they were laid over the straw and the other scollops were doubled and driven into the thatch to keep the "stretcher" in place, and the "stretcher" then kept the straw in place.

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Those people who were living near rivers used sedge instead of straw to thatch the houses.  The sedge is not as good as straw as it dries and then falls to dust in a short time.
Some people used rushes for thatch but it was worse than either the sedge or the straw, because it rotted in wet weather and hance had to be put on every year, whereas a good coat of straw would last for about three years.
Those who had plenty of money were able to buy "reed" i.e. the straw of wheat.  This is the best kind of thatch and a good coat of it would last for about ten years.  It would not do to use a threshing machine to thrash the wheat because then the straw would be broken and of little use.  the wheat had to be "scutched" i.e. the wheat grains beaten out of it by

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hitting the head against a barrel, then the stalks were not broken.  About seven or eight stalks were taken in the hand at the time when beating the grain from it.  This was slow work but repaid the worker because there would not be a grain left in the straw, and the reeds always fetched a good price in the market.
All the old thatched houses had a bed in the kitchen, called a settle-bed.  This was always placed beside a wall and was nailed on to it at one side, half the bed was on hinges and in the day-time it was folded up and hooked to the wall, thus making a seat and sometimes a table.
The fire-place was always placed in the cross wall of the house, between the kitchen and parlour, thus the parlour

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had a small fire place.  The back of the fire place was always called the "hob" and was very thick and firm.  Hence the old saying "He's like a stone in a hob" i.e. to a person when it was very hard to get working or doing anything.
The chimney was made of mud, and was constructed in the following manner. A frame work of four sticks was placed up against the cross wall and short sticks called wattles were nailed across these, some-what like a ladder, in front and at both sides.  Then sugans were made and steeped in mud, a solution of which was made before-hand.  The mud sugans were then placed over the highest wattle and allowed to hang down on the inside and outside of the wattles.  They were then entwined in and out amongst the wattles down to the bottom, where they were fixed in the

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in the thick beam of timber which kept up the whole outside wall of the chimney.  The outside and inside of these sugans were plastered with mud and thus the chimney was made.  If only remained to white-wash it.
The very poor people who dwelt in cabins by the roadside after being evicted by the landlord, had no chimney in their houses, but the fire was built against the end wall and an old bucket stuck in a hole in the roof, and the smoke allowed to escape thus.  Some of those cabins had no windows at all but a square hole was cut in the door to let in light.  At night the hole was stuffed with a bag of hay.
The floor of nearly all thatched houses

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were made of mud.  But those who could afford it covered the floor with large square flags which were put down with mud.
Every thatched house has a half-door and also a number of old slate-houses. The big door was never closed during day-time where the half door was in use. 
Turf and wood were used for fires.  People had to walk about five miles to the bogs on the hills near Cappawhite and give the day cutting turf, then they walked home in the evening, and did the same journey on foot each day while the turf was being cut and saved.  Turf is not used in this locality now as the people can afford to buy coal.
The timber used was usually white thorn, which is very plentiful in this district.

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Dips and rushlights were used to give light anight.  Dips were made by steeping a cord in grease.  Rushlights were made by peeling rushes and getting the pith out of them.  The piths of three rushes were then twisted together and steeped in grease.  A supply of pine-splinters were used by the man of the house for kindling his pipe instead of matches.
When geese were killed the fat was kept and when rendered was used for making rushlights and dips.