The Roof
The roof of a house is the part most exposed to the weather and provided protectionfor both the house and its occupants. The thatch, as modern slate does, needed the support of a sub structure. With the use of thatch, it was always timber and usually in the form of A-Shape couples. The bases of the couples were bedded into the wall heads.
Both sawn wooden beams and roughly hewn tree branches were used, depending on circumstances,Each of the couples consisted of two rafters and a cross-brace (‘Collar’) and was set at regular intervals. The cross brace is fixed about two-thirds the way up the roof. Across the top of the A-Shaped couples, purlings were laid horizontally and set into the gable ends of the house. The traditional length of the rafter was usually the width of the house as stated by Mary Sleeman in Thatched Houses of County Cork. In contrast to purling, light ‘ribberies’ of small branches may have been used in construction. These are laid over the A-frame and tied down by means of straw rope.
Both sawn wooden beams and roughly hewn tree branches were used, depending on circumstances,Each of the couples consisted of two rafters and a cross-brace (‘Collar’) and was set at regular intervals. The cross brace is fixed about two-thirds the way up the roof. Across the top of the A-Shaped couples, purlings were laid horizontally and set into the gable ends of the house. The traditional length of the rafter was usually the width of the house as stated by Mary Sleeman in Thatched Houses of County Cork. In contrast to purling, light ‘ribberies’ of small branches may have been used in construction. These are laid over the A-frame and tied down by means of straw rope.
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A. Hip-roofed, thrust-thatched house, South Wexford. B. Roped thatched
house, Inishmore, Aran Islands. C. Roped thatched dwelling with stepped gable,
Co. Mayo. Stones are used to hold the thatch down and a timber lath prevents the
ropes from cutting into the thatch. D. Scollop-thatched house, Connemara. E.
Full hip-roofed, scollop-thatched house with thatched chimney, Co. Galway. F.
Roped thatched dwelling with typical roof rounded against the wind,
Glencolmcille, Co. Donegal. G. Roped thatch house with ropes secured to spikes
driven into the wall, Inis MeƔin, Aran Islands
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Collapsed Thatch roof
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Hipped Roof