A windy day is not a day for thatching.'
Losing one's thatched roof during a storm was a genuine fear for folks who lived near the exposed and dangerous Atlantic sea shore, so in such places the home-owners used ropes, thrown over the roof, weighed down by stones, or tied onto protruding stones (as in this photo), to anchor the thatch roof and prevent it from being lifted off the house. The stones were called 'cloch a stucai' (cluk-a-stuki).
A 'cloch' is a stone in Irish/gaeilge, and 'stucai' are the stacked and bound sheaves of oats or barley straw, which are the building blocks of a thatched roof, The stookes (stucai) are held onto the roof by the 'scolb', a bent hazel or willow rod, much like a hair-clip, to keep the thatch fixed to the rafters.
So now you know!
More stories like this on my Walking Tours of Galway.
Photo of Malin Head Storm by Michael McDaid.
