‘Reed’ all about it: Limerick house is thatched for over 300 years!

THE OWNER of a thatched house in Kilcornan, which is over 300 years old, vows that as long as he’s around it won’t be replaced by a regular roof.

Cllr Ger Ward’s great-great-grandfather married into the Dillon family in 1837 and the house has remained in the family ever since. The property actually dates back to the 1700s which means it must be one of the oldest houses in County Limerick to still be lived in today.

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There are 2,700 thatched houses left in Ireland and less than 30 full-time thatchers. Luckily for Cllr Ward, there is an expert thatcher on his doorstep - Tommy Roberts in Clarina.

Cllr Ward gave Mr Roberts a ring as his roof was due a fresh bed of reeds.

“Every 20 years roughly is the rule of thumb that you thatch them and every 10 years you would have to ridge it - that’s the most important part,” said Cllr Ward.

Ridging is creating a weather-resistant cap at the apex, which is the most exposed part of the roof. 

It took Mr Roberts around a month to thatch the house. He had the best of materials thanks to Mike Grimes, who cut the reeds from the Shannon Estuary, and brothers Jim and Maurice Sheehy who make the “scallops”. Cllr Ward equates “scallops” to nails in normal roofs.

The Fianna Fail councillor said you can’t have Mr Roberts thatching without Mr Grimes going out on his boat to get the reeds or the Sheehys making the “scallops”.

“They are all skills that are dying out sadly. Some people get foreign reeds but Mike gets the best ones from the estuary. 

“The Sheehys cut the ‘scallops’ from hazel or willow. They bring them back to a shed, start splitting them and twisting them into almost a U-shape. You use the ‘scallops’ to hold the reed in place in the thatch,” explained Cllr Ward.

Mr Roberts agrees with the councillor on the importance of materials, saying if he has good reed and “scallops” from men like Mr Grimes and the Sheehys, and the weather is dry, then thatching is a great job. However, the reverse is true too if it is lashing rain and he has poor materials.

“The biggest challenge in thatching is the supply of good quality reeds and ‘scallops’,” said Mr Roberts (pictured below).

Now that the job is done, Cllr Ward, wife Ala and family are all set for a cosy Christmas and many more in the future.

“Thatch is brilliant for keeping the heat in and it keeps the house  cool in the summer so it’s the best of both worlds,” said Cllr Ward.

All the recent heavy rain followed by freezing temperatures hasn’t caused “a bother in the wide earthly world”, he says. Cllr Ward vows to keep the thatched roof just like the generations before him have.

“It's part of our heritage,” he concludes.