FTX-411 - TWO THATCHERS TALKING

DIALECT - Dorset & Somerset

William Tuck of Beaminster, Dorset, and Ernest Shire of Churchinford, near Taunton in Somerset, are both thatchers and they talk about their trade in natural country speech, describing their own house, the various seasonal jobs, the best tools and materials and the cost and rewards. These recordings by John B. Smith of Bristol, were made in 1968 and archived as good samples of local dialect.

William Tuck, Beaminster, Dorset

1. Your father was a thatcher? (4 generations in this same house) - 1.19

2. How much would it cost to thatch a house? - 1.25

3. How long would it take to thatch a house? - 0.30

4. What's the best season for thatching? - 0.24

5. How would a thatcher spend his year? - 1.38

6. Would thatchers be farmers as well? (Too many irons) - 1.00

7. Would a thatcher work by himself? (boy apprentices) - 1.26

8. But you haven't got anybody to water the reed? - 0.32

9. How did the farmers used to pay you? (no cider, no work) - 0.30

10. (Now hurdle-making has gone) - 0.20

11. You were telling me about the different types of withies (colours) - 0.45

12. Whereabouts does the withy grow? - 2.04

13. And how do you use the withy? - 0.31

14. And when would you go and get the withy? - 1.08

15. And what about the reed? (Red Standard/ Norfolk/ buying by patch) - 2.46

Ernest Shire, Churchinford, nr Taunton, Somerset

16. Were all the houses thatched round here? (hurges = ridges) - 3.42

17. That was just a rick was it? (cowshed) - 2.52

18. "Mowats" - that's uneven bits? - 1.06

19. How long would it have taken to thatch a house? (barley forks) - 2.25

20. What did you call them again? (Yorks = string tying up trousers at haymaking - proper bit of fun) - 0.42

Recorded by John B Smith of Bristol 1968, edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax cassettes 1978.