The Thatched Cottage As A Symbol Of Ireland

May 13, 2015 by Irish American Mom 40 Comments

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The thatched cottage with whitewashed walls is a powerful symbol of Ireland, often featured on postcards.

This quaint, traditional image immediately represents Ireland for many people throughout the world.

Traditional Irish cottage — Traditional Irish Cottage in Bunratty Folk Park

I love thatched cottages so I made a short video to accompany this blog post, as a tribute to the rural homes of my ancestors. I hope you enjoy it .

Every time I see one on television, on the internet, or smiling at me from the pages of a magazine, I think of the "old place" in County Cork. That's what my father calls the thatched house where he grew up.

Black and white image of an Irish thatched cottage — The Old Place the house where my father grew up in County Cork

I'm afraid that house now lies in ruins, but I'm happy to report there still are about 2,500 thatched cottages dotted around the Irish countryside.

Today's post is dedicated to these iconic symbols of Ireland. I would safely say that after shamrocks and harps, the thatched cottage might just be third in line when it comes to the title of iconic symbol of Ireland.

What is Thatching?
Irish Thatched Cottage Design
Comparison with English Thatched Cottages
A Bit of Irish History
A Little Piece Of Our Heritage
Celebrating the Thatched Cottage at Christmas Time
Thatched Cottage Dreams

What is Thatching?

First let's define what exactly thatching is. It is a skilled craft that involves building a roof over a structuere using dry vegetation. This can bea straw, water reed, flax, sedge, rushes, or heather.

The custom of thatching roofs dates back for millennia. In fact it can be traced back to the Bronze Age in Ireland. Our ancient Celtic forebears needed to build shelters using locally sourced materials. The walls of some of their buildings could not bear the weight of a heavy stone roof.

Thatched Cottage, Raheny, Dublin — Thatched Cottage Raheny Dublin

Lighter weight vegetation was the solution, plus it provided insulation. As our world progressed those with money moved away from the common thatch and started using slates and stones to create the roofing for their larger brick homes.

Thatched roofs became a symbol of poverty by Tudor times. But the clock is coming full circle as the world becomes more climate aware. More and more people are relooking at the advantages of natural roofing as a solution to warming temperatures and in trying to decrease their carbon footprint.

Irish Thatched Cottage Design

The Irish thatched cottage is based on a simple rectangular plan.

The walls were built with stones found locally, pieced together in interlocking fashion, then covered with a mud plaster before being white washed. As you all know, there was no shortage of these stones in the west of Ireland.

Thatched Cottage with red door — Adare Thatched Cottage

Cottages were usually built with a door to the front and back, and usually oriented to the north and south.

It has been said that these two doors were necessary to prevent mother-in-laws and daugher-in-laws from using the same door. Many sons brought their new brides home to live beneath the thatch with their beloved mothers, and peace did not always reign.

Separating the women was one good reason for this door positioning, but the most likely reason was to ventilate the room.

Burning turf was smoky business and not all chimneys were up to the task of keeping a small room smoke free.

Pink thatched cottage at Bunratty Folk Park — Pink Thatched Cottage in Bunratty Folk Park

Irish thatched cottages boasted few windows. This helped limit heat loss in winter and kept the interior of the cottages cool in the summer months.

However, one of the main reasons for this limited number of windows was the infamous "window tax" imposed by the British government from 1799 to 1851.

This ludicrous tax was imposed on any homeowner whose house had more than six openings. This penalty came to be called the "typhus tax" because of the increased incidence of respiratory problems related to poor air quality in these thatched cottages.

A thatcher at work on a ladder on a straw roof — Thatcher at Work

The thatched roof is the feature we associate most with the Irish cottage. A skilled thatcher uses domestic cane to create these beautiful roof lines.

The walls of an Irish cottage were made with stones, or with mud strengthened by mixing it with straw and reeds and animal matter.

The roof line was built with timbers that were then covered with overlapping sods of turf. This turf layer was placed beneath the thatch to create a layer of insulation. Today, a layer of aluminum has replaced the turf layer as a fire precaution.

The straw thatch was made using a variety of materials that were locally available such as wheat straw, flax, or cane. It took close to 5000 sheaves of straw to thatch one little cottage.

Cane bundles for thatching a cottage — Wheat Straw for Thatching

The thatched roof is the feature we associate most with the Irish cottage. A skilled thatcher uses domestic cane to create these beautiful roof lines.

This cane plant grows well in moist soils, in temperate and fresh climates, making it easily available in Ireland.

Thatching an Irish cottage — An Irish Thatcher

In years gone by sods of turf were placed beneath the thatch to create a layer of insulation.

Today, a layer of aluminum has replaced the turf layer as a fire precaution.

Comparison with English Thatched Cottages

Thatched cottages are found all over the British Isles, but in Britain their design tends to be a little more complicated than the humble Irish abode.

In Ireland the cottages had only one to two rooms, with a loft. In England two storey country cottages were seen more frequently. This is simply related to the fact that there was great poverty in Ireland in the 19th century.

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is located in Shottery, Warwichshire, England. It's just west of Stratford-upon-Avon. Anne was the wife of William Shakespeare, and as a child she lived in a 12 room thatched farmhouse. A far cry from the simple Irish cottage.

Tudor thatched cottage with text banner — English Thatched Cottage

Thatched roofs are synonymous with the English countryside. They're often depicted in photographs and paintings of places in the south of England such as The Cotswolds, Hampshire, Dorset and Devon.

In Northern England and Scotland you'll find heather roofs on some old buildings and in East Anglia the thatch was made with Norfolk reed from sea marshes. The type of roofing material chosen to cover a thatched cottage was dependent of the availability of materials in local regions.

In Norway grass roofs are very common, but there are more thatch roofs in the British Isles than anywhere else in Europe.

A Bit of Irish History

The Irish census of 1841 reported that 40% of the population lived in a one room cottage.

That meant about 3 and a half million people were cramped into tiny, dark, smoky rooms.

Dolly's Cottage, Strandhill, County Sligo — Dollys Cottage Strandhill County Sligo

Not only did most families have six or seven children, they also shared their living quarters with a pig, and a dresser full of hens or chickens. Not exactly the cozy, romantic thatched cottages we have grown to love.

The pig often slept in a corner of the home, and was referred to as "the gentleman who pays the rent."

Irish Thatch Roof Cottage — Adare County Limerick

These little houses weren't full to the rafters with charm, but were quite literally full to the rafters with humans and animals.

Our Irish ancestors who were thatched cottage dwellers did not own their homes. They built them with their own hands, but they did not own the land upon which they were built.

Eviction Scene at the Doagh Famine Museum, Donegal — Eviction Scene at the Doagh Famine Museum Donegal

Rent had to be paid to a landlord, or sometimes to a middle man, who subleased lots from a bigger plot of land he controlled.

Money was not always exchanged in lieu of rent. Cottagers or cottiers often paid their land rent by working in the fields, or wherever they were needed.

If work was in short supply the cottagers were at the mercy of their land owner, and eviction sometimes ensued.

Evictions were cruel affairs and after the famine many landlords decided to clear their lands of small holdings. Anyone whose rent was in arrears was thrown off the land.

Many had to emigrate and that's how so many Irish ended up in America.

Thatched Cottage in Adare, County Limerick — Thatched Cottage in Adare County Limerick

A Little Piece Of Our Heritage

Many of Ireland's surviving thatched cottages are privately owned, and I wish to express my gratitude to those who are preserving these cottages, recognizing that they are an important piece of our Irish heritage.

I hope that more and more people will recognize how important it is to preserve these cottages while we can. As the old adage goes, "when they're gone, they're gone."

Irish Thatched Cottage - Spiddal, Co. Galway — Irish Thatched Cottage Spiddal Co Galway

But ownership of these cottages poses some challenges. Insurance premiums are significantly higher than for houses with regular tile roofing. Underwriters believe a thatched roof poses a greater risk of fire. And so, the owner must pay a premium to ensure their home.

This financial stumbling block often deters people from buying and owning a thatched cottage.

Plus it also can be difficult to find a skilled thatcher for maintenance of the roof.

I hope the Irish government recognizes the importance of preserving these little cottages, as a national treasure, and a piece of our heritage that must be handed down through the generations.

www.irishamericanmom.com — Bunratty Folk Park County Clare

The thatched cottage may be a romanticized symbol of Ireland, but if they were to vanish, we would soon realize their importance. I hope that day shall never come.

Celebrating the Thatched Cottage at Christmas Time

Christmas has always been a very special time of year in Ireland. The thatched cottages of rural Ireland came to life at this time of year as people prepared for Christmas.

The walls of the cottage were white washed in the days before Christmas as part of the ancient rural Christmas time traditions in Ireland.

On Christmas Eve candles were lit in cottage windows to light the way for the Holy Family on their way to Bethlehem.

The home was decorated with holly and ivy.

A goose was cooked in the bastible over the open fire for Christmas dinner. And above all, the family gathered around their cottage fires to pray and celebrate the holiday together.

Porcelain cottage ornament with shamrock and bicycle design

Belleek Thatched Cottage Ornament from Gifts of Ireland

Writing about an Irish country Christmas makes me nostalgic.

I have always loved thatched cottage ornaments on my Christmas tree. I fell in love with the Belleek thatched cottage ornament which is available from Gifts of Ireland.

Such a lovely work of art, with its old Irish bicycle laying against the cottage wall - I think I would display it all year long.

Thatched Cottage Dreams

I hope you enjoyed this little collection of thatched cottage images from around Ireland.

Many small villages in Ireland are home to these iconic symbols that only add to the charm of rural Ireland.

Does your heart sing when you see a thatched cottage?

The Thatch and Thyme, Kildorrery, County Cork — The Thatch and Thyme Restaurant Kildorrery County Cork

Can't you just picture smoke meandering from the chimneys of thatched cottages in lazy spirals?

Oor perhaps you would enjoy leaning on a half-door watching the sun set over the Atlantic?

Thatched Cottage in Glenroe Farm, County Wicklow — Thatched Cottage in Glenroe Farm County Wicklow

These pictures of warmth and coziness, must surely have been the dream of home every Irish emigrant carried in his or her heart to America.

I hope these thatched roof cottages with whitewashed walls will always be a feature of the Irish countryside for centuries to come.

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

Mairéad -Irish American Mom

Pronunciation - slawn ah-gus ban-ock-th

Mairéad - rhymes with parade

Here are some more ramblings you might enjoy...

Irish Cottage Kitchens

red and purple flowers in a cottage window flower display box

Irish Cottage Windows

Carrowmore Dolmen with Ben Bulben in the background — Carrowmore County Sligo

What Is A Dolmen?

If you like Pinterest, here's some pin friendly images to share on your Pinterest boards....

Irish thatched cottages are beloved symbols of Ireland. — Irish Thatched Cottages

Thatched cottages are found all over rural Ireland — Thatched Cottages in Ireland

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