Backcountry Notes

Click on any image in this article to view a larger versionThe Irish Forge exhibit at Virginia's Frontier Culture Museum is housed in a building originally constructed in County Fermanagh, Ulster (Northern Ireland).  The rustic architecture of this blacksmith's shop is typical of buildings constructed in northern and western Ireland at that time: solid stone construction, whitewashed, with a thatch roof.

Inside the Irish Forge, a Museum guide who knows what he's doing demonstrates how ironwork was made in the 18th century.  After heating a metal rod in the fire until it glowed red-hot, he proceeded to hammer out a nail as a demonstration.

Below: the Irish Forge building.  The construction is typical - - rough-cut stone walls with a sharply-angled gable, covered by a thatch roof.

Here is the smithy using a bellows to stimulate the fire and heat the end of the iron rod.  To insure authenticity, the coal and the iron used in the Irish Forge are imported from Great Britain. (As if I would know the difference . . . .)

Here the smithy hammers the heated end of the iron rod to shape the nail.  Look at the wall and floor behind him -- this guy has a serious collection of tools.

This view shows the interior of a gable, supporting purlins which carry the weight of the sod-and-thatch roofing materials. Long sticks have been attached to the purlins; on top of the sticks are two layers of sod.  The straw thatch is bundled and fixed to the sod with long, limber sticks called scollops -- you can see the points of the scollops protruding from the ceiling.

This view shows the heavy timbers which support the purlins along the length of the building.

Thatched roofs are a universal feature of varied human cultures - - in many forms, thatched roofs were developed all over the world.  Although many of the older thatched-roof cottages have been lost, thatching is still practiced in Ireland.  See Thatching In Ireland; The Thatch Company. The use of sod is a common method of roofing in Ireland.  See Ask About Ireland -- Thatch.

The style of thatching used on the Irish Forge is called Pinned Thatch.  In other areas of Ireland, builders used Roped Thatch or Thrust Thatch. See Methods of Thatching.

Videos demonstrating thatching are available on YouTube:

Thatching In Kildaire

Thatching In Kildaire, Part 2

Construction of a Thatched Roof, Cork, Ireland