Thatching

vbl. sb. [f. THATCH v. (q.v. for Forms) + -ING¹.] The action of THATCH v.

  1.  The action or process of covering a building with thatch († formerly, with any roofing material).

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. IX. 199. Tho … peers … putte hem alle to werke,… In þresshynge, in þecchyng.

1520.  Maldon, Essex, Liber B., lf. 95 b. Circa le thechynge unius orei apud Sabernes.

c. 1683.  M. Mackaile, in Macfarlane, Geog. Collect. (S.H.S.), III. 6. Gremsie affordeth only slates for thatching of houses.

1760.  Foote, Minor, II. Wks. 1799, I. 250. Fine old hay,… damag’d a little last winter, for want of thatching.

1846.  J. Baxter’s Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), II. 316. The Somersetshire mode of thatching is preferable to all others. It consists in using unbruised straw, provincially called reed, instead of bruised straw with the ears on it.

  2.  concr. = THATCH sb. 1.

1671.  H. M., trans. Erasm. Colloq., 311. The very rafters themselves which bear up the thatching.

1703.  T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 260. This kind of Thatching will indure 40, 50, or 60 Years.

1844.  Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 405. Long straw ropes, which bound down the thatching of stacks.

  3.  attrib. and Comb., as thatching work; thatching-fork, (a) a forked stick used for carrying straw to the roof for thatching; (b) see quot. 1882; thatching-rod, a long flexible rod laid on the thatch to hold it down, and tied or pinned to the framework of the roof; thatching-spale: see quot. 1882; thatching-stake, a pointed stake with which the thatch is pinned down.

1641.  Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 139. If thatchinge worke come in hande in haytime.

1703.  T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 259. In some parts of Kent they use no Withs to bind on their Thatching-rods, but … they use Rope-yarn.

1879.  Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 123. His small sharp billhook to split out his thatching stakes.

1882.  Ogilvie, Thatching-fork, Thatching-spale, an implement with a forked blade and a cross handle at one end for thrusting home the tufts of straw in thatching.

1887.  Moloney, Forestry W. Afr., 438. The leaves … are used … for thatching purposes.