The Finishing Touch

There is no finer sight than to see a newly thatched roof glowing in the sunshine topped, if you are fortunate, with a stylish straw ornament that gives a flourish, and seems to say "well, this is a fine piece of craftsmanship, to be sure".

It is many a year since hayricks and straw stacks were thatched. Rick ornaments took various forms - a cockerel or a bird, a cross or a crown, a boat, an apple or a turnip, a "churn", a "mell" or a "kirn". These were usually secured by an ash-pole to the apex or the gable end of the corn rick. 

A thatch covering on a rick or stack was only a temporary form of covering, unlike the thatch on a dwelling which could be expected to last for many years.

Old country beliefs were that the stack and rick ornaments would keep away both birds and witches. The designs were originally of a religious nature, thus intended to scare away witches, but a countryman always hedges his bet, and would say the ornaments also gave a witch something to play with, thus diverting her attention from making mischief elsewhere. 

Straw ornaments on the thatch of houses have been recorded as far back as 1689 . The skill of the thatcher has moved into new dimensions, and modern ornaments such as aeroplanes, fishes, pigs, dragons, and even a "millennium bug" can now be seen and enjoyed, though the traditional pheasants and foxes still remain firm favourites.

Although the term "dolly" is used at times to describe a stack ornament, it should not be confused with the corn dolly. The thatcher's dolly is constructed very differently: the simpler designs such as a perched bird or fish uses straw that is bunched and tied firmly into shape; with the more complicated designs such as a fox, lamb or peacock, the straw is wired onto an armature. Some birds are constructed and set into the roof to serve as a weather vane, and very fine they look, too, spinning in the breeze. 

Stirling Bomber

The craft of thatching often runs in families, and the creative skills are passed down. Several families are well-known for their distinctive designs of ornaments. One Somerset thatcher who had the misfortune to suffer a serious accident which ended his thatching career then went on to  specialise in making straw roof finials. He is known to have been able to make over twenty different designs of birds, leaping salmon, peacocks, squirrels, etc. many of which can now be seen in places such as Glastonbury Museum, and Perry's Cider Mills Museum in Dowlish Wake, Somerset.

C. H. Warren (Corn Country, 1940) mentions the lamb finials of the limestone belt, and also dispels the myth that the patterns cut in the straw just under the ridge were of special significance or a particular thatcher's "trademark", explaining that the double thickness was necessary where it bore the brunt of the weather. Similarly, the herringbone or diamond pattern of withies worked along the eaves served a practical rather than purely decorative purpose, tethering the straw more securely on an exposed area of the roof.

For references, see The Guild Of Straw Craftsmen                         
                         For a link to the Guild click here

                                             
I would like to thank Gillian Nott (archivist of the Guild of Straw Craftsmen) for her help with this and other pages on my site.