140 KL'RAL ECONOMY IN YURKSHIKK IN ltJ41. 



clrawinge, and worketh amongst the morter, and filleth the scut- 

 tles as the thatcher throweth them doAvnie ; and the other doth 

 nothinge Ijut cany up to the toppe. Our thatchers have con- 

 stantly 4f/. a day (winter and summer) and theire meate ; they 

 come to worke (aboute AUhallowtide) by that time they can 

 "well see aboute them in the morninge, and they leave not worke 

 att night soe longe as they can see to doe anythinge ; they give 

 over theire trade usually aboute Mart;yTimas8e, or soone after, 

 soe as frostes and colde wette weather beginne to come in ; for 

 it is an occupation that will not gette a man heate in a frosty 

 morninge, sittinge on the toppe of an house wheare the winde 

 commeth to him on every side, and besides it is as ill for the 

 thacke-drawers. Wheare one ladder is not long enough, there 

 the thatchers will tye two or three one to the toppe of another, 

 and when they sette one ladder on the toppe of another, they 

 have usually two traces to tye them togeather with. The 

 thatcher standeth on the side of the house beside the ladder, 

 when the ladder is to bee remooved, and remooveth the toppe 

 or uppermost ladder as his man remooveth the roote or lowe 

 ladder ; and the breadth that the thatcher taketh up with him, 

 all att a time, afore the ladder bee remooved, that is called th6 

 course ; for they will say that hee wanteth soe many course to 

 such a place, or soe many course to the ende of the howse ; and 

 this is al»oute halfe a yard, or more than a foote. 



For EiziNGE of a Wall. 



The mudde-wall, that goeth from the ende of the West- 

 howse to the Gardens bricke-wall-side, served George Wise two 

 whole dayes afore hee got it eized, and the eize cutte ; it was 

 eized with stubble and haver-strawe mixed togeather, and wee 

 had three folkes imploj-ed aboute it beside the thatcher, viz. ; a 

 woman that drewe thacke constantly, a boy that did nothinge 

 but tewe morter and carry it up, and the third did sometimes 

 help to drawe thacke, and othenvhiles make morter, and helpe 

 to tewe it ; wee used in this wall sixe wood pinnes to keepe tne 

 eize fast ; the pinnes were made of wilfe, beinge three square 

 and fower square, and more then a foote in length ; one of them 

 was stacken downe close to the side of the West-house att the 

 very first beginninge of all ; hee used two att the turne of 

 the nooke ; one att the ende next the l»ricke-wall, and two more 

 betwixt the bricke-wall and tunie of the nooke ; the stubble 

 and haver-strawe weare brought from the olde house in bear- 

 inge, [bandes ?] and there was su])posed to bee allmost two 

 loads s[)ente in this wall, it was layd on dry, and therefore sat- 

 tled mucii after that it was finished, the mortei- was made in the 



