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cords, in which it is dcfcribed as an ancient borough ; but it 

 docs not appear ever to have font reprcfontativcs to parhament. 

 From a very early period it had a market on Sundays, 

 which was confirmed to the abbot and convent of Reading 

 by a charter of Henry II. The market-day was clianged 

 by Henry HI. in 1218 to Tlimi'day ; but the market has 

 long been difoontlnued. Two annual fairs are ftill held. 

 The manor of Thatcham was given to the abbot and con- 

 vent of Reading by Henry I. At the dKFolution it was 

 "•ranted, in i5_^9, to John Winchcombe, fon of the cele- 

 brated .Tack of" Newbury : it is now the property of Wil- 

 liam Moinit, efq. of Waling. A charity-fchool was 

 founded here, in 1 707, by lady Frances Winchcombe, who 

 endowed it with 53/. />(■/• annum. The fchool had been 

 long difcontinued, and its revenue loft to the parifh ; when 

 Mr. Thompfon, a late vicar, inllituted a fuit for their reco- 

 very, and after a long conteft fucceeded in the re-eftablifh- 

 ment of the fchool, with an income for the mafter increafed 

 to 200/. pn- annum ; forty boys are now clothed and educated, 

 and fix of them annually apprenticed with premiums of 10/. 

 each. Tlie parirti of Thatcham is the moll extenfive of any 

 in the county, excepting Lamborn, and includes fix town- 

 ftips. The' population, according to the parliamentary re- 

 port of the year 181 1, was eftimated at 2104; the number 

 of houfes at 424. — Lyfons's " Magna Britannia," vol.i. 

 Berkfhire. 



THATCHER, a rock in the Englilh Channel, on the 

 north fide of Torbay. 



Thatcher, in Rural Economy, a perfon who performs 

 the bufinefs of thatching. 



THATCHING, the operation of covering the roofs of 

 buildings, ftacks, and other things, with fome fort of thatch. 

 For this purpofe, articles of the ftraw kind are pre- 

 pared in the following manner :' After being well moiftened 

 with water, they are drawn out in handfuls perfectly ftraight 

 and even into regular lengths, and the (hort ftraw feparated 

 from them, leaving them placed in convenient ranges for 

 forming bundles to be carried to the thatcher by the perfon 

 who has the ferving of him. 



In reg?.rd to the application of the thatch to ftacks 

 of hay or corn, there are different methods purfued, ac- 

 cording to the nature of the materials employed. Where 

 long ftraw is made ufe of, tlie operator or workman ufually 

 begins at the eaves or bottom part of the roof, depofiting 

 it in handfuls in regular breadths till he reaches the top, 

 the different handfuls being fo placed endways as to overlap 

 each other, the upper ends being conftantly pudied a little 

 into the bottom parts of the (heaves or other matters. In 

 this manner he gradually proceeds, breadth after breadth, 

 till the whole of the roof is covered, which is ufually done to 

 the thicknefs of about four or five inches. And in order to 

 retain the thatch in its place, fliort fliarp-pointed fticks, termed 

 prods in fome places, are occafionally thruft in, in a flanting 

 direftion upwards ; and fometimes fmall fticks, often called 

 fpelks, ftiarpened at the ends, are bent and thruft in along 

 the top parts and fides. But as the water is apt to follow 

 the courfe of the fticks, it is perhaps a better praftice to 

 make ufe of ropes of twifted llraw for this purpofe. In 

 fome cafes, thefe are applied only round the bottom parts of 

 the roof and the fides ; while in others, which is a much 

 better and more fecure method, they are applied in fuch a 

 manner over the whole ftacks, as to form a fort of coarfe 

 net-work of nine or twelve inches in width in the 

 niches, the ends being well faftened either to belt-ropes 

 paiTed in fuitable directions for the purpofe, or to different 

 parts of the ftraw of the ftack. 



Ill t.hc application of ftubble as a thatch, it is mollly, 



7 



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after being prepared, put on by fticking one cf its ends into 

 the roof of the ftack in a regular and ex aft manner, fo as 

 that it may ftaud out very clofe and thick ; when the 

 other, with fuch loofe ftraws as may occur, is to be cut 

 over or pared off, with a very ftiarp tool for the pur- 

 pofe, fo as to form a neat and impenetrable thatch, having 

 the appeaiance of a newly thatched houie roof ; the whole 

 being well fccured in its place by ftiort pegs made for the 

 purpofe, fomewhat in the fame way as in the thatch of 

 other ftacks. 



In the thatching of the roofs of houfes or other buildings 

 with any of the different forts of ftraw, the materials are to 

 be laid on to a confiderable thicknefs, and firmly fecured. 

 They are applied in regular narrow flips, or what in fome 

 diftrifts are termed ^(7«fx, from the eaves of the building to 

 the ridges, the ladder being moved forward as the work pro- 

 ceeds. The thatch is fecured by fliort ftiarpened fticks, as 

 above, thruft in where neceffary. And bended fticks, 

 iharpened at each end, are hkewife fometimes made ufe of 

 near the ridges, being thruft in at each end. In finilhing 

 the work, the thatcher moftly employs an iron-toothed rake, 

 with which the whole is raked and trimmed over from top to 

 bottom, fo as to render it completely fmooth and even, and 

 take away all the fliort ftraws, and other irregular matters. 



The method of thatching with reed, according to Mr. 

 Mardiall, in his account of the Rural Economy of Norfolk, 

 is this : no laths being made ufe of, in laying it, a little of the 

 longeft and ftoiiteft of the reed is fcattered irregularly acrofs 

 the naked fpars, as a foundation to lay the main coat upon : 

 this partial gauze-like covering is called the " fleaking." 

 On this fleaking the main covering is laid, and faftened down 

 to the fpars by means of long rods, provinciaily " fways," 

 laid acrofs the middle of the reed, and tied to the fpars with 

 rope-yarn, or with " bramble bonds," formerly much ulcd, 

 but now pretty nearly laid afide. In laying on the reed, the 

 workman begins at the lower corner of the roof, on his right 

 hand, for inftance, and keeps an irregular diagonal line, or 

 face, until he reaches the upper corner to his left, a narrow 

 eaves-board being nailed acrofs the feet of the fpars, and 

 fome fleaking fcattered on ; the thatcher begins to " fet his 

 eaves," by laying a coat of reed, eight or ten inches thick, 

 with the heads refting upon the fleaking, and the butts upon 

 the eaves-board. He then lays on hh fiuay (a rod about 

 the fize of a fmall edder) about fix or eight inches from the 

 lower point of the reed ; whilft his afllftant, on the infide, 

 runs a needle, threaded with rope-yarn, clofe to the fpar ; 

 and, in this cafe, clofe to tlie upper edge of the eaves-board. 

 The thatcher draws it through on one fide of the fway, and 

 enters it again on the contrary fide, both of the fway aiid of 

 the fpar : the affiftant draws it through, unthreads it, and 

 with the two ends of the yarn makes a knot round the fpar ; 

 thereby drawing tlie fway, and confequently the reed, tight 

 down to the roof : whilft the thatcher above, beating the 

 fway and prefling it down, affdls in making the work the 

 firmer. The affiftant having made good the knot below, he 

 proceeds with another length of thread to the next fpar, 

 and fo on, till the fway be bound dowu the whole length ; 

 namely, eight or ten feet. This being done, another ftratum 

 of reed is laid on upon the firft, fo as to make the entire 

 coat eighteen or twenty inches thick at the butts ; and an- 

 other fway laid along, and bound down, about twelve inches 

 above the firft. 



The eaves being thus completely fet, they are adjufted and 

 formed, not fquare with the fpars, but nearly horizontal : 

 nor are they formed by cutting, but by " driving" them 

 with a " legget," a tool made of a board eight or nine inches 

 fquare, with a handle two feet long, fixed upon die back of 



it. 



