Taigh Lawrence

Iochdar resident Lawrence Iain Alasdair ’ic Raghnaill (Lawrence MacEachen) recently entertained Tommy Macdonald in his home for a chat about his beautiful taigh-tughaidh (thatched house). At Island Voices we were privileged to be able to record their conversation, which we have now added to our “Taighean-tughaidh” playlist on YouTube.

As with the earlier recordings of Tommy and Betty, this conversation is presented in two alternative formats. Fluent speakers may choose simply to watch the whole thing in one go in the “omnibus” version, without any need for recourse to learning aids.

On the other hand, the full conversation has again been broken up into smaller parts, each of which is also supported by auto-translatable subtitles and a wordlinked transcript for the benefit of learners or non-speakers of Gaelic. Links to the transcripts are given in the YouTube video descriptions.

In Part 1, Tommy introduces us to Lawrence in his thatched house in Iochdar, South Uist, inherited from his aunt. Lawrence explains how it had been used as a byre for a time before he did it up again for his own use. It’s due for re-thatching again – in some respects a less arduous task than it used to be.

In Part 2, Tommy and Lawrence discuss the shaping of the roof and the corners of the traditional thatched houses to lessen the impact of the Hebridean gales, as well as the ease of use of local stone to build the thick walls. Lawrence has been told his is the only traditional thatched house in the north of Scotland with a permanent resident, though others have been done up for holiday lets in accordance with sometimes strict planning regulations. There used to be many more of these houses in Iochdar.

In Part 3, Tommy and Laurence talk about some of the other thatched houses they remember, and discuss alternative thatching materials, including marram grass, heather, and rushes. Each has its own qualities, with different materials likely to be used in different areas. Care needs to be taken when gathering roofing materials.

These recordings have been enabled through the ongoing support of the UHI-led CIALL project.