Signed and sealed... The edited highlights of William’s will, in which he leaves everything to his wife. At this period and for generations before, rural craftsmen often farmed as ‘Husbandman’, on a small, self sufficent scale. Of note is that William was quite literate signing his will with a clear hand.

Predeceased...The son Henry mentioned above in Samuels’s will died early at around 46, predeceasing his father. He always appears as a ‘Labourer’ in the parish records but this could be down to the prejudice of the parish clerk; not recognising the craft as skilled trade; which often happened...

Signing off... Henry’s son, another William was 20 when his father died and always appears in the records as a thatcher, signing the marriage register in 1827 with a flourish!  

This William is also noted in the marriage certificate of his son, yet another William in 1851; four years before the older William’s death. This record shows the younger William making his X mark... He lived on into the last century dying in 1908, age 76; and is the earliest Potter captured on film...

Father and son 1...

‘Young’ William and son Andrew, probably in around 1900; Andrew being one of William’s 16 children. Unsurprisingly William’s home at Rushall was noted as being ‘overcrowded’, by the authorities in 1895... The image depicts thatching in long straw, on a roof and wall; with young Andrew holding a trimming knife. These cob walls are common in this county, noted more than a few time as ‘mud walls’ in Stanley’s accounts.

An older Andrew working with son Stanley, probably in the late 1930’s, at Rushall; when Andrew would have been in his sixties. He sailed on until 1959, dying at age 84. The work shown is again of long straw with the completed front displaying some very attractive thatching. Stanley, born in 1911, was still at home in 1939; being noted as a thatcher. He married the following year; no doubt spending the war years thatching the essential ricks and stacks, as decreed by the government.  His surviving working accounts begin in November 1945, in the first few months of peace... The account books show Stanley and family now living in Chirton, around 6 miles from Rushall.

In and out... These first pages of Stanley’s accounts show how some aspects of trade have changed; most notably the loss of rick thatching. The earlier years of Stanley’s accounts show a good many ricks being covered.  With 111 ricks thatched in 1946, including 55 at the Coles’ Farm noted on the above page. Lesser numbers followed, with 47 in 1947, 87 in 1948, 66 in 1949, 72 in 1950 and 49 in 1951. Then the work quickly diminishes with nothing in 1952, 10 ricks in 1953, with the next year’s accounts showing the last recorded rick thatching job, worth £7. So, unlike all the previous generations of Potters, within a few years Stanley ceased to spend most of each autumn thatching corn and hay ricks...

Long Straw... Some immaculate work by Stanley. From the records he appears to have bought this material in several different forms from local sources. The above accounts show him buying ‘500 yealms’ at one shilling and twopence. These yealms seem to have been semi prepared, ready perhaps for soaking and laying. A more common method of working was for the thatcher to prepare the material, by ‘Yealming’ (drawing out double hand sized bundles) from a prepared stack, which had probably been delivered in a loose state. Stanley’s accounts don’t show materials being charged for rick thatching; as the long straw would have been provided by the farmer. As was the material used when working on several of the estates which employed him. Stanley also bought a ‘Straw rick’ for £24 in 1948.

He used both long straw and combed wheat reed from 1949 onwards but made much of his use of combed wheat, or ‘Somerset Reed’ as he called it; with most of his supplies coming from the neighbouring county. As his printed invoice show...

Modern thatchers would recognise the many entries for ‘Thatching Spars’ in his accounts... However Stanley seems to have spent many hours making his own, evidently the garage at ‘Marstan’ was used mainly for this work. His accounts are full of payments for prepared spar wood. He also sold on spars, often to local farmers, who no doubt used them to thatch their own ricks. ‘Long Spars’ were sold; these 3 feet (900mm) spars fetched a small premium and were only used in rick thatching. This indoor work was useful in inclement weather. More so in the extreme winter of 1962-3, with Stanley only competing one job between December and April; ‘owing to the rough weather’...

The ‘Barge Hook’s noted in the accounts would also be familiar to the modern craft, known more widely as ‘thatching crooks’. In Stanley’s day these were blacksmith made and expensive. Other entries note the use of ‘Tar Twine’, this would have been used to tie on new thatch, being much cheaper than crooks. Both have now been mostly succeeded by a simple screw and wire fixing...

Two handed... The gent in the cap was Stanley’s employee, Ron Daniels who lived near West Lavington. He began work in May 1948; Stanley received a training grant from the ‘Ministry of Labour and National Service’ starting at £2. 15s .6d a week, rapidly decreasing over the next year... Ron being paid around £4 a week rising to around £8-£10 per week, when they parted company nine years later... They are thatching a roof in combed wheat reed, with Ron trimming the gable using a long eaves hook...

These accounts are full of entries for products and services we now take for granted, many things were much different in this post war world...

Transport being one...The accounts early years show regular payments for ‘Travelling Expenses’. It is not possible to say exactly what this means. It is more than likely that Stanley had some form of motor transport, it seems to have been quite small, as the accounts are littered with payments for ‘Haulage’ often moving loads of ‘Sparwood’; ranging from a few shillings to a couple of pounds or so. This has to be set against the strict petrol rationing imposed throughout the Second World War and lingering on until 1950. Stanley would have been allowed a limited amount, to conduct his all important rick thatching. His first mention of ‘car petrol and oil’ comes in 1948, around the time he takes on Ron Daniels.  Evidently Stanley won around £200 on the football pools, buying an Austin Seven car with the proceeds....

Entries for 1951 show the first use of wire netting and claims for Stanley’s wife’s secretarial work; although her neat writing appears right from the beginning in these ledgers...

This year also saw Stanley keep to tradition and purchase an enormous ‘52 rung ladder’... Costing £11.14.0 from a Dorset firm in Durweston. However the ‘Haulage for same’ came to £4, for the 50 mile trip, over a third of the price... For this 40-50 foot monster. Accounts for a ‘Business Telephone’ first appear in 1952. A premium rental was paid for a business line and they were often installed quicker but that could still take many months. And only local calls did not involve dialling 100 to be connected by the operator. Before this no doubt Stanley relied on the efficient Royal Mail and the odd telegram, along with the local ‘phone box....

Finishing off... One aspect of the craft that is very familiar to modern thatchers, is lacking in Stanley’s accounts and all the above images; the provision of suitable scaffolding... Required now by law for many years and not in general use for many many years before this legal obligation! On Christmas Eve 1963 Stanley had a bad 40 foot fall. Lucky to survive he was however very badly injured. The final page of his accounts show him having private health insurance, Stanley receiving ‘compensation cheques’ totalling £165, over the next eight months...

Below are some useful links to pages detailing aspects of the craft, noted in Stanley's accounts...    Thatching in Wiltshire; Click HERE   Rick & Stack Thatching; Click HERE                                       Making thatching spars ; Click HERE   Long straw; Click HERE  Combed wheat reed; Click HERE

Info. & images kindly supplied by Christine Scott (nee Potter)