The Irish Times

Traditional Cottage

A fascinating collection of drawings of thatched cottages, made by students at the UCD School of Architecture in the 1930s and 1940s, is being shown at the National Museum's Country Life division, Turlough House, Castlebar, Co Mayo.The exhibition, Whitewash and Thatch, includes wonderfully detailed plans, elevations and sections of vernacular houses in Ireland which - in stark contrast to their successors - were all built to fit harmoniously into the landscape. The National Museum, the Irish Folklore Commission and the Royal Irish Academy sponsored the UCD student surveys by providing a small grant towards their expenses, with the aim of stimulating public interest in Irish building traditions. They first surveyed Lusk, Co Dublin, in the summer of 1943, camping in the grounds of the Church of Ireland rectory. Further surveys followed in 1944 and 1945 at Curragh, Co Waterford; Clogherhead, Co Louth; Menlo, Co Galway, and Curracloe, Co Wexford.