Name

Jim and Maureen Wade

Address

Primrose Cottage,
Oulartwick,
Oulart,
Co. Wexford.

Contact Details

05391 36508

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Meet Jim Wade, the man who thatched our cottage and in the process became a good friend of myself and Anne.

Back in 1980 when Jim and Maureen purchased Primrose Cottage they were informed by the two elderly sisters who sold it to them that their Great Grandfather had built Primrose Cottage. By my reckoning this would have been in the 1840’s.

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As you can see, Primrose cottage is a 2-storey house, with two upstairs windows. What caught my attention about it were the two chimneys. See how neither of them is located in the gable end of the house. Part of the reason for this is because at the road-end gable there was, originally a shop, and the entrance (Now blocked up) was from the road.

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But the other reason for this is because one of the extraordinary things about Primrose Cottage is that it was built as three separate houses. Yes! Originally there were three 1-up-1-down houses under the single thatched roof. That explains the location of the chimneys. Each of the dwellings had its own front door and its own upstairs room. But! And here’s an interesting ‘but’, only the middle dwelling had a stairway to the upper floor. So everybody who lived under this thatched roof used the same stairway to go upstairs to bed. Today, the stairway rises from the front to the back of the house, but originally it was faced the other way.

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In addition to his Master Thatching skills, over the years, Jim developed a wonderful expertise in crafting animals and people out of water reed. Everyone who passes Primrose Cottage can observe the delightful scene of a Pheasant (Or is it a Peacock?) being stalked by a fox. Look carefully along the roofline of the picture and you’ll see an inward-facing pheasant at each gable end and the stalking fox between the two chimneys.

Photo: 1798 Pike man, made out of water reed, by Thatcher, Jim Wade.
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It’s not always easy making a living as a Thatcher. It can be very cold working at roof-top level and it can be a risky job when the weather is wet or windy. Another serious risk of the trade is rotten roof beams. On more than one occasion Jim has, as he himself puts it, ‘gone through the roof’ when a rotten beam gave away under his weight. There have been times when he has fallen off the roof from a height. The last time this happened he injured himself badly and feared that he might never be able to work on a roof again.

Photo: ‘The Rugby Player’ created by Jim Wade for Tony O’Reilly, seen here beside Jim’s Life-size figure of a rural man.
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During this period Jim took to making life-size ‘Water Reed Figures’. The extraordinary thing about Jim’s thatched figures was that they were build around a skilfully engineered and carefully crafted metal frame, which was designed by Jim and which allowed full movement of the arms and legs and body of the figures. Everyone loves Jim’s full life-size figures. The great news is that Jim is back on the roofs again thatching.

Photo: Examples of Neolithic Houses in the Wexford Heritage centre, thatched by Jim Wade.
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Jim Wade’s work can be seen all over Wexford, including the Wexford Heritage Centre at FerryCarraig. It was Jim who thatched the huge Viking Longboat house at the edge of the estuary in the Heritage centre. It’s well worth a visit.

Photo: Great Grandfather’s house – the first time I saw this house, in the mid 1980’s. It was a warm, comfortable, lived-in home. I couldn’t believe my eyes, when I took this photograph in late October 2007. I guess it will never be a ‘home’ again!
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About half a mile up the road from Primrose Cottage in the direction of Enniscorthy, you will find the ruins of a very large 2-storey thatched home. This is the home of the two elderly sisters who sold Primrose Cottage to Jim and Maureen. It’s the home of the sister’s ‘Great Grandfather’ who build Primrose cottage in approx 1840. So it’s an older house than Primrose cottage.

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It wasn’t always in ruins. In fact, not so very long ago it was a comfortable lived-in home. And the first time I went looking for Jim – 25 years ago – he was doing a patching job on the roof of this house. It’s the next house on my list. And for the moment, I’m calling it ‘Great Grandfather’s House.’ It’s worth a quick visit.

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