51/24

This is a thatching bat, for use on a roof thatched with Norfolk reed, where cutting the eaves would spoil the reeds. A thatcher uses a bat to drive the spars (also known as 'spicks') into the thatch in order to secure it, and to dress the reed/straw into place and ensure an even finish. According to the donor, this achieves the same results as with a paring knife but without spoiling the reeds (however, he was unable to obtain confirmation of this). This bat is made of wood, with a square head with a ridged face with protruding nails. Thatching bats are also known as 'biddles', 'liggetts', 'leggatts' and 'leggetts'.

1 leggett; wood; poor condition: very worn

Citation in publication [H. J. Massingham, 'Country Relics' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939)] – 'I have two more thatching tools in the row of them collected into the Hermitage. [page break] The other is also a bat with a short handle whose face is diagonally ridged. [The donor], a very knowledgable thatcher, told me that it was used in Norfolk reed-thatching. Except along the "cap" (ridge-board), which is often covered with a decorative mantle of sedge, the blades are neither cut nor pegged but tied and pushed up by slanting strokes of this bat or "biddle" to make them tight and level. Even at the eaves, the blades are not cut but struck upwards with a mallet, since cutting and pegging would spoil the reed. But the "biddle" ( I notice that Batsford and Fry in The English Cottage call this tool a "ligget" or "leggett"), in use for Norfolk reed-thatching, has rows of flattened nails, and I believe that my ridged biddle is a very old tool for Dorset reed-drawing. As in Norfolk, cutting would spoil the p.15- "reed", and so the ridges serve the same purpose as the lines of nails for thrusting up the loose ends of the true reed. This seems the more probable in view of the fact that my ridged biddle came from the Wilts-Dorset border.' (pp. 13-14), MERL 'Catalogue index' card – ‘BAT [‘(Thatcher's)’ Scored through]// DATE ACQUIRED: January, 1951 // GROUP: CRAFTS- STRAW- THATCH // NEGATIVE: 35/124 35/125 // PERIOD: Unknown // PLACE OF ORIGIN: The H. J. Massingham Collection // NUMBER: 51/24M // DESCRIPTION: The normal Thatcher's bat is used for driving in the SPICKS for securing the thatch. This one, however, has a ridged face with nails protruding. According to Mr. Massingham, bats of this type were used in 'reed' thatching in Dorset and Norfolk where cutting the eaves would spoil the reed. The bat was used to drive the ends of the straw up until level all over, the same result as would have been achieved with a paring knife. // Other names by which thatching bats are known are BIDDLE, LIGGETT, or LEGGATT. // The bat is 6.5" x 9" with a handle attached to the back. The bat shows considerable signs of wear and the handle is broken off at 11".', MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/24 // NAME: THATCHER'S BAT // NEG NO.: 35/124+5 // STORAGE: P. Ex. [Permanent Exhibition] Thatching.'