Slates

It was probably when they were first widely used, in the 16th and 17th centuries, that the [roof] slates were given the apt and fanciful names which changed with the region. Randle Holme tells us the names of slates 'according to their Several Lengths' used in the north in 1688: 'Short Haghattee, Long Haghattee, Farwells, Chilts, Warnetts, Shorts, Shorts save one or Shorts so won, Short Backs, Long Backs, Batchlers, Wivetts, Short Twelves, Long Twelves, Jenny why Gettest thou, Rogue why Winkest thou'. In the Cotswolds the slates bore such names as 'cocks', 'cuttings', 'nobbities', 'becks', 'bachelors', 'nines' and 'hibbuts', 'elevens', 'sixteens', 'follows' and 'eaves'.

February 21, 2022