damthak

1) This word was used repeatedly in the accounts of Selby Abbey. It referred to thatching materials harvested in places such as the Carrs which adjoined Selby Dam.

This 'dam' was actually a waterway and it ran from Habholme in the west to the mill, sited within the precincts of the abbey. In the early 1400s several buildings on the abbey estate were thatched, and typical entries in the accounts include: 1403-4 ‘for 70 thraves of Damthak purchased for the roof of the malt-kiln house in the garden of the toft in Micklegate which William Belnays holds’

1416-7 ‘For 20 thraves of Damthak for roofing’, Selby. It can be compared with ‘fenthakke’ which Salzman noted in Cambridge.

dates 1403-1404 1416-1417

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