Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

HECKLE, n.³ Also hackle, haeckle. The net-work of straw ropes which covers the apex of a corn rick or of a thatched roof (Bnff., Abd. 1956).Abd. 1894 H. G. Reid 'Tween Gloamin' & the Mirk 141:
A few sticks fastened together, and covered with an old heckle from the farmyard, being its only shelter. Abd. 1894 in Child Ballads V. 348:
The pins used to hold the straw raips which hold down the thatch on cob or mud huts; being driven into the top of the walls close to the eaves, they are always dry and ready to burn. The mass of interlaced straw is called a hackle.Bch. 1926 Trans. Bch. Field Club XIII. i. 18:
“Oh, jist on hedder an' haeckles” was the unintelligible reply [of cattlemen asked for information as to the feed of heavily-fleshed shorthorns sent to Smithfield market].Bnff.² c.1928:
Hale ower that heckle there, an' throw't on abeen the taatie-pit to haud oot the frost.Abd. 1992 David Toulmin Collected Short Stories 77:
Nets or 'hackles' for covering the ricks.