A snippet from Page 168 of 'Industry in the countryside' by Michael Zell:

The chapter is about the cloth industry so the quote is demonstrating the ubiquitous nature of spinning equipment, but it is an interesting glimpse of the wealth of a charcoal maker. I so need to get a wheelbarrow!

"The goods of James Basset Of Goudhurst, collier (d. 1580), totalled just £3 3s., according to local appraisers. He owned no livestock or farm goods his professional tools (Including two wheelbarrows) were valued at just 3s.,  but in his house were the requisites for spinning:  three spinning 'trendles',  a pair of stockcards and a pair of handcards."

Cadlemas work camp 2012 - What we did...

Well despite the snow we got lots done this weekend on the hill: we managed to coppice the stools we wanted to do (thanks to Mike and his chainsaw... until it gave up the ghost, hope it's not to costly to fix Mike?) Below is a rough sketch map showing the bit we did (very crudely marked with hashing)

The rest of Coupe A either had young saps in or the mature Oaks were shading the hazel, so to give it a chance we have left them to get bigger and stronger before coppicing them.

We generated a fair bit of product: Spars for the stables roof to form a floor to place hay on, wood for the charcoal stack (will be used in 2013 if not later) as well as pea sticks, bean poles and lots of lop and top to make faggots for the ovens and to repair the top pigsty roof with later this year.
























We also finished the post and rail fence down the length of triangle field and dug in a post for the gate at the bottom end. We also replaced the post and rail in top orchard where the horses had got through into the coppice recently - thankfully they had not done any damage.

All in all a very successful weekend.

Candlemas work camp

Tomorrow is Candlemas or the midpoint of winter, halfway between the shortest day and the spring equinox so I have arbitrarily decided to call this weekend's work camp 'Candlemas work camp'....

Right, what are we going to do this weekend? I have spoken with Stuart and we need to start coppicing in Coupe A, starting in the corner adjacent to to triangle field and top orchard. From this we are hoping to get:

• A very small amount of hazel to complete wattling in the stables.
  
• A few thick pieces could go into the stables roof to make a 'floor' for the hay to sit on although Stuart hopes to get some birch dropped for this.
  
• New poles for peas would probably be good as well.
• A lot of the coppice is too chunkey for wattling and best used by the Wood Colliers to make charcoal. This will need to be cut to lengths - we need roughly as long and as thick as a mans arm - then stacked for at least one summer to season.
  
• We can make faggots from the top and lop, but judging from the amount of deer in the area this may be better put to use making a brash dead hedge around the coppiced stools to keep the nibblers out.
• I also need a selection of poles to rebuild the Charcoal hut and to make wind breaks (see previous post) these we will store in the stable roof or cart shed until the summer.
  
• And finally any good straight rods might be dumped in the pond for use at Easter wattling the woad house.

As well as coppicing we hope to have more post and rail arrived by the weekend to complete the boundary along triangle field, plus we will need to think about making a gate at the bottom end, gate posts available in store can be dug in as well.

So quite a lot to do. If you are coming then billhooks, axes, gloves and brute force would be useful to bring.

I will update the blog post weekend to tell you all the things we didn't get around to doing!

Charcoal Camp - Things to make 2012 # 1

There are a few 'bits' I would like to add to the charcoal camp to make it look and work better: to start with I would like to make a few windbreaks to shield the birning heaps from the breeze which helps the heap burn more evenly.

I don't have any C16th illustrations of these but below is a illustration, from 1879 showing Charcoal makers in Epping Forest, on the right hand side of the picture you can see some rudimentary windbreaks made of poles interwoven and filled with branches. These seem to held by poles bracing them against the wind.



So we need to retrieve a number of hazel lengths this winter to make into the frames and then in the summer we can use bracken to fill the gaps.

As it is a slow day at work today I have even made a little model, from coffee stirrers, of what the finished article might look like:

I know I really should get out more!

Weekend 15th/16th October

Spent part of Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the hill in the coppice. I was own my own for most of it so didn't get as much done as I'd hoped (I was joined for a few hours on Sunday by Jim whose wife was sewing with Gilly in Bream); nevertheless got a fair bit of bracken and bramble cleared. I also put some tarps over the wood stacks in the Charcoal Camp for the winter.



















Whilst pulling the bracken we found a pleasing amount of Hazel saplings doing OK, despite the monster bracken cover shading them out. Sadly, most of the ash saplings had succumbed to the lack of light. Some replanting will be needed...

On a positive note, I have been intensively 'weeding' a small patch just below top orchard for a little over a year now and it is really showing positive signs of how you can beat the bracken: there is a healthy amount of grass and a covering of foxgloves coming up.

Found a few saps that I didn't know were there including what I think is a lime tree or Gilly thinks it could be a Sallow, What do you think?:



















During the November work camp, if I get an hour of two, I might try and remove the bracken I have pulled and burn it in the charcoal camp so to expose as much of the coppice floor as possible to encourage other woodland plants, other than bracken, to grow.

Coppice Boundary - How stock proof is the coppice?

Below is a summary of the current condition of the boundary around the coppice. We need to make the woodland stock proof to ensure no unwanted grazers get in and wreck it. Below is a summary of the boundaries starting at the northern boundary:

• Northern boundary - This is the southern boundary of Top Orchard which is a laid hedge that is currently stock proof: sheep and horse are often in the orchard and have not escaped yet!

• Eastern boundary - This is split in to two stretches:

1. Northern stretch - This runs the length of Coup B and is part of the 'Great Wall' which needs no work to make it stock proof.
2. The Southern Stretch divides Coup D from the Industrial area and is current partly a very dilapidated dry stone wall and partly unfenced. Below is a rough sketch of what is what:

We will need to rebuild the wall and decide to either extend this wall to fill the gaps or plant a hedgerow instead. I think a wall would be best as there is a lot of tree cover and a hedge might not do well. As there are no immediate plans to graze animals in the Industrial area or the new orchard this not an urgent job. Also the north end will need a small person sized gate for the path that runs down form the Charcoal camp to the industrial area.

The Western boundary - This consists of the boundary with Square field and triangle field. I need to survey this stretch as it is a mix of dry stone wall, hedge and post and rail fence. To improve access to the Charcoal camp a field gate (i.e. one big enough to allow a LandRover/horse and cart through) will be installed in bottom south-east corner of Triangle field.

What to do next?

• Map and measure area of coppice to establish coups
  

• Start coppicing this winter (2011/12) - Coup A, especially corner where triangle field meets the top orchard, in need of coppicing before limbs get too big.

• Continue renovating the coppice by:

1. Lifting the crowns of the standard trees (I.e. chopping off the lower branches of some of the oaks) to let light down to woodland floor
2. Planting new trees in gaps
3. Reducing the bracken in the woods during it's growing season (roughly May to September) by pulling and removing so light gets to woodland floor and encourages other species to grow

• Start a coppice cycle to produce enough wood for:

1. one charcoal heap per year for Living History
2. on going projects, e.g. new and repairs to wattle, bean sticks for the garden, etc.