When we realised that offering a service to extract timber using heavy horses was a viable proposition, we bought two – an Ardenne and a Dutch draft,” Colette explains.”We pull timber out of woods which is either too inaccessible for big machinery, or under SSSI (site of special scientific interest) protection where only selective thinning is allowed,” says Colette. “We’re now making kilns for people from Argyle in Scotland to the Isle of Wight – anyone who’s got access to lots of wood,” says Mr Wilson. “We started making the odd kiln five years ago, sold 25 last year, and should at least double that in 1996.”Before the last war, Britain’s woods were a hive of activity with coppice workers in abundance: greenwood furniture-makers turning poles on foot- driven lathes, wattle hurdles made from woven hazel, stakes for the local hedge-layers and any unsuitable wood being used for charcoal production. Perhaps this scene will become commonplace once more.Since separating from her husband three years ago, 35-year-old Colette Mead has taken up a career in various woodland skills to support herself and her two children.
“My aim was to find work which involved wood, so I took chainsaw proficiency tests and a charcoal burning course, where I met Phil who is now my business partner,” says Colette.”Initially, Phil employed me to work alongside him contract hedge-laying until we decided to take up tree thinning, coppicing and charcoal burning as a business together. “But even so, we’re not using anything like the amount of wood available,” he says. “Even though modern steel kilns have helped increase the quantity available.”Bryan Wilson, a blacksmith based in Mid-Wales, is one of the largest producers of charcoal kilns and graders in the country. “We’ve got everyone from a retired airline pilot to practising solicitors,” says Mr Kelly. He insists that therenewed appeal of British charcoal lies in its quality and says that now big concerns such as B&Q are entering the market, more people are taking up charcoal production. In addition, around 20,000 tonnes of charcoal went to industry for such products as filters and chemical processing as well as agriculture and horticulture.British charcoal, though, isn’t cheap It costs up to 200 per cent more than the imported product. The British Charcoal Group, meanwhile, has part-time burners from all walks of life.
Sales are largely based on claims of superior quality and on a “green” appeal. But despite the expense, B&Q says it cannot get enough British charcoal – what is holding the company back is supply.B&Q orders its stock through the Bioregional Charcoal Company, which has a network of charcoal burners around Britain. When the fire had spread through the stack, the hole at the top was plugged with mud. The burner would then watch the smouldering fire for about a week, and earth would be added to dress any weak places. If a strong wind occurred and the fire broke out then the whole batch would be lost. Charcoal burning was therefore practised only during summer when the winds were not too ferocious.Today the process is a great deal easier: charcoal burners stash the wood in steel kilns with conical lids. They still need to watch over the smouldering wood to ventilate it and make sure the burning is even.
Some traditional methods are still used, though: where it is necessary to prevent air entering from the top and bottom of the kiln, the lid is sealed with earth.The British Charcoal Group estimated that in 1995 shoppers bought around 50,000 tonnes of charcoal, of which only 3000 tonnes came from British burners – a huge potential scope for expansion. In the days before the introduction of steel kilns, charcoal burners bulked their wood into conical stacks, covering them first with straw and then with ashes and earth.Burning charcoal was dropped down the chimney at the centre of the clamp followed by dry sticks to ignite the wood. Trial sales of British charcoal undertaken at a handful of B&Q stores in 1994 were so successful they were extended to 30 more stores in 1995 and are to spread this year to 120 of the company’s 277 outlets. B&Q maintains that customers are appreciating the superior quality and green credentials of the British product.
And, indeed, charcoal burners have increased in number from 50 a few years ago to 300.To make charcoal, you burn wood in conditions with insufficient oxygen for complete combustion – basically it’s cooked. Meanwhile British woodlands, formerly cut to the ground on a regular 10-15 year cycle, have tended to become dense forest. Certainly, this provides a valuable haven for some flora and fungi but it is detrimental to the growth of young saplings, and many wild flowers and insects.
Today, the DIY chain, B&Q, is helping to put this declining industry back on its feet. “Using the excess for charcoal, ultimately helps to open up the canopy and improves the environment for wildlife.”
However, over the last few decades the ancient woodland industry of charcoal burning has been relegated to museums, while we have imported charcoal from tropical rain forests and mangrove swamps. The British Charcoal Group (BCG) is adamant that burning timber benefits our woodland ecology.
