Earthburn - making charcoal the traditional way

On Friday evening we went to visit Alan and Jo Waters of Wildwood Coppice during their annual charcoal earthburn at their site in West Dean woods high on the South Downs near Chichester.

The 11th August is Saint Alexander's day, the patron saint of Charcoal Burners, so it's fitting that Jo and Alan host this traditional burn over this weekedn each year.


Charcoal has been made this way for thousands of years and it's only relatively recently, in the latter half of the 20th Century that steel ring kilns became widely available. The screens are used to shield the clamp from the effects of the wind. This clamp was lit at midday on Friday and will burn until Sunday. Unlike the steel rings it needs to be watched constantly and the covering of earth gently tamped and cooled to prevent the burn from breaking through and turning to ash.


The knowledge of how to build the earth clamp and maintain the burn through the process is a great skill. As only a couple of earthburn's take place in the UK each year there is a real danger that this knowledge will soon be lost, so this annual event is an important part of raising awareness of the char-colliers craft and helping to pass on the knowledge and skills.


The burn is accompanied by a good gathering of local charcoal burners and greenwood workers. Daniel here seems to be taking to mastering the art early, and even found the charcoal burners stool for a perch. A charcoal burners stool is a one legged stool, on the basis that if you fall asleep you fall over and wake up again (it's also a suitable project, if something of a niche market, for polelathe turners who find making two legs the same a problem!).


Alan also has a great collection of old paraffin Tilly lamps, which looked incredible as he slowly coaxed them into life to provide light through the night.



An earthburn is a slow process. First the neat stack of logs needs to be built and then covered with a mix of earth and straw. The clamp shown in this photograph is a large burn which took place many years ago. But Alan is promising to do another one of these next year.


Once fully covered the post in the centre of the clamp is withdrawn allowing hot embers to be pitched into the middle to light it. Once the burn is complete the fire can be doused and when cool the covering removed to reveal the cooked wood turned to charcoal.

We enjoyed seeing the earthburn and meeting up with people. Next years earthburn promises to be a very special and rare event.