Cornwall Charcoal Project

Charcoal is made by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust using sessile oak timber from Devichoys Wood Nature Reserve. Devichoys Wood is located at the small village of Perranarworthal between Truro and Falmouth.

Devichoys Wood is best described as ancient woodland. Gnarled and twisted trunks of sessile oak dominate the canopy and are interspersed with veteran hollies, chestnut and holm oak. The boughs of these trees are festooned with lichens. The understorey is largely composed of birch and hazel beneath which is a rich and varied ground flora.

Abundant ground flora, old coppiced stools, and charcoal pitsteads all indicate that Devichoys Wood was traditionally coppiced. Coppicing is the practice of cutting trees close to ground level, in order to produce a self-renewing crop of timber. Oak coppice was traditionally harvested on a twenty to thirty-year cycle in order to provide cords suitable for the production of charcoal. Coppicing ceased at Devichoys in the 1940s.

Oak coppicing may seem a slow process but there were in fact two incomes to be made from a single crop. Oak bark has a high tannin content, of about 15%, and was ideal for use in the tanning industry. Oak poles were usually felled in May, when the sap was well risen and the bark easy to remove.

The Cornwall Wildlife Trust has drawn up a long-term programme of active woodland management for the conservation of wildlife at Devichoys. This involves the removal of unwanted and invasive species such as rhododendron, sycamore and beech, to favour traditional Cornish woodland and the thinning of neglected oak coppice, to promote the best specimens. Some of the wood is left to rot in habitat piles, providing excellent homes for small woodland mammals and invertebrates. With so much poor quality timber being produced by active conservation management, the Trust decided to purchase its own charcoal kiln as a way of utilizing the timber. The surplus wood is converted into barbecue and garden charcoal, using traditional methods. All profit generated is used to raise funds for the Trust's important conservation work here in Cornwall.

Adam Carew

• A brief history of charcoal
• The charcoal burning process
• Glossary of charcoaling terms

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