If you’ve never been to Pioneers then you are missing out big time! Bookings now open! Check the BHMAT website for more info and how to book on. And please help spread the word however you can – posters and info for sharing are attached.
Reminder that subs are due for this year. If you would like to MASSIVELY help CANW out at literally no cost to you or anyone else then PLEASE could you set up a yearly recurring subs payment to CANW. We are a small organisation and it takes a lot of work chasing up and sorting out subs each year… If you ever want to cease your membership just cancel your annual payment and you will remain a member until the end of that calendar year. Follow this link for details of how to set it up. Its easy! Thanks!
CANW president Brian Crawley shares some more history of Moss and Heights Spring Woods in the article attached. If any of our members have any other articles or information to share please email it to us and I will circulate.
More Moss and Height Spring Wood
After a successful first year in the wood the next coppice coupe was to be the next one up the BOAT to the gate and the boundary fence, still in Height Spring. In order to minimise the timber extraction process our second charcoal kiln was brought into the wood to a newly made pitstead near to the gate at a site which we called Bell View because from it there was a very good view of the prominent Ill Bell to the north east of Windermere. Good quantities of coppiced timber were snigged into a stack by Corrie from the coupe and then cut into 4 foot lengths and built into 4x4x8 foot cords close to the kiln to mature and be ready to cut again into 2 foot lengths for charcoaling.
A big storm came through one night and the following morning an early section of the BOAT was completely obstructed by a couple of fallen trees. Fortunately with the chainsaw in the back of the horsebox and all my PPE gear on the obstruction was soon cleared. Towards the top of the wood, just beyond our new coupe, was a large fallen oak tree across a much used footpath. A small length of the trunk was cut and cleft and used for a bridge over a small stream which had previously not had a useful crossing for the footpath walkers.
One significant student at our charcoal making courses was Myles Dickinson who lived at Ickenthwaite, further up the Rusland Valley, and was able to tell us that had been at the filming of the visit of the Swallows to the charcoal burners in 1973 for the Swallows and Amazons film of the following year. It was very soon after the course that Myles took us to the site of the burn and the filming in Glass Knott Wood, just off the road up to Ickenthwaite. Several features of the site closely related to views of the Swallows and Amazon film and the Jack Allonby earthburn film and the photos in David Jones’ book. One interesting feature was the stone fireplace of the charcoal burner’s hut. Sadly the hut was long gone. (This revelation, for which I had searched for several years, led to the repeat charcoal earthburn with Dan Sumner at the site in 2023 at the 50th anniversary of the S&A filming.)
Other visitors to the wood, of a very contrasting nature, were a group from the Common Wealth Forestry Association led by Edward Mills and a group of children from Greengate Street School in Barrow-in-Furness who were overnighting in the old school building by the church in Colton at the other end of the BOAT. We had interesting responses to our work from both of them. Another group of visitors was from Lancaster University who used us as a feature of their ramble through the Rusland Valley. They were led by Brian Jones who we had met many years ago through the Ramblers Association.
We had a connection with Sylvia Watthews through her collection of charcoal fines from us and she was also a gardener at the Lake District National Park Authority’s Brockhole Visitor Centre. Sylvia asked us to give a quotation for the installation of a quite long and high, continuous woven hazel fence at the Centre to give the garden some visual security from the visitors. We had a very interesting job which also had a gateway. A further contact at the Centre gave us the use of one of their horticultural items display racks to display some of our woodland products for sales to their visitors.
An interesting demonstration day, away from MAHS, was at the Skipton Sheep Day in the Skipton Market Street where I made one of my very few hazel hurdles. I cleft the thicker rods on a custom made cleaving post which I had mounted on an old pallet. I didn’t manage to make any use of the hurdle when the sheep did their race along the street past my demonstration.
In the last few months of our work in Moss and Height Spring we moved the kiln from the Bell View site to the middle of the next coupe, still at the west edge of the wood, just past the stream over which we had built the new oak bridge. We called this coupe ‘four oaks’ after the four mature ‘standard’ oak trees which formed a perfect square on the upper east area of the coupe.
With our connection with BHMAT we had taken on the training of a coppice apprentice but as we came to the end of our 3 year contract with the Woodland Trust we retired. This was before the start of his 3rd year so he took over the coppicing contract in Moss and Height Springs with some external supervision but sadly did not complete the apprenticeship.
After the apprentice left the wood the Woodland Trust approached CANW to take over the management of the wood but it was not feasible because we were not a formal charity. Fortunately BHMAT was and were able to come to a reasonably long term arrangement with the Woodland Trust which has proved very beneficial.
After terminating our full time work in the woods we maintained contact with CANW and BHMAT and attended a few shows, demonstrations and training sessions. One particular feature was our involvement with the management of occasional charcoal earthburns which we had learned from Arthur Barker at the Millenium Burn at Grizedale in 2001. An important one in 2023 was at Glass Knott Wood near Ickenthwaite in the Rusland Valley with Dan Sumner which was a 50 year celebration of the burn in 1973 which was filmed with the children visiting the charcoal burners for the Swallows and Amazon film released in the following year. It was featured in the NCFed newsletter and on the internet as ‘News from the Charcoal Burners of Cumbria’.
An earlier earthburn had been carried out in MAHS on the east side of Height Spring when the first BHMAT coupe was being cut Some of the earliest bark peeling also carried out at the same time. Another involvement in MAHS was a notable tree survey. The results of the survey were on the BHMAT website some time ago but I still have all the original results in my own handwriting.
This might be the last report of Woodland Way’s activities.
Brian Crawley
January 2026
Its that time of year again! Please join us at the fantastic sprint mill for our Annual General Meeting. Rough plan for the eve:
6pm Jacobs join food
7pm the meetingy bit
8pm Quiz from the legendary quizmaster Tony Morgan
Plus raffle!
Please bring food to share, lots of warm clothes, a few logs for the woodburner if you can, raffle prizes and your lovely selves. All welcome.
Agenda and directions to the Mill are included with your email, please get in touch if you haven’t received this
***Moss and Heights Spring Woods***
We will be spreading stone on the track at MHSW on Sat 13th Dec. Bring shovels and rakes if you have them. Many hands make light work! I’m sure there will be biscuit or two as your reward!
***Bobbin Wood for Stott Park***
Diameter; 1.5-2.5 inch,
Length; minimum 2ft long.
Quality; All as knot free as possible
Species; Any hardwood except Oak (too hard!), Willow, Alder or Lime.
They are looking for around 30 tonnes this winter and are paying £100 a tonne delivered to the mill. Delivery is by arrangement with Tracy Shaw, the mills manager on 01539531092.
You need to ring before delivery to check they are able to accept it and also that the quota for this year isn’t already filled. Quantity and quality will be assessed by Tracy on delivery and her word is final on these matters.
Once delivered invoices are paid by CANW, please send to treasurer.canw@gmail.com.
Each invoice’s quantities will be checked against the Bobbin mills records so there is hopefully no room for confusion!
***Weekend in the Woods 16th & 17th May 2026***
Tickets have been flying out for this – big thank you to all CANW members who have booked on early.
2 of the 7 courses are almost full so don’t delay! Booking is also open to non-members so if you can think of anyone who would like to come along do let them know.
***Stott Park Bobbin Mill Xmas Open day – Sunday 14th Dec***
The lovely folk at Stott park have invited folks from CANW to pop by on their Xmas open day and say hi! There will be mince pies and mulled liquids!
The bobbin mill are currently open to ideas about collaboration with CANW and Coppice Workers in the future… if you want to go and have a chat with them this could be a good time! Also its a great spot to visit if you haven’t before…. Also… Mince pies! Did I already mention that?
Finally (and well done for getting this far!) – we are going to see if we can publish a fairly simple CANW newsletter at some point – and would love to have some articles about stuff wot you’ve done, woodlands you know, or things you’ve made… or anything else! As our infamous former editor Ian Taylor always used to say: “Send it in! We’ll publish anything!”
From our member Fee:
“Hey all,
i wanted to let you know about a new ‘Urban Bodgers’ meetup i’m starting in Salford (Greater Manchester): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/urban-bodgers-monthly-meetups-tickets-1679667062399
i started retraining in coppicing and green woodworking a few years ago, and have been trying to move out of the city to get closer to doing more of it ever since. but life is not straightforward, and a move isn’t possible… so i’ve decided to switch it up and bring the woods to the city instead 🙂
the venue is Islington Mill, where i’m a resident and setting up a small green woodworking space. the Mill is a heritage listed building converted into an independent queer arts space, and i’m neurodivergent, queer and gender nonconforming, so we’re especially keen to connect with kin and allies.
we’ll be starting with a free monthly meetup (second Sundays, from 11am, starting in October), and plan to also run paid workshops in the future. those sessions can be green woodworking, relief carving, spoons, and any heritage crafts including leather work, baskets… all of it (maybe even charcoal, if we can set up safely!)
i’d love to hear from anyone who’d be interested in bringing their workshops over. i’m going to be applying for funding to help support your costs and to create subsidised places so we can be as inclusive as possible. i’m delighted to say that Andy Westsmith has agreed to be involved, and will be running his fab shrinkpot sessions! in time we’d also LOVE to create partnerships, so that we can bring cityfolk out to the woodlands to experience coppicing – more volunteers for all 😉
feel free to share with anyone you feel might be interested, and hit me up if you want to be included in future workshops!
Saturday 24th – Sunday 25h May – Oak bark peeling AND earthburn (overnight, camping in the woods). Leader – Dan Sumner
Thursday June 5th – Oak bark peeling. Leader – Mike Wallwork
Saturday June 28th – Oak bark peeling. Leader – Dan Sumner
All welcome, no experience necessary, enthusiasm for learning will be met with relish…
Bring lunch (with or without relish) & a drink. Or whatever you need depending on how long you’re staying…
If you have tools… great! If not… great! Will just be nice to see you.
Bring camping kit if you plan to stay over for the Earthburn (wild camping in the woods, no facilities, please come prepared for that!)
For those of you who are newer to this:
Oak bark peeling: the removal of bark from the small diameter oaks in the coppice coupes. This is an important part of the history of coppicing in the Lake Distrisct. The bark goes to the last remaining oak bark leather tannery in th UK, J&FJ Bakers. See here for more info: https://www.jfjbaker.co.uk/the-process. All proceeds go to the Bill Hogarth Memorial Apprenticeship Trust to support coppice apprentices to perpetuate and grow our economically sustainable regenerative woodland management & heritage crafts. We supply most of the bark that Bakers use & it’s nice to know you’ve had a hand in it…
Earthburn: The original way of charcoal making using only what the woods provide – stack of burning timber covered by vegetation & subsoil, carefully managed to limit oxygen & favour pyrolysis over combustion (hopefully!!!) This is the stone age technology that enabled the development of ore smelting, leading to metal tools which eventually enabled coal mining which gave rise to coke fired steel production on a scale that resulted in the industrial revolution, and ultimately to modern life as we know it… (For better or worse). Not many opportunities in the UK to get involved in this hands on since relatively few people have the skills & knowledge to do it successfully. Grab it while you can.
Here’s an idea: https://youtu.be/EtoA8AfrDg0?si=p4lgcAV7_Wukc8eS
Be prepared to get dirty!
Contact Dan Sumner for more info: 015394 37844 / dansumner@phonecoop.coop
Location of Moss and Heights Spring wood – Bouth
what3words – racetrack.apple.starters
Go down the side road by the White Hart Inn at Bouth , keep left at the junction signposted Hay Bridge go round a couple of corners till you see a gate with a byway sign next to it . This is the entrance to MAHS . We usually meet by the memorial bench about 400m into the wood.
Awsome!
UPDATE 21/5/25
Please note that the charcoal earth burn that I so eloquently described in the last email will actually NOT be an earth burn. I’m very sorry, I seem to have confused two conversations, and actually what Dan is offering next weekend is a RING KILN BURN.
Still very interesting if you’re not familiar, and you’re all still welcome to come & camp & learn & get hands on etc.
But if you’re dead set on encountering ancient wisdom in a smoking heap of earth… well, I’m afraid you might be disappointed…
Once again, I’m very sorry for the mix up. But I hope you’ll still come.
There WILL be an earth burn coming though: plans / logistics etc are currently being worked out, so do watch this space…
It’s nearly time for this years Weekend in the Woods. Have you secured your tickets yet?
Each ticket is £200 for members and includes:
Two full days tuition in your chosen craft
Two nights camping in the AONB in Silverdale
Breakfasts and Lunches
Tea and Cakes & Biscuits
Campfire & BBQ on Saturday night
Community with others
Here are the courses you can choose:
This will be held at The Weald & Down Living Museum, Sussex,
If you haven’t been to the Weald & Down it is really fantastic. Imagine, dismantling 50-odd medieval timber framed buildings fro around the country & re-constructing them joint by joint into a working village/farm/market on a single site, complete with historians in period dress re-enacting the skills & feeding you bits of unleavened bread dipped in mead…
If you’ve any interest in heritage woodcraft at all you’ll absolutely love it. Oh, and there’s the NCFed AGM & gathering too!!!
If there’s enough interest the CANW committee have proposed hiring a minibus & making it a social outing. Please let me know if you’d be interested in coming so we know whether we need to hire a minibus, or just a mini…