CHARCOAL-BURNING IN ESSEX.
241
Ramsden and South Hanningfield or between Writtle and
Blackmore, here and there will be found a cord of wood cut
ready for burning and the blackened hearth on which the
operation is carried out, hard by which will stand the simple
hut in which the charcoal-burner lives when at work. A
hundred years have made no change in his methods ; abandoned
and upturned by the side of a woodland drive near Ramsden may
be seen the discarded still with which an attempt was made a
CHARCOAL BURNER'S HUT, WRITTLE WOODS.
few years back to resuscitate and revolutionize the industry by
using a process in which the wood spirit, pyrolignous acid, and
creosote could be recovered.
It is not my purpose in this note to describe fully the
particulars of the charcoal-burning as carried on in Essex. I
must refer those who are interested in the subject to the forth-
coming volume of the Victoria History, treating of the Industries
of the County, and I would also recommend a visit to Mr.
Thomas Hunt, landlord of the "Windmill Inn," in the parish of
Q