That’s what Alan Waters said to me, and so we began preparing for the large earth burn. We started building on August 1st, 2022. Alan prepared the site with a small ritual in memory of past colliers, saying a few words and humorously burying a tin of condensed milk. Then, he and his team of colliers and members of the Sussex and Surrey Coppice Group (SSCG) began building the stack.

The chimney was constructed first, using short branches of hornbeam placed in a triangle a meter high. Against this, meter-long pieces of split cordwood were placed vertically. Alan was keen to use hornbeam for the burn, as it makes the best charcoal.

Hornbeam has been used to make charcoal for the iron industry since the start of the Industrial Revolution, favored for its density and high calorific value, which creates a hotter furnace. The hornbeam in Shadow Woods (the SSCG headquarters) hasn’t been cut since the last war, and many of the stools (the multi-stemmed stumps) have died due to shading. The SSCG has begun bringing it back into rotation (the cut and regrowth cycle). 

Coppicing hornbeam woodland is important, as it stimulates regrowth from the stools and allows dormant hornbeam seeds to germinate. It also benefits biodiversity. When the canopy is cut, sunlight and warmth reach the woodland floor, prompting dormant seeds of annuals and perennials to germinate, creating an abundance of flowers that feed pollinators—not only during the day, but also at night; supporting beetles, moths, and other creatures at the beginning of the food chain. This benefits not just insects, but also the soil microcosm, which in turn supports the stools and vigorous tree regrowth. This system creates a rotation of biodiversity and prolongs the life of the trees.

I was proud to be part of the team building the clamp (the name for the wood stack). I estimate it was fifteen feet across and nine feet high when completed. The stack consisted of two layers of meter-long lengths stacked vertically, with the wider pieces near the middle. The whole stack was finished with small-diameter wood. It looked great. Sadly, we had to leave it as is, due to drought-related insurance issues, so it was covered until the following year.

In 2023, the team returned. We layered hay around the base, gradually covering the stack with about four inches of hay. We then began covering it with soil that I had mixed with 30% local sand, creating a ledge around the bottom and walking around it to compress the soil. Once covered, split cordwood was laid against the mound to create a platform for the collier to access the top and guide the burn by poking strategic vent holes. Traditionally, a burn is named after a woman. Alan and his wife, Jo, gave the honor to my partner, Neela, much to her surprise. I’ll always remember Alan standing on top of his clamp, saying, “It’s a dream come true.” Part of this great man’s charm was that he wasn’t afraid to show his emotions. Neela received buckets of red-hot embers and poured them into the chimney, which was then filled with small logs to catch.

I learned how the burn progresses. The vents around the base of the mound allow air to feed the fire, which travels up the chimney. Like a rosebud opening, the fire reaches the top and burns downwards. The collier’s skill lies in gauging where to poke the exhaust holes. As the burn progresses downwards, a long metal spike is used. If it feels crunchy, charcoal has formed, and more holes are made further down, while the upper ones are sealed.

This burn lasted thirteen days and had to be watched day and night. I spent two nights there, an indelible experience. I watched the mixture of white steam and smoke drift past the halogen light into the dark silhouette of the trees, walked around the earthen mound, and looked into the vent holes at the red-hot “eyes”—chemical crystals forming like the tears of a sleeping dragon.

– Clive Cobie