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 tlie 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 attem.pt 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 



