Coracles and Edwardian Farm

[Sean Hellman]

I was on Edwardian Farm, episode 8, this Friday 24th Dec making a coracle. For those of you who have not seen it, it is an ongoing documentary about 3 people who live and work on a farm as they would have done in Edwardian times, 1901 to about 1920.

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Edwardian-farm, coracles by woodwrightman, on Flickr[/img]


I spent a very enjoyable 6 hours or so with Alex helping him make a coracle, all of which was filmed. During the day's filming I went into great detail about how to make a coracle, but only a brief overview was shown on the TV. If you just want to see the coracle bit, then it starts about 16 mins in, and finishing it off at 20mins, the coracle being used at about 24 mins. I bought the book the other day and there is a small photo of me in it. Being a person who loves to know how things work or get made, Edwardian Farm has been fascinating for me, both Lucy and I love social history. I wish they had the time to go into far more detail both in the book and series, but I know they need to make an engaging and entertaining program. A program that I would love to see would not appeal so much to the normal BBC2 audience.
I do not like watching myself, especially when seeing it for the first time, so I squirmed, like when I watch Ricky Gervais or Alan Partridge or even Peep show.

Watch it here, for a month only unfortunately http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00x1tgv/Edwardian_Farm_Episode_8/

Have a look at my blog for more on this episode

I have very much enjoyed the whole series and it is great that they use local craftsman who are working traditionally

 

[John Fenna]

That looks like a Teifi corracle from the photo - while the one against the tree looks more like a Towy model...am I right?
The paddle seems to be from a different region completely though....

 

[Shambling Shaman]

Fame at last good on ya, Did you go for a pint with them? I think you could had a good old natter with that lot

 

[Echoes of the old ways]

Yep saw it
We love those series.. have the dvd of the one that kicked it off "tales from the green valley" where Ruth alex and peter reconstruct a 17th century smallholding, hubby (shambling) bought me "Victorian farm" on dvd for Yule this year and planning to get Edwardian farm on dvd too.
there is so much good useful info in these programmes and let's you glimpse a little window of the old ways. (some of which personally we still use, and I'm sure others on here do too)
We always watch them saying wouldn't it be great if the worlds clock could be reversed to a more reasonable sustainable time and then stopped there!
Must be fab to work on them, well done you! impressed and a tad jealous lol

 

[durulz]

You know what, I reckon we're due a coracle renaissance!
Let the Canadians keep their canoes, here in the UK we should embrace out Celtic past and look to the coracle.
I'm looking forward to seeing a group of UK bushcrafters, Karrimors et al, doing that slightly comical sideways waddle paddling as they set out for adventure in their coracles!
Bring it on, I say.
Seriously.

 

[Shambling Shaman]

You know what, I reckon we're due a coracle renaissance!
Let the Canadians keep their canoes, here in the UK we should embrace out Celtic past and look to the coracle.
I'm looking forward to seeing a group of UK bushcrafters, Karrimors et al, doing that slightly comical sideways waddle paddling as they set out for adventure in their coracles!
Bring it on, I say.
Seriously.

Sounds Like a charity event to me.....

 

[John Fenna]

The technique of paddling a fig8 drawstroke over the bow is pretty easy to pick up - especially if you have done a bit of canoeing - and the corracles bob along quite nicely...great for fishing but a bit slow for distance travelling!

 

[sandy2]

I loved this series and would like it to have more detail - it makes me realise how much skill there is about. Impressive coracle

 

[forestwalker]

The technique of paddling a fig8 drawstroke over the bow is pretty easy to pick up - especially if you have done a bit of canoeing - and the corracles bob along quite nicely...great for fishing but a bit slow for distance travelling!

Am I guessing right in that they are ideal small, shallow water fishing vessels, but not much good for real travel or open water?

How tricky is it to build something corracle shaped just to see how it works?

 

[Sean Hellman]

That looks like a Teifi corracle from the photo - while the one against the tree looks more like a Towy model...am I right?
The paddle seems to be from a different region completely though....

They are not made to any of different river styles, just my generic coracle style. The one against the tree is made from ash lath.
It was great chatting to them Alex is a great bloke with a real interest in craft. I had a chat with Ruth about herbs and rush used on floors. I lived in a tipi and bender for 4 years and soft rush was the floor covering of choice. In a lot old medieval houses the doors had a 4 inch high plank at the bottom so you had to step over the thresh hold, even internal doors. We reckoned that this must to have been to hold the floor covering in.
The figure of 8 paddle stroke is easy to do, the best thing to remember is that you are in fact pulling yourself through the water. Not the fastest craft in the world, I remember that Tim Wade had a go at crossing the channel in one, not my idea of fun though.
They are easy to make, make a basket or bowl shape and put a water proof membrane on it. They appear all over the world in various forms and were also probably one of the first boats to be made. I had one farmer once ask me how much they were, he scoffed at the price and said he used a builders bag with a pallet in the bottom and nailed on some walls and gunwales, and away he went.
If you want more info look up the coracle society on the internet.

 

[John Fenna]

The guy who taught me was Bernard Thomas from Llechryd - and he completed a channel crossing in a Tivy corracle!
I did an article (back in the mists of time) for SWAT on building a Bull Boat.
If you come to Weat Wales a visit to the Corracle cnter in Cenarth is a must.
Local fishermen still use the corracle - one is built from Alky piping!

 

[robin wood]

You know what, I reckon we're due a coracle renaissance!.

That's just what Terry Kenny and friends thought 20 years ago when there were few folks left who had heard of a coracle. The set up the coracle society started teaching how to build them and now these wonderful little craft are everywhere.

 

[forestwalker]

In a lot old medieval houses the doors had a 4 inch high plank at the bottom so you had to step over the thresh hold, even internal doors. We reckoned that this must to have been to hold the floor covering in.

Also draft excluders. Stopping the draft makes a lot of difference.

They are easy to make, make a basket or bowl shape and put a water proof membrane on it. They appear all over the world in various forms and were also probably one of the first boats to be made.

I might goive it a go, I have made the "classic" improvised version (lash together a ring of small branches, a floor cris-crossing it and a tarp lver the whole thing: http://www.aktivitetsbanken.se/aktivitetsbanken/images/thumb/1/1b/Risflotte.JPG/305px-Risflotte.JPG). Drawbcks for that one is (1) a lot of cord used, more than any sane person carries when out hiking, and (2) that it ends up heavy. A more sane improvised corracle/bull boat would probably be easier to build and take less materials.

I figure using it for small lake fishing is the (for me) ideal use; light so it can be portaged easier than a canoe, and perhaps even cheap enought to be left all season by ones favourite lake (if home made with a plastic tarp or cheap canvas and paint/tar). I wonder how it would be for waterfowl hunting...

 

[hog]

You can just imagine Celtic Voyageures going up the Taymar with trade goods..in a Corracle.

 

[Whittler Kev]

Nice one Sean. Like the flowers in the background. You should have showed him how to do a fan bird as well. That would have grabbed his attention (If any of you reading this don't know what I'm on about, look at Sean's blog NOW!)

 

[jojo]

I love those little coracles. I visited the museum and it's well worth the visit if you have any interest at all in boats. They are the simplest of boats to make and cheap too. I have seen one somewhere, a generic sort of coracle, made with strips of birch ply.

And what about a big, woven bamboo coracle, 8ft in diameter, like this one from Vietnam:

completed with a small diesel engine...Love those basket boats, so ingenious. Now that's cool!

 

[Melonfish]

Sean! i loved that coracle and yeah like most i'm hooked on Edwardian farm
however the moment peter stepped into the coracle i knew for sure he was going in the drink

 

[John Fenna]

I just watched it on iplayer - a great episode!
The trawler used to live on the Teifi at Cardigan and I have often admired it, though I first saw it in Devon when I was on holiday!
The coracle making looked great - a bit different to how they are made around here where the front is very flat to allow you easy paddling over the bow - it was very much like a cross between how I made the bull-boat and a local coracle
I think I might be inspired to have a go myself again!
The potted shrimp looked tasty...but not the skate!

 

[Knightfisher8]

One day I want to make /own 1 of these !

 

[Paul_B]

That show and the Victorian farm one are cracking shows. A friend got me hooked on them and I try to watch every one now. Thing is I reckon if I had more of my Grandparents generation alive a lot of this stuff might have been known by them. Some gret ideas like the lime and caustic soda slug and snail repellants. The ducks to keep the snails down too. My Grandad came from nurseryman stock and had all the old gardening / market gardening / nurseryman knowledge. It has been lost to some extent. Although my Dad has a lot of that knowledge too. I've mentioned some of their tips to gardener friends and they hadn't heard of them but thought the old tips were good.

I often say we have forgotton more skills than we know about (if you understnd what I mean). There are still pockets of information dotted around the country andin old books an pamphlets but the general population wouldn't have access to this knowledge most of the time. That is why such a populist and entertainment frocussed programme like these two are so good. It introduces the basics of knowledge from the past that whilst not suitable for most mass produced foodstuffs (see Jimmy's food factory for that) but would be good for households or people with small holdings. I had a mate who has a small holding. He used to keep goats for milk and had a small sideline selling it in sealed bags. If he had some of the skill shown on these two farm shows perhaps he could have converted the produce into something more profitable and interesting to potential customers. He had to stop his business as it didn't really pay. Now I reckon it would but back then he said noone would take the milk. Just wasn't known. Now we see goats milk and goats cheese in large supermarket chains. Times have changed.

BTW I always known the figure of 8 stroke as sculling. You can do it with the blade more vertical to draw the craft through the water or more horizontal to provide support when say a kayak is tilted. Anyone who has his/her 3* kayak award will know that. It is a lot more efficient than the straight forward draw stroke where you bring the paddle straight into the boat turn the blade 90 degrees to take it back to the starting position on the stroke. In a kayak going sideways (the stroke is acting against the drag caused by the length of the kayak) you could actually get a bit of speed going with a sculling stroke. I reckon a narrow coracle would be capable of being a reasonable mover in a slow river, lake, tarn or pond. Probably a great fishing boat. Perhaps we will see them on the agnling tarns of the lakes such as Angtarn near Patterdale. Light enough to carry up the hill manoueverable enough to use.