[Sca-cooks] Sixteen Steps to Build an SCA Cooks Campfire

[Stefan li Rous]

Phlip commented:
> I'm a lazy git by nature. Being lazy, I bring charcoal lighter fluid,
> because I'm lighting, guess what, charcoal ;-) Coal/coke fires are a
> pain to
> try to light, but they're easy if you start with charcoal. I just
> don't use
> the coal or coke any more, because it isn't period, although charcoal
> is.

A small correction here. Charcoal was much more prominent by far,  
however coal was being used by late period, especially in places like  
Scotland where forests were in short supply.

I thought I had more definite info on the use of sea / mineral coal  
in period. However, much of the quotes I have for using "coal" looks  
like it could apply to charcoal as well as mineral coal.

Hmmm. Well apparently some sea coal / mineral coal was actually mined  
and used earlier. From this file:
charcoal-msg      (29K)  9/28/01    Use and making of charcoal in  
period.

 >>>>
From: rhayes at powerup.com.au (Robin Hayes)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Charcoal Burning
Date: 20 Jan 1997 05:51:34 GMT

Serendipity found the following site describing a modern recreation  
of the
Clamp making process in England in 1992 at a Windermere living history
exhibit at Brockhole in Cumbria.

http://www.ftech.net/~regia/charcoal.htm

quote
Footnote: Anglo - Saxon word "col'' often taken to mean "coal'' (ie.
mineral coal) actually meant charcoal - cf. "The Wen charm'' -  
"scring pu
alswa col on hearde'' - "may you be consumed as charcoal on the fire''.
Mineral coal was called sea - coal, because it was found on beaches  
(washed
up from exposed seams). Only the monks at Margam actually dug for it,  
from
about 1054.
unquote

Robin
<<<<

There is also this snippet from the ship-measure-msg file, although  
it doesn't provide a date:
 >>>
Because it required nothing more than the gross overall dimensions,
measurement in Tonnes became the generally accepted standard, and the  
other
measurements are infrequently used, except the Chaldron. That  
measurement
was generally limited to the traffic moving through NewCastle on Tyne or
the port of Tynesmouth, where "NewCastle coal" or "sea coal" (because it
originally was gathered up as it washed ashore after a storm) was  
mined and
shipped all over England, and to France. Coal was a staple of the
"coasting" Trade, along with Salt, Salted Herring, "raw" cloth, and  
Grain.
"Coasting" is basically short range shipping practiced along the  
coasts and
waterways of England.
<<<

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****