Old Cornwall Notes and Queries Forum
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| Viewing Page 1 of 1 (Total Posts: 4) |
| Author | Comment |
bruce
Oct 14, 06 - 2:12 PM |
furze faggots
Iknow furze has been used for forage and fuel. what i would like to know is how big/thick/long where the faggots/how were they tied ? willow bundles have a special knot, did the faggots? how long did they take to season? any help here wpould be gratefully recieved. |
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George (Administrator)
Oct 18th, 2006 - 11:40 AM |
Re: furze faggots
Hi Bruce, thank you for your query. Furze was just one of the sources of fuel used by people in Cornwall in the past. A cottager would usually have the right to cut furze from an area of the local croft. A. K. Hamilton Jenkins in his book “Cornwall and its People” writes the following. “The furze was cut in the early summer from some selected ‘splat’ in the neighbouring crofts, where the growths often attained a height of eight ot ten feet. The men engaged in the cutting wore thick leather gloves and on their right leg a long legging which reached nearly to the thigh. A ‘tash’ or armful of the furze was seized with one hand and the stems severed with a hook, just above the ground. Each tash, as it was cut, was laid aside and afterwards made up into faggote, the later consisting of four tashes bound round with thin green branches. A thousand faggots constituted the usual winter supply for a substantial farm, and of these a skilful labourer would cut and prepare as many as fifty in a day. When thoroughly dried by the sun, the furze was removed to a spot near the house, where it was built into a rick. From this the faggots, seven or eight at a time, would be withdrawn by the aid of a furze-hook and taken indoors to the ‘ookener’ (chimney corner). A good deal of skill was needed to fill the latter properly. In a tidy wood-corner the furze was so placed that the sticks were kept out of sight, the blossom ends only facing the room.” That is all the information he gives but at least we know the size and length of a faggot and how it was made. I’m afraid we must hope someone else can furnish the information re. the knott although I would think it was similar to the one used in binding willow. In his reference Jenkins refers to an article by A Carkeet in Old Cornwall Magazine no. 9 page 20. This was entitled “The Open Chimney”. I do not know if this will give you more information. Hope this helps. GeorgeP. 
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bruce
Oct 18th, 2006 - 12:48 PM |
Re: furze faggots
many thanks, just what i was looking for. best wishes bruce |
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George (Administrator)
Oct 23rd, 2006 - 10:40 AM |
Re: furze faggots
Hi again Bruce, I thought you may like to see what a furze Rick looked like so I have put a photo of one on the Bits and Pieces page of the web site. http://www.oldcornwall Regards GeorgeP
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