Long o groen newydd flingo. Groen buwch ar waith gweren bert.
 (Have a ship of newly flayed skin. The skin of a cow worked with the fair tallow candle.)

Completed Hazel & Cow Hide Coracle

The hazel and cowhide coracle represents the coracle in its most primitive form. As an exponent of wilderness survival I personally really like hide coracles although I regard them as a poor substitute for the cleft wood and canvas coracles I usually make.

I sometimes make cow hide coracles as wilderness art projects rather than working coracles as hide coracles are very heavy and the hair seen inside the coracle is a natural trap for the fish slime and dirt associated with working use.

However I would rather employ a stable hide coracle such as the one above for working purposes than the sawn lath bowl coracles I see being made on coracle making courses everywhere nowadays. Please note, this coracle is not for sale although I would be prepared to hire it out as a historical or fantasy film or TV prop.

This coracle is about as ‘authentic’ and historically accurate as it is possible to get having been constructed from round wood, (not sawn laths), and traditionally cured cowhide with leather, horse hair and antler fixings.

Whilst the hide coracle may be borrowed, collected and returned by the hirer, I am not interested in being a film prop myself. I am an outdoorsman not an actor and would rather spend what little spare time I have in the countryside and wilderness. This hide coracle is a greatly modified and improved version of a Boyne curragh given an artistic twist.