The coracle is a keeless wicker boat originally covered in animal hides
and used in Britain by the Celtic tribes primarily for water transport before
being later refined as a dedicated fishing boat by Welsh river netsmen.
With the advent of woven fabrics such as flannel, canvas and later calico,
heavy animal hide skins were replaced by pitched cloth to produce an altogether
lighter and more practical working coracle that required less maintenance.
On the fast flowing Welsh rivers, the circular bowl shape of the coracle
was also replaced by blunter and more stable pear shaped coracles with flatter
bottoms and straighter sides that were better able to cope both with the
river conditions and the job in hand of landing heavy fish and nets.
An early coracle design and early beginnings
for me too
My own involvement with coracles began in the 1980’s with primitive
bowl coracles on my own wilderness survival courses. However I found such
coracles to have limited stability when applied to practical tasks and
so in the 1990’s I turned to what I felt were the superior coracles
of the salmon and sewin , (sea trout), fishing craftsmen of rural Wales
whose art I have the deepest respect for.
Myself with the framework of a traditional
Teifi coracle by master craftsman
Ronnie Davies of Cenarth.
Originally I used my coracles for nature observation, angling, bushcraft
applications and charity expeditions such as the 70 mile epic for the
Imperial Cancer Research Fund on a dangerously swollen Afon Teifi in 1998.
later I began to use coracles for own use seine netting of sea fish in
sheltered coastal creeks and eel fishing before producing the Welsh Teifi
coracle and my own Witham coracle commercially.
My daughter Emma and I with
the framework of one of my Teifi coracles.
The coracles I now produce are truly traditional premium products being
hand crafted from cleft laths riven from pollarded willow poles with a
billhook or with a riving axe before finishing on the shaving horse with
a drawknife in the time honoured traditional Welsh way. This produces
a coracle that retains as much strength and flexibility in the floor laths
as possible as the fibres are left largely intact as the natural grain
of the wood is followed. My coracles should not be confused with others
produced more quickly and cheaply elsewhere, particularly outside Wales,
using sawn laths whose fibres have been ripped by the saw blade and whose
laths are usually nailed or stapled together. I do not personally entertain
these more modern methods of coracle construction and only ever hand craft
coracles using traditional cleft laths secured by their own natural tension
and woven hazel withy gunwales that ooze authentic rustic charm.
Finishing cleft floor laths on the shaving horse.
My coracles are covered with traditional bitumen tar coated canvas which
in my experience gives the optimum combination of good tough performance
and lightness whilst being virtually maintenance free. Paddles are lovingly
handcrafted from one solid billet of ash in the traditional way and incorporate
a ‘claw’ as a further aid to carrying the coracle with the
carrying strap. Finished coracles are also delivered complete with a handcrafted
priest or knocker used to humanely kill caught fish as a reminder that
you are purchasing a historical fishing craft rather than a recreational
toy. Remember, not all coracles are the same and my prices reflect the
additional time and skill required to produce what I strongly believe
to be some of the finest coracles available.
Purchasing a coracle from me includes delivery
and tuition in mainland Britain.
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