Chopwood kiln

I knew nothing about chopwood kilns until I attended a walk around the Kilnsey area of Wharfdale lead by Janis Heward who has made a detailed study of this industrial process. Chopwood kilns produced the dried wood (whitecoal) used as fuel in the ore hearth lead smelting process. The coppiced wood was placed on a grid of large green timbers in the low dry stone-walled structure with a narrow entrance built into a bank. In the pit below a controlled fire was burned to dry the timber above. There are many of these structures to be found in various ruinous states in the northern lead smelting areas. This example is one of the better preserved examples on a hillside between Threshfield and Kilnsey.

Janis has produced an interesting web page all about these kilns.