Jack Allonby, the last traditional charcoal burner in Cumbria, is seen here attending to his charcoal “clamp”. Such “colliers” practiced coppicing and sometimes other crafts which grew the tree cover seen in the Furness & Derwent today. The charcoal burners spent the year deep in these quiet woods where the chop of axe on trunk was heard and the haze of faint blue smoke shrouded the dense trees blending into the green of the still canopy. Though the scene is bucolic, the burner cannot stop to admire it, a pause on another day at another task, bark peeling or cutting hazel for hurdles, will do for that, he watches the clamp like a hawk apply stopping to any leaks in fear of the charcoal turning to ash.