If you ever walk around an old woodland and find small, round, flat areas. You have probably found an old pitstead.

Pitsteads were where charcoal makers (called Wood Colliers) would have made their wood piles and made charcoal.

We dug the earth at a likely looking spot and found loads of bits of 100 year old charcoal. The soil was very black because of it.

The pieces looked like soil, so were quite hard to find.

Here you can see Tim digging the soil looking for more charcoal.

The charcoal was an important ingredient in gunpowder which was used at local quarries for blasting rock. It was also used for smelting iron because it burns so hot.