From the same source who recently gave me the splendid word “broomsquire” comes another gem – “wood collier”.
British Genealogy has the following definition: he “was a labourer (or an apprentice) to a master charcoal burner. Apparently charcoal burning was a highly skilled art and obviously common in the Forest of Dean area”, while the Yorkshire Historical Dictionary says: “John Wayed and Christopher Wayde colyeres agreed … to falle the underwood and ockes and saplynges. However, in those parts of the West Riding where collier could mean coal-miner, the term wood collier had come into use by the sixteenth century.” Marvellous what you can learn if you consort with charcoal makers.
