Editing Coracle (section)

==History==
[[File:Britons with coracles - from Cassell's History of England, Vol. I - anonymous author and artists.jpg|thumb|left|Britons with coracles – from Cassell's History of England, Vol. I, 1909<ref>[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48451/48451-h/48451-h.htm#Page_12 Project Gutenberg. Accessed 21 February 2023]</ref>]]
[[File:Coracle makers.jpg|thumb|Coracle makers in Wales c.1842]]
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Designed for use in swiftly flowing streams, the coracle has been in use in the British Isles for millennia, having been noted by [[Julius Caesar]]<ref name="eb1911"/> in his invasion of Britain in the mid first century BC, and used in [[Roman conquest of the Iberian peninsula|his military campaigns in Spain]]. Remains interpreted as a possible coracle were found in an Early [[Bronze Age]] grave at Barns Farm near [[Dalgety Bay]], and others have been described, from [[Corbridge]] and from near [[Ferriby Boats|North Ferriby]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Watkins |first1=Trevor |last2=Barnetson |first2=Lin |last3=Henshall |first3=A. S. |last4=Lunt |first4=Dorothy |last5=McAdam |first5=Ellen |last6=Roe |first6=Fiona |last7=Shepherd |first7=Ian |last8=McCawley |first8=C. C. |title=The excavation of an Early Bronze Age cemetery at Barns Farm, Dalgety, Fife |journal=Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland |date=1982 |volume=112 |pages=48–141 |doi=10.9750/PSAS.112.48.141 |id={{INIST|12145527}} |url=http://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/psas/article/view/9080 }}</ref>

Where coracle fishing is performed by two coraclers the net is stretched across the river between the two coracles.  The coraclers will paddle one handed, dragging the net in the other, and draw the net downstream. When a fish is caught, each hauls up an end of the net until the two boats are brought to touch, and the fish is then secured, using a [[Priest (tool)|priest]] (or knocker – a small block of wood) to stun the fish.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

A new tax was introduced in 1863 on the commercial capture of migratory fish in Wales; this led to a decline in the number of coracles. During the 1930s, the government decided to begin revoking the licences of commercial fisher families on the death of the main licensees. It took some years for this plan to be completed but eventually led to a more significant decline in the number of craft.<ref>{{cite web |last=Carpenter |first=Daniel |date=April 30, 2017 |title=Coracle making |url=https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/coracle-making/ |access-date=May 21, 2022 |website=Heritage Crafts |quote=Only 12 licences are now issued per season to fish the tidal sections of the Teifi. Eight are issued for the river Tywi, and only one licensed pair can fish the river Taf from St Clares.}}</ref>

In the 1920s and 30s [[James Hornell]] visited hundreds of rivers in the British Isles to talk with remaining coracle makers and users. He documented the tradition in his book ''British Coracles and the Curraghs of Ireland'' (The Society for Nautical Research, 1938) containing drawings, diagrams and construction details gleaned from regular makers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hornell |first=James |date=1939 |title=British Coracles and Irish Curraghs: with a Note on the Quffah of Iraq |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=143 |issue=3615 |pages=224 |doi=10.1038/143224c0 |bibcode=1939Natur.143R.224. |s2cid=4070546 |issn=1476-4687 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Current status===
Coracles are now{{when|date=June 2021}} seen regularly only in tourist areas of West Wales, and irregularly in [[Shropshire]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Witts |first=Chris |title=River Severn Trading Vessels. Coracles, Punts and Trows |url=https://www.severntales.co.uk/coracle.html |website=River Severn Tales}}</ref> on the River Severn. A [[public house]] in [[Sundorne]], Shrewsbury called "The Coracle" has a pub sign featuring a man using a coracle on a river. The Welsh rivers Teifi and [[River Tywi|Tywi]] are the most common places to find coracles in Wales. On the Teifi they are most frequently seen between [[Cenarth]], and [[Cilgerran]] and the village of [[Llechryd]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}

In 1974, a Welsh coracle piloted by Bernard Thomas (c.&nbsp;1923–2014) of Llechryd crossed the [[English Channel]] to France in {{frac|13|1|2}} hours.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lewis |first=Sue |date=7 September 2014 |title=Death of a river legend |work=Tivyside Advertiser |url=http://www.tivysideadvertiser.co.uk/news/11457928.Death_of_a_river_legend/?ref=var_0 |access-date=5 May 2015}}</ref> The journey was undertaken to support a claim that [[Bull Boat]]s of the [[Mandan]] Indians of [[North Dakota]] in the US could have been copied from coracles introduced by [[Prince Madog]] in the 12th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannia.com/celtic/wales/facts/facts7.html|title=Wales on Britannia: Facts About Wales & the Welsh|website=britannia.com|access-date=9 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011090450/http://www.britannia.com/celtic/wales/facts/facts7.html|archive-date=11 October 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=John|first1=Gilbert|title='Coracle king' to hang up paddle|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/7331209.stm|website=BBC News|publisher=BBC|access-date=10 January 2015|date=5 April 2008}}</ref>

For many years until 1979, [[Shrewsbury]] coracle maker Fred Davies achieved some notability amongst football fans; he would sit in his coracle during [[Shrewsbury Town FC]] home matches at [[Gay Meadow]], and retrieve stray balls from the River Severn. Although Davies died in 1994, his story is still associated with the club.<ref>''Gentlemen of the River'' by Phyllis Blakemore. Stenlake Publishing {{ISBN|978-1-84033-473-9}}{{page needed|date=January 2021}}</ref>