Coracle Types - River Taf Coracle
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Coracle Types - River Taf Coracle
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The River Taf runs into Carmarthen Bay and is only 32 miles long and today only one pair of coracles is licensed to fish the river. Traditionally the netsmen have been from the village of Lower St Clears and from there to the Estuary at Laugharne is their 'trawl beat' (where they fish). |
Although the village is only 8 miles from Carmarthen the Taf coracles are very different in design to their Tywi (Towy) cousins by uniquely having planked gunwales instead of basketwork. Also no diagonal lathes are used but short support ones woven across the frame. The ends of the lathes are inserted into holes drilled in the gunwale and secured with a wooden peg while beneath the seat vertical wooden pillars support it. The frame is covered in Calico and waterproofed with a mixture of pitch and Stockholm tar. A Tywi type of paddle is used but shorter by about a foot.This description is taken from the 1930s design of Taf coracle. |
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In the post war years the traditional design was abandoned in favour of the Tywi type and later the fibreglass coracles also from Carmarthen were also adopted. There were plans in 2001 to build a coracle of traditional design for re-introduction to the River Taf but due to the sad death of one of the netsmen this did not happen. |
The unusual feature in building a traditional Taf coracle was using wood with a natural bend, splitting it down the middle and using the two halves on either side of the coracle to obtain an equal shape. The Taf coracle on display at The National Museum of Wales in Cardiff was donated in 1988, it was made in 1940 by Irlwyn John and an exact copy of one built by his grandfather in 1895. A more recently built one in the traditional design is also on display at the National Coracle Centre in Cenarth Wales. |
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