United Kingdom · Boatbuilding; Basketry; Welsh heritage

Welsh Coracle Making and Net Fishing — Teifi, Tywi and Taf

Cwrwgl (Teifi, Tywi and Taf coracles)

The making and use of coracles — light, keel-less, one-person boats — on the rivers of West Wales. A frame of cleft willow laths is woven with hazel, covered with tarred calico (formerly flannel, and before that animal hide) and carried on the back or over the head. Pairs of coracles drag a net between them to fish for sea trout (sewin) and salmon on the tidal Teifi and on the Tywi, one of the few places where a coracle is still a licensed fishing boat.

Risk level: Endangered · Not listed. Heritage Crafts Red List 2025: Endangered ('Coracle making').

Alternate Names
Coracle; cwrwgl; Teifi coracle; Tywi (Towy) coracle; Taf coracle; coracle netting; currach (related Irish term)
Geographic Center
West Wales — the River Teifi (Cenarth, Cilgerran, Llechryd, Cardigan) and the River Tywi (Carmarthen). Coracle types are also recorded from the Taf, Cleddau, Llwchwr, Usk, Wye, Dyfi, Dee, Conwy and Dwyryd in Wales and from the Severn (Ironbridge, Shrewsbury) and Teme in England.
Community / Ethnic Group
Welsh — Teifi and Tywi coracle-fishing and coracle-making families
Estimated Origin
Coracles are evidenced from the early Bronze Age (The Coracle Society); the Teifi coracle has been in use for over 200 years.
Cultural Function
A working river craft for net fishing; also used for rescuing livestock stranded by floods and for sheep washing. Today regattas keep it public — the Cilgerran coracle regatta, part of the Cilgerran River Festival, marked 65 years in 2015. 'West Wales Coracle Caught Sewin' and 'West Wales Coracle Caught Salmon' have Protected Geographical Indication status.
Primary Materials
Cleft willow laths for the frame; hazel rods woven into the rim or 'plinth'; a pine seat that also stiffens the boat; for the Teifi type a plaited willow transverse lath behind the seat. Covering: traditionally hide, replaced by flannel in the late 18th or early 19th century, then calico.
Primary Tools
Draw knife and shaving tools for the laths; a paddle with a claw carved into the top of the shaft that hooks under the seat; the net.
Process Overview
Select and split willow; shave the laths; soak; build the frame on a bench with seat and crossing laths; weave hazel rods into the rim; add the semi-circular plait behind the seat (Teifi); cover with calico; coat with tar or bitumen.
Traditional Applications
Net fishing for salmon and sea trout; river crossing and transport; rescuing livestock in floods; sheep washing; rod-and-line fishing.
Contemporary Applications
Licensed net fishing on the tidal Teifi and the Tywi; regattas and races; demonstrations; occasional commissions for film and television period dramas; leisure paddling.
Notable Practitioners
Historically: Bernard Thomas of Llechryd (coracle maker who crossed the English Channel in a Teifi coracle in the 1970s) and Ronnie Davies (The Coracle Society). Reported in 2013: Peter Davis of Cenarth, a licence holder and the village's last coracle maker (BBC Radio 4). Reported in 2018: the Rogers family (licence holders for over 100 years) and Len Walters and Aaron Walters. Current status and consent to be confirmed in practitioner verification.
Key References
Heritage Crafts, 'Coracle making' (heritagecrafts.org.uk/craft/coracle-making/); Heritage Crafts Red List 2025; The Coracle Society, 'Teifi coracle' and 'About the coracle' (coraclesociety.org.uk); Fishing News, 'Silver lining for traditional Welsh coracle fishery?' (21 June 2018); BBC Radio 4, Open Country, Teifi Valley (2013); West Wales Maritime Heritage Society, 'Coracles'; archived welsh-coracles.co.uk (2009)
Verification Status
Desk-Researched — Needs Practitioner Verification

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