Spray coal?

[Mike in Cumbria]

Does this look like "spray coal" to you? (3rd line from the bottom). I can't think what else it might be. I don't have any more of the document to compare it with.

[mazi]

Yes it does, but I wonder if that is a comma after spray,   Coal which was carried

Possibly half burnt charcoal, or smaller pieces.


Mike

[Mike in Cumbria]

Yes it does, but I wonder if that is a comma after spray,   Coal which was carried

Possibly half burnt charcoal, or smaller pieces.


Mike

Yes, could well be.
I'm wondering if it is just a local term for charcoal dust. Apparently the produce was carried off in sacks and used in the manufacture of gas masks.

[mazi]

Also much in demand for making gu.pow..r. 

A bit of googling suggests charcoal was also made from sawdust,  and brickettes made from compressed charcoal and sawdust gave out more heat.

I think it’s a local phrase, but what for I would not like to guess

Mike

[Maiden Stone]

The only word beginning with s connected with coal I can think of is slack but it doesn't look like it.
How about spar? Dictionary definition is "Kinds of crystalline mineral".

Edited to include words in 1st sentence I accidently left out.

[Sandblown]

One definition has 'Spray Coal' described as carboniferous materials, coal, charcoal etc., being treated with oils to prevent ingress of moisture, and prevent dusting. I assume this treatment ensures good combustion and ensures safety when stored or used.

[arthurk]

According to Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary, 'spray' can be a Sussex word meaning something like brushwood, faggots or thin branches, and one of the examples given is "The spray-faggot of all his extensive woods being cut down as fuel for his kilns":

https://archive.org/details/englishdialectdi05wrig/page/686/mode/2up

So could spray-coal be charcoal produced by burning spray?

[Mike in Cumbria]

According to Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary, 'spray' can be a Sussex word meaning something like brushwood, faggots or thin branches, and one of the examples given is "The spray-faggot of all his extensive woods being cut down as fuel for his kilns":

https://archive.org/details/englishdialectdi05wrig/page/686/mode/2up

So could spray-coal be charcoal produced by burning spray?

That sounds good, Arthur.
Edit. Although faggots and spray wouldn't be suitable for charcoal making, as it would just burn up. It would just be used as fuel.

Edited again! But - willow charcoal for drawing uses small diameter material, so it must be possible. I reckon you've cracked it.

[arthurk]

OK - I wasn't really thinking about the processes or the product, so maybe it's charcoal produced from spray. All I know about charcoal is a memory of using it in school art lessons mumble mumble years ago, and I suppose it would originally have been some kind of twig.

(Just seen your second edit, which says much the same, but I could probably have worded it better first time  )