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Sustainable Single-Species Lumpwood Charcoal

Made in Wiltshire from British Woodlands

Add great flavour to your barbecue, while helping the planet by using sustainable British lumpwood charcoal.

A few of our bestsellers.

Natural Firelighters

Price range: £2.00 through £8.00 incl VAT

Kiln Dried Ash Lumpwood Barbecue Charcoal

Price range: £13.50 through £25.00 incl VAT

Gift cards now available for the perfect present!

Gift Cards

Price range: £10.00 through £100.00

Who

Slate Hill Charcoal Co. is a family run business fundamentally set up with the next generation in mind.

Continue on our journey with us:

What

Single Species lumpwood charcoal, UK produced from 100% British hardwoods including Alder and Ash. These trees have been felled under license as part of a woodland management plan in order to preserve and promote the biodiversity and sustainability of our woodlands. Each species brings it’s own characteristics to your barbecue.

Where

Our raw materials are sourced from as nearby as possible to our base in the North Wessex downs. With some just a stones throw from our charcoal retort! Both keeping it local and reducing unnecessary transport is a fundamental part of our philosophy.

Why

QUALITY – our charcoal making process produces some of the finest cooking material available!

SUSTAINABILITY – Unnecessary charcoal imports are damaging tropical
ecosystems and also polluting the planet.

When

We Brits love a Barby come rain or shine. By using our chemical-free Charcoal you’ll be able to enjoy a significantly quicker and cleaner burn. Faster lighting means faster feasting!

How

We make our lumpwood charcoal using the highly efficient retort method, which uses the wood’s own volatile gases to cook itself to pure carbon. As there are no additives, your charcoal can therefore be ready to cook on as soon as it has reached temperature, while more can be added whenever you want.

Some Of Our Recent Reviews

Posted on Google Google
Mike Hess profile picture
Mike Hess
19 July 2025
Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5
Where has this charcoal been all my BBQ life? I am so used to opening a bag full of small particles that seeing the wealth of large chunks of ash charcoal made me well up.
Posted on Google Google
Chris Heyes profile picture
Chris Heyes
27 April 2025
Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5
Excellent charcoal, quick to light and Kamado gets up to temperature very quickly.
Posted on Google Google
James Iles profile picture
James Iles
27 March 2025
Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5
Slate hill is the only charcoal I buy now since picking some up at a pop up market in Hungerford. Its perfect and unlike being able to selected from different single varieties of wood. I also recommend the cherry chunks for some extra smoky goodness. Great products from a fantastic family run business.
Posted on Google Google
Asura profile picture
Asura
2 July 2024
Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5
Rare gem of a small scale manufacturer of high quality, no added chemicals, long burning charcoals made from single origin wood. I’ve used Slate Hill for a few years. When used in comparison with other quality charcoal brands like Alderline Charcoal, or restaurant grade blue bags, I always go back to buy more from Slate Hill - theirs simply have more overall winning qualities - starts relatively quickly within 10-15min, no strong nasty chemical smells like Kamodo Joe or Webber, burns hotter for longer than Alderline. Thank you for making such good quality charcoal! Wish you all the best.
Posted on Google Google
Tom profile picture
Tom
2 April 2024
Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5
Great service and amazing quality, locally sourced lumpwood charcoal. Perfect for BBQs and Kamado smoking, their Ash lumpwood, along with their cherry smoking wood chunks, makes food taste delicious. A really good family business, I'm very lucky to have these guys so local to me. Highly recommended!
Posted on Google Google
Bob Dynes profile picture
Bob Dynes
10 July 2023
Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5
We've recently started using this charcoal for our BBQ and have been very impressed. It lights easily and can be cooked on within a few minutes giving a lengthy even burn with little flame. Knowing that its locally made from carefully sourced wood makes this a firm favourite and something I'd highly recommend.
Posted on Google Google
Katharine Daubney profile picture
Katharine Daubney
10 July 2023
Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5
Used the ash charcoal for hosting a large BBQ party. Not only was it easy to light and quick to get to a good cooking temperature, but it produced some consistently great results. Using this charcoal makes BBQing with charcoal easy. Our guests agreed and many are now looking into this charcoal themselves. Fully recommended and far better than any alternative tried.
Posted on Google Google
Edward Newnham profile picture
Edward Newnham
18 August 2022
Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5
I am a BBQ fanatic and have been for 40 years. This is absolute top shelf charcoal. I have only tried the ash but will be trying the other varieties they offer. It burns beautifully and is super clean. Tbh it's the best charcoal I've ever used. 10000% recommended.
Posted on Google Google
Nicholas Brown profile picture
Nicholas Brown
29 May 2022
Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5
Great charcoal for my smoker i used the ash lump wood and was really impressed, there was minimal ash and burns so clean. I also bought the cherry wood and natural firelighter which were totally amazing. The cherry wood gave such a nice flavour to are meat will be coming back again as to get some more charcoal and maybe this time be trying the alder as well of the ash for an experiment. very friendly but defiantly a tucked away Gem

Why Buy British Charcoal from Slate Hill Charcoal?

wood in retort ready to turn into charcoal

Here in the UK, our fondness for firing up the barbie means that we get through more than 100,000 tonnes of charcoal a year. That’s a staggering figure, but what’s even more astonishing is that around 90% of this is imported from abroad. A lot of the barbecue charcoal in our shops comes from countries such as Paraguay, Nigeria and Indonesia where regulation is lacking and deforestation and pollution are big problems.

freshly made sustainable brittish charcoal from wiltshire

The barbecue charcoal produced here in the UK on the other hand comes from sustainably managed woodlands, from trees that once cut down and turned into our BBQ fuel or cooking woods, will grow again or be re-planted. British hardwoods produce lumpwood charcoal that is less dense and with a much higher carbon content (up to 95%) than the imported stuff. This means it will light easily (without the need for lighter fluid or other chemicals) and produce a clean even heat to cook on more quickly, a great reason to buy charcoal produced here in the UK.

Regular cutting of our woods here in UK to produce barbecue charcoal (or plenty of other coppice products) helps to create more diverse habitats and improve biodiversity. Add to that the fact that there are no air miles and that you’re supporting local businesses and the reasons to buy British charcoal just keep growing.

100% Renewable.

All of the raw materials for our charcoal and wood are from renewable resources, producing a completely renewable cooking fuel.

Zero Plastic.

We use no plastic in our charcoal, firelighter and wood packaging.

Zero Waste.

We aim to produce no waste in our charcoal production process. All of our packaging is 100% recyclable, right down to the paper tape to seal our boxes.

Check out a recent test of our ‘light in the bag’ Ash lumpwood charcoal:


As Featured In:

We’re in cahoots with these lovely people:

ANDREWS QUALITY MEAT LTD-4 High Street, Marlborough, Wiltshire SN8 1AA

BAYDON VILLAGE STORES– Ermin Street, Baydon, Marlborough SN8 2LH

BISHOPSTONE STORES– Cues Ln, Bishopstone, Swindon SN6 8PP

COBBS FARM SHOPS– Englefield, RG7 5EA and Basingstoke, RG23 8P/A4, Hungerford RG17 0SP / Scrapps Hill Farm, 550 Worting Rd, Basingstoke RG23 8PU/Stratford upon Avon

COOK AND BUTCHER-17 The Broadway, Thatcham RG19 3HX

DIDDY DELI AT THE BLADE BONE – Chapel Row, Reading RG7 6PD

FEATHER & SPICE – 112 High Street, Marlborough SN8 1LT

GRAPESMITH – Barrs Yard, 1 Bath Rd, Hungerford RG17 0HD

GROVE FARM BUTCHERY – Mildenhall, SN8 2FJ

HAMPSTEAD NORREYS COMMUNITY SHOP – Manor Courtyard, Church St, Hampstead Norreys, Thatcham RG18 0TD

HINTON MARSH FARM SHOP -22 High Street, Shrivenham, Swindon, Wiltshire SN6 8AA

JOLLY NICE FARMSHOP – Frampton Mansell, Stroud GL6 8HZ

RAMSBURY VILLAGE SHOP/POST OFFICE – 6 High Street, Ramsbury SN8 2PB

ROVES FARM– Sevenhampton, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN6 7QG

SHALBOURNE STORES – Kingston Rd, Shalbourne, Marlborough SN8 3QF

THREE TREES FARM SHOP – The Ridgeway, Chiseldon, Swindon SN4 0HT

10 GREEN BOTTLES – Wroughton, Swindon, SN49AQ

2 NORTH PARADE – Oxford OX2 6LX

If you’d like to buy our lumpwood charcoal you can visit our shop online or from our HQ here SN8 2JX, alternatively visit our stockists to check availability, or contact us with any questions about our high quality, sustainable, British charcoal.

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