There is evidence that wood charring has been practiced in the Sauerland since around 800 AD and served as a fuel supplier for iron smelting. The rich iron ore deposits and the thick forests of the Sauerland and Siegerland regions offered ideal location factors for this.
In 1880, Theodor Leiße founded a wood charring company on a kiln basis in Hirschberg. The main customer was the Warstein ironworks. Due to better transport connections, he moved to Meschede in 1882 and built a manufacturing plant there for the further processing of charcoal into semolina, dust and charcoal briquettes. Of the up to 180 charcoal burners employed, 80 came from the charcoal burner town of Hirschberg. Charcoaling was thus one of the main sources of income for many Hirschberg residents. Increasing competition from hard coal and chemical charcoal production led to the end of forest charcoal making.
In 1974, shortly before the municipal reorganization, on the initiative of the then mayor of Hirschberg and SGV chairman Paul H. Wellmanns, a foam charcoal kiln was erected on the site, an old charcoal kiln site, as a technical cultural monument of the Hirschberg charcoal burning and at the same time as a visual aid for everyone. Former charcoal burners helped the Hirschberg town officials with the construction.
Today, the charcoal burner's workshop is a meeting place for various activities, especially for the charcoal burner's weeks.