THE TIMBER.
Most strangers visiting the Forest do so in the expectation of seeing groves of stately timber covering the ground in every direction, and are much disappointed when they find the greater part to consist of oaks, barely fifty years old, comprised in enclosures, and the remainder of the surface disfigured by furnaces, collieries, and groups of inferior buildings. The Forest as it existed in the days of the Norman and Plantagenet kings, William I. and John, who resorted to it for the pleasures of the chase, when its dark recesses often concealed noble fugitives, or disposed its population to habits of violence and plunder, or at a still later period, when its stately trees had become objects of apprehension or jealousy to the Spaniards, was widely different from what it is at
present. Few of the trees of those days have survived the fellings, spoliations, and storms of succeeding ages. According to Mr. Pepys, “a great fall” in Edward III.’s reign left only those which in his time were called “forbid trees,” to be further reduced by the requirements of seventy-two iron forges, which then lit up the district, or the yet more voracious furnaces by which they were succeeded. One storm alone, viz. that of the 18th of February, 1662, prostrated in one night 1,000 oaks, and as many beech, whilst only 200 were, it is said, left standing after the wholesale fellings perpetrated by Sir John Winter. Of these select few, the venerable “Jack of the Yat,” near the Coleford and Mitcheldean Road on the top of “The Long Hill,” appears to be one.
Mr. Machen thinks it the most ancient tree in the Forest, and probably four or five hundred years old. It is of the Quercus robur kind, or old English oak, the stalks of its acorns being long, with rarely more than one acorn on a stalk, and the stalks of its leaves short. A few years back it was struck by lightning, which has left a deep groove on its trunk. In 1830 it measured, at 6 feet from the ground, 17 feet 8¾
inches; and in 1846 upwards of 18 feet 3½ inches: but it has long since passed its prime. [a][208] Two other oaks, similar in form, and fully as large in girth, yet exist, but in a decaying state, on Shapridge.
There are other trees approaching in age to the above, viz. an oak in Sallow Vallets Enclosure near the Drive, of the Quercus sessiliflora kind, its leaves growing on long stalks, and the acorns clustering together on short stalks, and perhaps 200 years old, being 13 feet round at 6 feet from the ground, and still in a very flourishing condition. Another oak-tree, near York Lodge, measuring 21 feet round, formed apparently of two trees which grew together for ages, but not long since threatened to fall asunder, necessitating their being cramped up across the head by a transverse iron bar. At the Brookhall Ditches also there is an oak entirely variegated, containing 100 feet of timber; besides several other fine trees near. There are five very large beech-trees growing about two miles from Coleford on the road to Mitcheldean, and others likewise, almost as large, on the Blaize Bailey, besides several more near Danby Lodge;
but the finest of all the beeches in the Forest is near the entrance to Whitemead Park, near York Lodge, measuring 17 feet at 6 feet from the ground. Most of the lesser oaks which have become timber, and have not been removed by the recent “falls,” are probably the remains of the plantations made in 1670, such as the various flourishing oaks which may be noticed near the Speech House, on the Lea Bailey, the Lining Wood, and in a few other places. Many of the old hollies seem to belong to the same date, being either indigenous, or planted about this time to serve as food for the deer. One of the largest of those growing near the Speech House measures 9 feet in girth at 4 feet from the ground.
During the earlier half of the last century the devastations were so rapid as to necessitate re-enclosing and re-planting various parts, about the year 1760; but the effort to restock the whole of the Forest as it now appears was reserved to 1810 and the thirty subsequent years. Its present aspect, with very few exceptions, is such as to afford the best hopes that by the close
of the present century a large proportion of the woods will be yielding profitable timber, provided the crops be duly protected from injury, which otherwise the rapidly increasing population of the neighbourhood will too surely occasion. Nine-tenths of the present stock are oaks; the rest are Spanish chesnuts, Scotch fir, larch, spruce, beech, and a few elms, sycamores, and horse-chesnuts; birch grows spontaneously in most parts of the Forest.
The following Table exhibits the quantity of timber growing at different times in the Forest within the last two hundred years.
| a.d. | Tons. | Cords. | Loads fit for the Navy. | ||
| 1635 | 61,928 | 153,209 | 14,350 | The trees generally decayed; about 500 past their full growth. | |
| 1662 | 25,929 | Oak | 121,500 | 11,335 | |
| 4,204 | Beech | ||||
| ------- | |||||
| 30,133 | (30,000 old trees.) | ||||
| 1764 | 27,302 | ||||
| 1783 | 90,382 | Oak | 95,043 | ||
| 17,982 | Beech | ||||
| ------- | |||||
| 108,364 | |||||
| 1788 | 48,000 | ||||
| 1808 | 22,882 | ||||
| 1857 | 10,000 | About 5,000 trees, 7,500 having been felled since 1845. |
With respect to the rarer plants found in the neighbourhood, it may be observed that the walk by the side of the Wye from Ross to Chepstow is said to be the most productive in objects of botanical interest of any part of England. The following list, kindly furnished by Mr. Gee, applies chiefly to the north-east section of the Forest and its vicinity:—
Toothwort (Lathræa squamaria), at the Scowles above the Lining Wood.
Bog Asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum), in the Mitcheldean Meand Enclosure.
Gentian (Gentiana amarella), Limestone Quarry near Silverstone, at the Hawthorns.
Winter Green (Payrola media), Hare Church Hill.
Bog Pimpernel (Anagallis tenella), Purlieu Road.
Sundews (Drosera rotundifolia and longifolia), Mitcheldean Meand.
Little Sallow (Salix repens), Mitcheldean Meand.
Viola lactea, Mitcheldean Meand.
Cotton Grass (Eriophorum angustifolium), Mitcheldean Meand.
Petty Whin (Genista Anglica), the waste between the Dampool and the Speech House.
Gromwell (Lithospermum officinale), throughout the Forest.
Bee Orchis (Ophrys apifera), road to Bishopswood.
Services (Pyrus pinnatifida and aria), Bicknor Rocks.
Barberry (Berberis vulgaris), Bicknor Rocks.
Cotyledon umbilicus, Purlieu Road.
Narcissus biflorus, Hope Mansel.
Mentha piperita, Bishopswood.Mr. Bird has been so good as to supply the accompanying list of Forest Ferns:—
Scolopendrium ceterach, and S. vulgare.
Polypodium vulgare. Blechnum boreale.
„ phegopteris. Pteris aquilina.
„ dryopteris.
Aspidium lobatum, and Filix mas and spinulosum, dilatatum, Ruta muraria, Trichomanes, Adiantum nigrum, Filix fœmina.
To which may be added the Polypodium calcareum, noticed by Mr. Anderson, of the Bailey Lodge, who further states that the Daphne Mezereon shrub, as well as the wood laurel, are indigenous in the Forest, especially in the coppices on the limestone.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Iron Mines and Iron Works in the Forest—Mr. Wyrrall’s description of the ancient excavations for iron—Their remote antiquity proved, and character described—Historical allusions to them—The quality, abundance, and situation of the old iron cinders—The early forges described—Portrait of an original free miner of iron ore—His tools—Introduction of the blast furnace into the Forest—Various Crown leases respecting them—A minute inventory of them—Mr. Wyrrall’s glossary of terms found therein—Mr. Mushet’s remarks on the remains of the above works—First attempts to use prepared coal in the furnaces—Iron-works suppressed—Value of iron ore at that time—Dr. Parsons’s account of the manner of making iron—State of the adjoining iron-works during the seventeenth century—Revival of them at its close—Their rise and prosperity since—At Cinderford, Park End, Sowdley, Lydbrook, and Lydney—Character of the iron-mines at the present time.
“There are,” writes Mr. Wyrrall, in his valuable MS. on the ancient iron-works of the Forest, dated in the year 1780, “deep in the earth vast caverns scooped out by men’s hands, and large as the aisles of churches; and on its surface are extensive labyrinths, worked among the rocks, and now long since overgrown with woods; which whosoever traces them must see with astonishment, and incline to think them to have been the work of armies rather than of private labourers. They certainly were the toil of many centuries, and this perhaps before they thought of searching in the bowels of the earth for their ore—whither, however, they at length naturally pursued the veins, as they found them to be exhausted near the surface.” Such were the remains, as they existed in his day, of the original iron-mines of this locality; and except where modern operations have obliterated them, such they continue to the present time. Beyond the inference of remote antiquity, which we naturally draw from the
fact of their presenting no trace of the use of any kind of machinery, or of gunpowder, or the display of any mining skill, we may cite the unanimous opinion of the neighbourhood, that they owe their origin to the predecessors of that peculiar order of operatives known as “the free miners of the Forest of Dean;” a view which is confirmed by the authentic history of the district. But the numerous Roman relics found deeply buried in the prodigious accumulations of iron cinders, once so abundant here as to have formed an important part of the materials supplied to the furnaces of the Forest, afford proof that the iron-mines were in existence as early as the commencement of the Christian era; so that the openings we now see are the results of many centuries of mining operations, with which their extent, number, and size perfectly accord.
These mines present the appearance either of spacious caves, as on the Doward Hill, or at the Scowles near Bream, or they consist of precipitous and irregularly shaped passages, left by the removal of the ore or mineral earth wherever it was found, and which was followed in some instances for many hundreds of yards, openings being made to the surface wherever the course of the mine permitted, thus securing an efficient ventilation, so that although they have been so long deserted the air in them is perfectly good. They are also quite dry, owing probably to their being drained by the new workings adjacent to them, and descending to a far greater depth. In the first instance they were no doubt excavated as deep as the water permitted, that is, to about 100 feet, or in dry seasons even lower, as is in fact proved by the water-marks left in some of them. Occasionally they are found adorned with beautiful incrustations of the purest white, formed by springs of carbonate of lime, originating in the rocky walls of limestone around. Sometimes, after proceeding a considerable distance, they suddenly open out into spacious vaults fifteen feet in width, the site probably of some valuable “pocket” or “churn” of ore; and then again, where the supply was less abundant, narrowing into a width hardly sufficient to admit the human body. Occasionally the passage divides and unites again, or abruptly stops, turning off at a sharp angle, or changing its level, where rude steps cut in the rock show the mode by which the old miners ascended or descended; whilst sometimes the rounds of ladders have been found, semi-carbonized by age. These excavations abound on every side of the Forest, wherever the iron makes its appearance, giving the name of “Meand” or mine to such places. Of the deeper workings, one of the most extensive occurs on the Lining Wood Hill above Mitcheldean, and is well worth exploring.
The earliest historical allusion to these underground works is made by Camden, who records that a gigantic
skeleton was found in a cave on the Great Doward Hill, now called “King Arthur’s Hall,” being evidently the entrance to an ancient iron-mine. The next refers to the period of the Great Rebellion, when the terrified inhabitants of the district are said to have fled to them for safety when pursued by the hostile soldiery of either party.
Adverting, in the next place, to the heaps of cinders left where the ancient iron-manufacturers of the district worked, their quality, abundance, and situation suggest several interesting points of observation. Thus, their quality proves that charcoal was the fuel invariably employed, and the large percentage of metal left in them shows that the process then in use of extracting the iron was very imperfect. They are said to vary in richness according as they belong to an earlier or later period—so much so, that some persons have ventured on this data to specify their relative ages; but other causes may have produced this difference. As to their quantity, it was once so great, that, although they have formed a large part of the mineral supply to the different
furnaces of the district for the last 200 years, they still abound for miles round the Forest, wherever human habitations appear to have clustered, sometimes giving the names to places, as “Cinderford” and “Cinder Hill,” or forming a valuable consideration in the purchase of land containing them.
Equally remarkable with the two former characteristics of these cinders is their position, not unfrequently on elevated spots and far removed from any watercourse. Under such circumstances, the high temperature necessary for acting upon the ore must have been obtained by constructing the fireplace so as to create a powerful draft of air, the fuel and mineral being placed alternately in layers within a circular structure of stone, resembling the rude furnaces said to be used amongst the natives of central Africa.
The “forgiœ errantes,” or itinerant forges, [216] mentioned in the records of the Justice Seat held at Gloucester Castle in 1282, were no doubt improvements on the structures just mentioned, being at the same time so formed as to admit of being removed and set at work elsewhere, as is in fact intimated by the name given to them, as well as by the more frequent occurrence and smaller size of those cinder-heaps which are found nearer to the centre of the Forest; and consequently of more modern date, presenting a striking contrast to the larger and more ancient mounds existing in places more remote, the refuse of the earlier forges kept at work for many years in one spot.
The moderate capacity of the forgiœ errantes may be inferred from the circumstance that in the reign of Edward I. there were seventy-two of them in the Forest alone, supplied with ore by at least fifty-nine iron-mines, by which Gloucester, Monmouth, Caerleon, Newport, Berkeley, Trelleck, &c., are stated in the Book of the Laws and Customs of the Mine to have been furnished with that metal. We also know that the two forges at Flaxley consumed two oaks every week, and
that in that age £46 was paid to the King by such persons as farmed any of them, or 7s. if they held a year’s licence.
In the year 1841, when that part of the old road leading up to the Hawthorns from Hownal was altered, near the brook below Rudge Farm, the hearths of five small forges, cut out of the sandstone rock, and curiously pitched all round the bottom with small pebbles, were laid open, and an iron tube seven or eight inches long, and one inch and a half bore, apparently the nozzle of a pair of bellows, was found, as well as scores of old tobacco pipes, bits of iron much rusted, and broken earthenware, besides a piece of silver coin; but unfortunately none of these relics have been preserved.
The heraldic crest here copied from a mutilated brass of the 15th century, within the Clearwell Chapel of Newland Church, gives a curious representation of the iron-miner of that period equipped for his work. It represents him as wearing a cap, holding a candlestick between his teeth, handling a small mattock with which to loosen, as occasion required, the fine mineral earth lodged in the cavity within which he worked, or else to detach the metallic incrustations lining its sides, bearing a light wooden mine-hod on his back, suspended by a shoulderstrap, and clothed in a thick flannel jacket, and short leathern breeches,
tied with thongs below the knee. Although in this representation the lower extremities are concealed, the numerous shoe-footed marks yet visible on the moist beds of some of the old excavations prove that the feet were well protected from injury by the rough rocks of the workings. Several mattock-heads exactly resembling the one which this miner is holding have also been discovered; and to enable us, as it were, to supply every particular, small oak shovels for collecting the ore, and putting it into the hod, have in some places been found.
The mining and making of iron continued to be carried on in the Forest in the manner indicated by the foregoing particulars, until the improved methods of manufacture established in other parts of the kingdom, particularly in Sussex, had been adopted here. As early probably as the commencement of the reign of Elizabeth, these improvements came into use in this locality, and superseded the old “make.” It was for its iron-mines, even more than for its timber, that this Forest excited the jealousy of the Spaniards, who designed to suppress the former by destroying the charcoal fuel with which they were worked.
The earliest intimation of any such change in the mode of manufacture occurs in the terms of a “bargayne,” made by the Crown, and preserved in the Lansdowne MSS. “wth Giles Brudges and others,” on 14th June, 1611, demising “libertye to erect all manner of workes, iron or other, by lande or water, excepting Wyer workes, and the same to pull downe, remove, and alter att pleasure,” with “libertye to take myne
oare and synders, either to be used att the workes or otherwise,” &c. By “synders” is meant the refuse of the old forges, but which by the new process could be made to yield a profitable percentage of metal which the former method had failed to extract. In the year following a similar “bargayne” was made with William Earl of Pembroke, at the enormous rental of £2,433 6s. 3d., but with leave to take “tymbr for buildinges & workes as they were,” with “allowance of reasonable fireboote for the workmen out of the dead & dry wood, &c., to inclose a garden not exceedinge halfe an acre to every house, and likewise to inclose for the necessity of the worke; the houses and inclosures to bee pulled downe & layd open as the workes shall cease or remove.” A third and corresponding “bargayne” was agreed to, on the 3rd of May, 1615, with Sir Basil Brook, there being reserved in rent “iron 320 tonns p. annum, wch att xiill xs the tone cometh to 4,000 per an.: the rent reserved to be payd in iron by 40 tonns p. month, wch cometh to 500ll every month; so in toto yearelye 4,000ll;” and a proviso that “The workes already buylt onlye granted, wth no power to remove them, but bound to mayntayne and leave them in good case and repayre, wth all stock of hammers, anvil’s, and other necessarys received att the pattentees’ entrye,” as also that “libertye for myne and synders for supplying of the workes onlye, to be taken by delivery of the miners att the price agreed uppon.”
In 1621 Messrs. Chaloner and Harris appear to have succeeded to the works under a rent of £2,000, and who, we may presume, cast the 610 guns ordered by the Crown on behalf of the States General of Holland in 1629. The spot where they were made was, it would seem, ever after called “Guns Mills.” It certainly was so called as early as the year 1680, an explanation of the term which is confirmed by the discovery there of an ancient piece of ordnance. “Guns Pill” was the place where they were afterwards shipped.
A curious inventory, dated 1635, of the buildings and machinery referred to in the forenamed “bargaynes,”
has been preserved amongst the Wyrrall Papers, and is inserted in the Appendix No. IV.
As to the length of time the works specified in Appendix No. IV. continued in operation, the late Mr. Mushet, who knew the neighbourhood intimately, in his valuable “Papers on Iron,” &c., considers that they were finally abandoned shortly after that date (1635), since, “with the exception of the slags, traces of the water mounds, and the faint lines of the watercourses, not a vestige of any of them remains.” He adds, “About fourteen years ago I first saw the ruins of one of these furnaces, situated below York Lodge, and surrounded by a large heap of slag or scoria that is produced in making pig iron. As the situation of this furnace was remote from roads, and must at one time have been deemed nearly inaccessible, it had all the appearance at the time of my survey of having remained in the same state for nearly two centuries. The quantity of slags I computed at from 8,000 to 10,000 tons. If it is assumed that this furnace made upon an average annually 200 tons of pig iron, and that the quantity of slag run from the furnace was equal to one half the quantity of iron made, we shall have 100 tons of cinders annually, for a period of from 80 to 100 years. If the abandonment of this furnace took place about the year 1640, the commencement of its smeltings must be assigned to a period between the years 1540 and 1560.”
The oldest piece of cast iron which Mr. Mushet states he ever saw, exhibited the arms of England, with the initials E. R., and bore date 1555, but he found no specimen in the Forest earlier than 1620. He also observes, that, “although he had carefully examined every spot and relic in Dean Forest likely to denote the site of Dud Dudley’s enterprising but unfortunate experiment of making iron with pit coal,” it had been without success, and the same with the like operations of Cromwell, who was partner with Major Wildman, Captain Birch, and other of his officers, Doctors of Physic and Merchants, by whom works and furnaces had been set up in the Forest, at a vast charge.
In 1650 a Committee of the House of Commons ordered that all the iron-works in the Forest, formerly let on lease by the Crown, should be suppressed and demolished, partly perhaps with the view of checking the consumption of wood, and also to put a stop to the making of cannon and shot, lest when the occasion invited they should be seized by the adverse party and turned against them. The Royalists had already found here a valuable store of such things at the time they were defending Bristol against Fairfax.
How far the above mandate was obeyed does not appear, but ere the year 1674 a general decay seems to have fallen on the Forest works, as in that year the expediency of repairing them, and building an additional furnace and two forges, at the cost of £1,000, was suggested. The opposite course was, however, recommended, that is, of demolishing them all, lest they should ultimately cause the destruction of the wood and timber, a course which it seems was followed, since in the 4th order of the Mine Law Court, dated 27th April, 1680, they are stated to have been lately demolished. The same “Order” fixes the following prices as those at which twelve Winchester bushels of iron mine should be delivered at the following places:—St. Wonnarth’s furnace 10s., Whitchurch 7s., Linton 9s., Bishopswood 9s., Longhope 9s., Flaxley 8s., Gunsmills (if rebuilt) 7s., Blakeney 6s., Lydney 6s.; at those in the Forest, if rebuilt, the same as in 1668—Redbrooke 4s. 6d., The Abbey (Tintern) 9s., Brockweare 6s. 6d., Redbrooke Passage 5s. 6d., Gunpill 7s., or ore (intended for Ireland) shipped on the Severn 6s. 6d.
Most of these localities exhibit traces of former iron manufacture having been carried on at them up to the commencement of that century, as at Flaxley, Bishopswood, &c., charcoal being the fuel invariably used, and their situation such that water power was at command. The prices severally affixed to the places above named indicate a discontinuance of the mines on the north-east side of the Forest, those adjoining Newland and in Noxon Park being at this date the chief
sources of supply, agreeably with the allusions to iron-pits existing there which occur in the proceedings of the Mine Law Court about that time. The mode then in use of operating upon the iron ore, as described in MS. by Dr. Parsons, will be found in Appendix No. V.
Andrew Yarranton, in his book of novel suggestions for the “Improvement of England by Sea and Land,” printed in 1677, remarks as follows:—“And first, I will begin in Monmouthshire, and go through the Forest of Dean, and there take notice what infinite quantities of raw iron is there made, with bar iron and wire; and consider the infinite number of men, horses, and carriages which are to supply these works, and also digging of ironstone, providing of cinders, carrying to the works, making it into sows and bars, cutting of wood and converting into charcoal. Consider also, in all these parts, the woods are not worth the cutting and bringing home by the owners to burn in their houses; and it is because in all these places there are pit coal very cheap . . . If these advantages were not there, it would be little less than a howling wilderness. I believe, if this comes to the hands of Sir Baynom Frogmorton and Sir Duncomb Colchester, they will be on my side. Moreover, there is yet a most great benefit to the kingdom in general by the sow iron made of the ironstone and Roman cinders in the Forest of Dean, for that metal is of a most gentle, pliable, soft nature, easily and quickly to be wrought into manufacture, over what any other iron is, and it is the best in the known world: and the greatest part of this sow iron is sent up Severne to the forges into Worcester, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Cheshire, and there it’s made into bar iron: and because of its kind and gentle nature to work, it is now at Sturbridge, Dudley, Wolverhampton, Sedgley, Wasall, and Burmingham, and there bent, wrought, and manufactured into all small commodities, and diffused all England over, and thereby a great trade made of it; and when manufactured, into most parts of the world. And I can very easily make it appear, that in the
Forest of Dean and thereabouts, and about the material that comes from thence, there are employed and have their subsistence therefrom no less than 60,000 persons. And certainly, if this be true, then it is certain it is better these iron-works were up and in being than that there were none. And it were well if there were an Act of Parliament for enclosing all common fit or any way likely to bear wood in the Forest of Dean and six miles round the Forest; and that great quantities of timber might by the same law be there preserved, for to supply in future ages timber for shipping and building. And I dare say the Forest of Dean is, as to the iron, to be compared to the sheep’s back as to the woollen; nothing being of more advantage to England than these two are . . .
“In the Forest of Dean and thereabouts the iron is made at this day of cinders, being the rough and offal thrown by in the Romans’ time; they then having only foot blasts to melt the ironstone, but now, by the force of a great wheel that drives a pair of bellows twenty feet long, all that iron is extracted out of the cinders, which could not be forced from it by the Roman foot blast. And in the Forest of Dean and thereabouts, and as high as Worcester, there are great and infinite quantities of these cinders; some in vast mounts above ground, some under ground, which will supply the iron-works some hundreds of years, and these cinders are they which make the prime and best iron, and with much less charcoal than doth the ironstone . . . Let there be one ton of this bar-iron made of Forest ironstone, and £20 will be given for it.”
According to a paper examined by Mr. Mushet, and referring probably to the year 1720 or 1730, the iron-making district of the Forest of Dean contained ten blast furnaces, viz. six in Gloucestershire, three in Herefordshire, and one at Tintern, making their total number just equal to that of the then iron-making district of Sussex. In Mr. Taylor’s map of Gloucestershire, published in 1777, iron furnaces, forges, or engines are
indicated at Bishopswood, Lydbrook, The New Wear, Upper Red Brook, Park End, Bradley, and Flaxley. Yet only a small portion of the mineral used at these works was obtained from the Dean Forest mines, if we may judge from the statement made by Mr. Hopkinson, in 1788, before the Parliamentary Commissioners, to the effect that “there is no regular iron-mine work now carried on in the said Forest, but there were about twenty-two poor men who, at times when they had no other work to do, employed themselves in searching for and getting iron mine or ore in the old holes and pits in the said Forest, which have been worked out many years.” Such a practice is well remembered by the aged miners, the chief part of the ore used coming by sea from Whitehaven. Thus Mr. Mushet represents, “at Tintern the furnace charge for forge pig iron was generally composed of a mixture of seven-eighths of Lancashire iron ore, and one-eighth part of a lean calcareous sparry iron ore from the Forest of Dean, called flux, the average yield of which mixture was fifty per cent of iron. When in full work, Tintern Abbey charcoal furnace made weekly from twenty-eight to thirty tons of charcoal forge pig iron, and consumed forty dozen sacks of charcoal; so that sixteen sacks of charcoal were consumed in making one ton of pigs.” This furnace was, he believes, “the first charcoal furnace which in this country was blown with air compressed in iron cylinders.”
The year 1795 marks the period when the manufacture of iron was resumed in the Forest by means of pit coal cokes at Cinderford, the above date being preserved on an inscription stone in No. 1 furnace. “The conductors of the work succeeded,” in the words of Mr. Bishop, communicated to the Author, “as to fact, and made pig iron of good quality; but from the rude and insufficient character of their arrangements, they failed commercially as a speculation, the quantity produced not reaching twenty tons per week. The cokes were brought from Broadmoor in boats, by a small canal, the embankment of which may be seen at the present
day. The ore was carried down to the furnaces on mules’ backs, from Edge Hill and other mines. The rising tide of iron manufacture in Wales and Staffordshire could not fail to swamp such ineffectual arrangements, and as a natural consequence Cinderford sank.”
“Attempts still continued to be made from time to time in the locality, but the want of success, and the loss of large capital, placed the whole neighbourhood under a ban. It was during this interval that the name of David Mushet appears in connexion with the Forest. He made his first essay at White Cliff, near Coleford, in partnership with a Mr. Alford. The result was the loss of the entire investment, and the dismantling of the works, except the shell of the building, as a monument over the grave of departed thousands. A large quantity of the castings were brought to Cinderford in 1827, and were connected with the blast apparatus attached to those works. The names of Birt and Teague now occasionally appeared, combined with attempts to retrieve the character of the locality for iron making; but all failed: and Mr. Mushet’s famous declaration that physical difficulties would for ever prevent its success, in connexion with such repeated failures, seemed for several years to have sealed up the prospects of the Forest; but at length a glimmer of light broke through the darkness, and it was reserved for an individual of Forest birth to prove that the greatest theorists may arrive at wrong practical conclusions.
“Moses Teague was the day-star who ushered in a bright morning after a dark and gloomy night. Great natural genius, combined with a rare devotion to the interests of the Forest, led him to attempt a solution of the difficulty. In this he so far succeeded at Dark Hill, in the cupola formerly used by Mr. Mushet, that he formed a company, consisting of Messrs. Whitehouse, James, and Montague, who took a lease of Park End Furnace about the year 1825, erected a large water-wheel to blow the furnace, and got to work in
1826. Having started this concern, Mr. Teague, who from constitutional tendencies was always seeking something new, and considered nothing done while aught remained to do, cast his eye on Cinderford, which he thought presented the best prospects in the locality; and after making arrangments with Messrs. Montague, Church, and Fraser, those gentlemen with himself formed the first ‘Cinderford Iron Company,’ the writer joining the undertaking when the foundations of the buildings were being laid. The scheme comprehended two blast furnaces, a powerful blast engine still at work, finery, forge, and rolling-mill, designed to furnish about forty tons of tinplate per week with collieries and mine work. Before the completion of the undertaking it was found that the outlay so far exceeded their expectations and means, that the concern became embarrassed almost before it was finished, which, with the then great depression of the iron trade during the years 1829 to 1832 inclusive, led to the stoppage of the works, which had continued in operation from November 1829 till the close of 1832, in which state they continued to 1835, when Mr. Teague again came to the rescue, and induced Mr. William Allaway, a gentleman in the tinplate trade, of Lydbrook, to form, in connexion with Messrs. Crawshay, another company. Mr. Teague having retired from the management of the furnaces, that important post was filled by Mr. James Broad, a man of great practical knowledge, who for twenty years succeeded in making iron at Cinderford furnaces of quality and in quantities which had never been anticipated. There are now four blast furnaces, three of which are always in blast, and a new blast engine of considerable power is in course of erection, in addition to the old engine which has been puffing away for twenty-eight years.”
Adverting, in the next place, to the iron-works at Park End, the Reverend H. Poole kindly supplies the following facts, courteously communicated by the proprietors:—
“The year 1799 gives the date of the oldest iron furnace here, situated about half a mile below the original works, and carried on by a Mr. Perkins. They were afterwards sold to Mr. John Protheroe, who disposed of the same to his nephew, Edward Protheroe, Esq., formerly M.P. for Bristol, who had extensive grants of coal in the immediate neighbourhood. In 1824 Mr. Protheroe granted a lease of the furnace and premises, and also sundry iron-mines, to ‘the Forest of Dean Iron Company,’ then consisting of Messrs. Montague, James, &c., until in 1826 Messrs. William Montague of Gloucester, and John James, Esq., of Lydney, became the sole lessees. These parties, in 1827, erected another furnace, and also an immense waterwheel of 51 feet diameter and 6 feet wide, said to be nearly the largest in the kingdom, and formed extensive and suitable ponds and canals for the supply of water. This water-wheel was but little used, in consequence of the general introduction and superior advantages of steam power, which was obtained by erecting an engine for creating the blast. It was considered insufficient, however, for supplying two furnaces on the blast principle, each of which was 45 feet high, 8 feet diameter at the top, 14 feet diameter at the boshes, and 4 feet 6 inches diameter at the hearth; hence another steam-engine of 80 horse power was erected in 1849, but in consequence of a depression in the iron trade, and other causes, the two furnaces were not then worked together. A few years after the decease of Mr. Montague, in 1847, Mr. James purchased all his interest in the works, and became the sole lessee until the year 1854, when he purchased of Mr. Protheroe the fee of the property, together with all the liabilities of the lease. Since that time the two furnaces have been constantly worked together, under the superintendence of Mr. Greenham, one of the proprietors, the firm still continuing as ‘the Forest of Dean Iron Company.’”
“In the year 1851 extensive tinplate works were commenced at Park End, and 24 houses were built for the workmen, by Messrs. James and Greenham, at a considerable outlay. These works when completed were afterwards sold to Messrs. T. and W. Allaway, who enlarged and improved the same, and are now carried on with much spirit and success.”
The tinworks at Lydney are also in the hands of the above-named firm, and comprise three forges, mills, and tin-house, producing 1200 boxes of tin plates a week, with the consumption of from 70 to 80 tons of Cinderford iron. The Lydney iron-works belonged in early times to the Talbot family.
At Lydbrook there are the “Upper” and “Lower” works. The latter, or those nearest the Wye, are said to have belonged originally to the Foleys, one of whom was elected a free miner in 1754. Mr. Partridge carried them on for many years in connexion with the furnaces at Bishopswood, but leased them in 1817 to Mr. Allaway, at which time they comprised three forges, rolling and bar mills, and tin-house complete, capable of producing 100 to 150 boxes of tin plates per week. Under the able management of Mr. Allaway’s sons, the works now yield 600 boxes, sent off by the Wye, the iron used being that from Cinderford, as best suited for the purpose. The “Upper” works were once farmed for Lord Gage, but they now belong to Messrs. Russell, who make large quantities of wire for the electrical telegraph, as well as iron for smith’s use.
The iron-works at Sowdley are all that remain to be noticed. Here, as early as 1565, iron wire is said to have been made, being drawn by strength of hand. In 1661 Mr. Paysted states that the factory passed from Roynon Jones, Esq., of Hay Hill, into the hands of a party named Parnell and Co., who carried on the works until the year 1784, from which date to 1804 Dobbs and Taylor had them. From 1824 on to 1828 they were held by Browning, Heaven, and Tryer; but in the latter year Todd, Jeffries, and Spirrin undertook the business, converting a part of the premises into paint and brass works, which lasted for about four years. Two blast furnaces were built on the spot in 1837 by Edward Protheroe, Esq., who worked them for four years. In
1857 they were purchased by Messrs. Gibbon, and are now in blast.
Eight blast furnaces were at work in the Forest in the year 1856, and produced upwards of 24,132 tons of iron of the best quality.
It only remains to state that twenty iron-mines were awarded by the Mining Commissioners in 1841, and these are since increased to upwards of fifty, several of them comprising very extensive workings, and are furnished with very powerful pumping engines; that at Shakemantle raises 198¼ gallons per stroke, and the one at Westbury Brook 24 gallons, from a depth of 186 yards.
The annual yield of iron mine from the four principal pits is:—
| Buckshaft | 14,574 Tons. |
| Old Sling Pit | 13,263 „ |
| Westbury Brook | 11,725 „ |
| Easter Iron Mine | 10,782 „ |
The total yield from all the iron-mines in the Forest for 1856 was 109,268 tons.
CHAPTER XV.
The Forest Coal Works—The earliest allusion to them—The original method of mining for coal—Grants to the Earl of Pembroke in 1610, &c.—First attempt to char coal for the furnace—Prices for which coal was to be sold, as fixed by the “Orders” of the Court of Mine Law—Contents of the existing documents belonging to that Court described—State of the coal-works at the end of the last century—Gradual improvements in the mode of working for coal—Mr. Protheroe’s collieries—The superior character of the most recent coal-works—Amount raised in 1856 from the ten largest collieries.
There is a difficulty in determining which is to be considered the earliest allusion to the working of coal in the Forest, since charcoal as well as sea or pit coal was thus indifferently designated: not that the latter was carried by sea, but only that it agreed in character with the coal usually so conveyed. The first notice seems, however, to be that supplied by the records of the Justice Seat held at Gloucester in 1282, where it is stated that sea coal was claimed by six of the ten bailiffs of the Forest of Dean.
The appellation of “Sea Coal Mine” as distinguished from “the Oare Mine,” mentioned in the 29th section of “The Laws and Customs of the Miners in the Forest of Dean,” compiled about the year 1300, likewise proves that sea-coal was known by name, and that a description of fuel closely resembling it was then dug in this neighbourhood, to an extent entitling it to be noticed “as free in all points” with the long celebrated iron ore; that is, constituting the collier a free miner.
The original methods of getting coal in the locality probably conformed to the modes then used for obtaining the iron mine, the veins of both minerals showing themselves on the surface much in the same manner. So that it is probable the old coal-workings, like those for iron, descended only to a moderate depth, and for
the same reason were frequently carried on by driving levels, for which the position of several of the coal-seams was highly favourable.
In the year 1610 “liberty to dig for and take, within any part of the Forest or the precincts thereof, such and so much sea-coal as should be necessary for carrying on the iron-works,” was granted to William, Earl of Pembroke, by James I. This is the earliest mention of coal being so used, agreeably to the efforts then making by Simon Sturtevant and John Ravenzon, Esqrs., to adapt it by baking for such a purpose. The same grant, in omitting to mention coal amongst certain other productions which “no person or persons were to take or carry out of the said Forest,” leads to the supposition that coal was then exported or carried into the adjacent country, and that it was found desirable for this to continue. Coal was included in Charles I.’s sale of the Forest timber, iron, stone, &c., to Sir John Winter, who some years afterwards is described by Evelyn as interested in a project for “charring sea-coal,” so as to render it fit for the iron furnace. A scheme somewhat similar was now tried in the Forest, Mr. Mushet tells us, by Captain Birch, Major Wildman, and others, “where they erected large air furnaces, into which they introduced large clay pots, resembling those used at glasshouses, filled with various proportions of the necessary mixture of ores and charcoal. The furnaces were heated by the flame of pit-coal, and it was expected that, by tapping the pots below, the separated materials would flow out. This rude process was found entirely impracticable; the heat was inadequate to perfect separation, the pots cracked, and in a short time the process was abandoned altogether.”
The important Act of 1668 confirmed to persons digging for coal in the Forest their lawful rights and privileges, as also to the Crown the liberty to lease the coal-mines for a period not exceeding thirty-one years. This latter provision was immediately acted upon, the coal-mines and quarries of grindstones being granted to Francis Tyrringham, Esq., for thirty-one years, at a
rental of £30 per annum, a price which, if it were fairly agreed upon, affords some intimation of the extent and value of the Forest coal-works at that time.
By the first “Order” of the Court of Mine Law, dated March 18th of the year last named (1668), it was fixed that a dozen bushels of lime-coal should be disposed of for 3s. at the Lime Slad; for 5s. 6d. at the top of the Little Doward; for 5s. 4d. at any other kilns thereon; for 5s. at the Buckstones; for 5s. 6d. at Monmouth; for 4s. at the Weare over Wye; for 4s. if on this side; for 3s. 6d. at Coldwall; for 3s. at Lydbrook; and for 4s. 4d. at Redbrook.
The second “Order” of the same Court, agreed to on the 9th of March, 1674, provides that “the servants of the Deputy Constable shall always be first served at the pitts.” In the same year a petition was presented to the Crown by several gentlemen and freeholders of the parish of Newland for leave to drain some coal-pits at Milkwall, stating that “the inhabitants of the adjacent country were supplied from the collieries of the Forest with coal for firing, and also for lime coal, without which there would be little tillage.”
The next Mine Law Court, held on the 8th of September, 1678, determined that a barrel or three Winchester bushels should be the constant measure for coal, four-pence being the smallest price allowed to be taken for “a barrel” of fire coal. “And whereas the myners within this Forest are at a very great charge to make surffes for the dreyning of their pitts to get cole, wch when they have finished others sincke pitts so near them that they are deprived of the benefit of their labour and charge, to their very great loss and damage: To remedie whereof, it is now ordered that after a surffe is made, noe myner shall come to work within 100 yards of that surffe to the prejudice of the undertakers without their consents, and without being contributory to the making of the said surffe, upon payne of forfeiting 100 dozen of good fire coale, the one moiety to the King’s Matie, and the other to the myner that shall sue for the same.” The fourth “Order” of
the same Court, issued on the 27th April, 1680, directs “that no fire cole, smith’s cole, or lyme cole shall be delivered upon the bankes of the Wye between Monmouth Bridge and Huntsame Ferry for less than 8s. a dozen bushels for the two former sorts, and 4s. 6d. for lyme cole, or if between Huntsame Ferry and Wilton Bridge for less than 3s. 6d. a dozen.”
On the 19th September, 1682, a fifth “Order” forbade “the transport of lime coal to Hereford and Monmouthshire at lower rates than heretofore have been set and agreed upon,” and ordained that “whensoever any collyers have fully wrought out a cole pitt through wch the gout water must necessarily run for drayning of the worke, in such case the said collyers shall secure the said pitt, upon payne to forfeite 100 dozen of good fire cole.” In the ensuing “Order,” dated 1st December, 1685, the jury agreed that, in raising money for any public purpose, “one half of those who served should be cole myners, and the other half myners at iron oare,” both classes of operatives having at length become equally numerous, in consequence of the rapid increase of the coal-works. The next Court of the Mine, held on 5th April, 1687, decided that “all cole pitts and dangerous mine pitts which are not in working, or wch thereafter shall not be wrought in for one whole month together, shall be sufficiently secured by a wall of stone, or by railing the same with posts and railes placed above two feet distant from the mouth of such pitt by the proprietor thereof, and likewise all pitts left open for a grout way, upon paine of 10s. to be forfeited for every omission and neglect.”
According to the eighth verdict of the miners’ jury, declared on the 13th of January, 1692, the former space of 100 yards, within which all colliers were prohibited from coming to work another pit, was now extended to 300 yards. The next “Order,” being that of the 25th of April, 1694, directs that “the price of fire cole to the copper works (Redbrook) shal bee henceforth 8s. per dozen, and smith cole 6s. per dozen.” That of the 10th of March, 1701, enacted that “every miner shall
keepe a paire of scales at their severall colepitts to weigh theire cole wthall,” that none should be sent away unweighed, and that the price of it should not exceed 5s. a ton to the inhabitants of the hundred of St. Briavel’s, or less than 6s. a ton to foreigners. The next “Order,” that of the 1st of July, 1707, renewed the direction to fill or sufficiently secure any dangerous coal-pits, within some reasonable time, under a penalty of 20s. The “Order” dated 12th November, 1728, directs that the distance of 300 yards between any adjoining works be “augmented to 500 yards in all levels.” The “Order” bearing date 2nd March, 1741, particularizes certain coal-works near Lydbrook called “Wyrrall Hill,” another called “Dowler’s Chambers,” and likewise the coal-works called “Speedwell,” at Serridge, besides “the Hill Works” near Ruerdean. It also forbade any coal to be sold in the city of Hereford under 13s. the ton, fixing a horse-load at 2¼ cwt., for 6d. a bushel at the pit, one cwt. of fire coal for 4d. a bushel, three bushels of smith’s coal for 5d., and lime coal for 1d. a bushel, or 21 cwt. of fire coal for 7s. 6d. “waid and delivered” at Lydney Pill or at Pyrton Pill, or at Gatcombe. The same “Order” further directs that “the yearns belonging to the levels which are between Drybrooke and Cannop’s Bridge, and between Seridge and Reuardean Town, shall get coal out of no more than two pitts at one time, belonging to one level, till the said two pitts are worked quite out, and those who keep two pitts in work on one level shall not sinke any other new pitt till the old ones are quite worked out.”
The last of the “Orders” of the Miners’ Court, dated October 22nd, 1754, provides that “none shall sink any water pit and get coal out of it within the limits or bounds of 1,000 yards of any level, and that the waterwheel ingine at the Oiling Green near Broadmore be taken to be a level to all intents and purposes, as all other levels brought up from the Grassmoore;” meaning probably, that they also were to enjoy the protective distance of 1,000 yards in common with all “levels,”
otherwise that distance would be no more than twelve yards radius, according to the received custom. “The water-wheel engine,” for working the pumps belonging to the work at Oiling Green, is considered to have been the first of the kind, and therefore marks the earliest of the successive steps made within the last 100 years in improving the methods of raising coal in this locality, by showing greater ingenuity in removing the water from the pits, which were now evidently sunk much deeper than formerly.
A minute examination [235] of the numerous papers recording the then ordinary proceedings of the Free Miners’ Court, supplies the accompanying dates to the following coal-works:—
1706. “Stay and Drink,” under Serridge; “Dark Pitt,” in Coverham.
1718. “Hopewell,” at Park End; “Speedwell,” Ruerdean Hill.
1720. “Sally Pitt,” Coleford.
1721. “Broad Moore Grout;” “The Holly Pitt.”
1722. “New Charity;” “The 9 Wells;” “Stand Fast;” “The Dry Tump.”
1723. “Go on and Prosper;” “Monmouth Hill Work.”
1724. “The Old Colliery,” near Coleford.
1725. “Shute Castle Pitt;” “The Oiling Quab,” in Bromley.
1726. “The Staple Pitt;” “Short Standing.”
1735. “Gentlemen Colliers,” or “Harbourne Oake.”
1736. “The Little Suff,” Serridge.
1737. “Major Wade’s Suff,” near Aywood; “The Broomy Knowle;” “Pluck Penny,” Nail Bridge; “Dowler’s Chambers.”
1739. “Bushes Pitt,” at Berry Hill; “The Society.”
1740. “Church way,” or “Turn brook.”
1741. “Cartway Pitt;” “Harrow Hill Pitt.”
1743. “Mendall,” at Yorkley; “True Blue,” Ruerdean; “Littleworth;” “the Windmill,” near Ruerdean.
1744. “Rain Proof.”
1745. “Church Hill,” Coal Work, Park End.
1747. “The Golden Pippin;” “Little Scare Pitt.”
1749. “Long looked for,” near Yorkley.
1753. “Prosper.”
1755. “The bold Defiance;” “The Ginn.”
1757. “Now found out;” “Standfast.”
1758. “Pigg Pitt.”
Several of the above names closely resemble those by which many of the existing coal-works are designated; as for instance—“Strip-and-at-it,” “Winners,” “Spero,” “Prosper,” “Never Fear,” &c. One other interesting fact preserved in these records is that the coal seams were called then as now by the names of “Upper” and “Lower Rocky,” the “Lower” and “Upper High Delf,” the “Starkey Delf,” and the “Lowery Delf.”
The Appendix to the Fourth Report of the Dean Forest Commissioners relative to the mines, incidentally mentions the old coalwork called “the Oiling Gin” as originally galed in 1766, and transferred by agreement, dated 15th April, 1776, to a company, in consideration of £2,100, at whose cost the first “fire-engine,” constructed, probably, on Watt’s principle, patented in the previous year, is understood to have been put up in this neighbourhood. It also specifies the “Brown’s Green Colliery” near Lydbrook, opened in 1772; the “Moorwood Coal Works” in 1773; “Arthur’s Folly” in 1774, begun in the “Thirty Acres,” and brought up into “Little Cross Hill;” and also the undertaking called “The Gentlemen Colliers.”
On the 26th August, 1777, the Court of Mine Law, by which the coal-works in the Forest had been ever regulated, sat, as it proved, for the last time, having been held according as business required three or four times a year, with some few exceptions, since 1668. A memorandum with which its last minute is endorsed is thus expressed:—“Mine Law Court, 26 August, 1777. There has been no Court holden for the miners since this day, which is a great loss to the gaveller, and causes various disputes amongst the colliers, which is owing to the neglect of the Deputy-Constables.”
A careful perusal of the papers in which the proceedings of the Court of Mine Law are recorded from 30th April, 1706, supplies the following particulars illustrative of the manner in which the miners of the first half of the 18th century conducted their works, together with the usages of the Court then in vogue. Nearly all the sittings were held at the Speech-house, under the
supervision of the deputies for the time being of the Constable of St. Briavel’s Castle, attended by the clerk of the court, and the gaveller or his deputy. Rarely more than twelve, but sometimes twenty-four miners constituted the jury; the suits they had to try being mostly for debts and trespasses between miner and miner, such as for leaving open dangerous pits, breaking “forbids,” refusing to pay tax for defending the rights of the mine, loading “foreigners’” teams at the pits, for perjury, for keeping more than four horses in carrying coal, or for removing pit lamps, scores or cowls, &c. Copies of two such entries, with other proceedings of the Court as specimens, are given in the Appendix No. VI.
As early as the year 1718 the proceedings of the Court were occasionally disturbed by the persons attending it. Thus, on the 13th of May, the following amercements were made and recorded:—
| John Davis, for talking in Court | 2s. |
| John Kear, for talking in Court | 2s. |
| Wm. Budge, for disturbing ye Court | 2s. |
| Nich. Whitstone, for the like | 2s. |
| Thomas Rudge, for the same | 2s. |
| John Griffiths, for disturbing the Court | 2s. |
| Thomas Rudge, for the same offence | 2s. |
| John Trigg, for the same offence | 2s. |
| Griffith Cooper, for talking in Court | 2s. |
Writing upon the subject of the Forest collieries, about the year 1779, Mr. Rudder remarks in his History of the county,—“The pits are not deep, for when the miners find themselves much incommoded with water, they sink a new one, rather than erect a fire engine, which might answer the expense very well, yet there is not one of them in all this division. They have indeed two or three pumps worked by cranks, that in some measure answer the intention.”
In the year 1788 we are informed by the evidence of the Gaveller, that, according to an account made out in the previous August, “there were then within the Forest 121 coal-pits (thirty-one of which were not actually in work), which pits produced 1,816 tons of coal per week; that there were 662 free miners concerned and
employed therein; and that the annual compositions paid by them amounted to £215 8s. or thereabouts, although many of them were so poor that no money could be collected from them.” “At this time,” says the same officer, “house-fire coal, on the Mitcheldean side the Forest, is sold at the pit’s mouth for 4s. 6d. per ton of 20 cwt., smith’s coal 3s. 3d., lime coal 2s. per ton. When sold by the waggonload at the pit’s mouth, and the purchaser brings victuals and drink for the colliers, the price of a waggonload was 10s. of house-fire coal, smith coal 6s. 6d., lime coal 4s. On the Coleford side the Forest, house-fire coal was sold at the pit’s mouth for 3s. 9d. per ton of 20 cwt., smith coal 2s. 9d., lime coal 1s. 3d. By the waggonload at the pit’s mouth, house-fire coal 8s. 6d., smith coal 5s. 6d., lime coal 2s. 6d.”
In addition to the above, the Assistant Deputy Surveyor of the same period reported,—“the parts of the Forest in which the principal collieries are situate are these:—The Level of the Fire Engine Colliery, which is one of the principal works, is in the bottom between Nail Bridge and Cinderford Bridge, and there are pits all along the Bottom. There are several Levels in the Bottom from Beechenhurst Hill along the Delves quite up to Nail Bridge. Another large field of coal from Whitecroft Bridge, at the back of White Mead Park along the Delves to Great Moseley Green, and from thence through Old Vallet Tuft and Aures Glow, almost up to Little Stapleage. These are the works which do the greatest mischief to the Forest. There are some others on the Coleford side, from which a great deal of coal is raised. Very little timber is growing in any of these Delves; and enclosures might be made in the Forest, so as to exclude all the principal coal-works. The coal-works in the Forest supply with fuel the lower parts of Gloucestershire beyond Severn, and some parts across the Severn about Berkeley, the greatest part of Herefordshire, the town of Monmouth, and part of the county of Monmouth.”
The existing remains of the coal-works of this period,
combined with the traditions of the oldest surviving colliers, enable us to form an accurate idea of the way in which the workings were carried on. “Levels,” or slightly ascending passages, driven into the hill sides till they struck the coal seam, appear to have been general. This was no doubt owing to the facility with which they effected the getting of the coal where it tended upwards into the higher lands forming the edge of the Forest Coal Basin, since they required no winding apparatus, and provided a discharge for the water which drained from the coal-beds. The usages observed at the works entitled the proprietors of their respective levels to so much of the corresponding seam of coal as they could drain, extending right and left to the limits awarded by the gaveller. So far this mode of procedure was satisfactory enough, and would no doubt have long continued to go on amicably, had not the principle, highly judicious in itself, that no workings were ever to intersect one another, but always to stop when the mattocks met, been abused by driving “narrow headings” up into different workings, whereby the rightful owner of the coal was stopped, and the other party enabled to come in and take it from him. Timber of considerable strength was required throughout the underground excavations to support the roof, hence proving a serious source of spoliation to the woods. Large slabs of it were also needed for the flooring, in order that the small coal-trams might be the more readily pushed forward over it, a space being left beneath for air to circulate, and for the water to run out.
If the vein of coal proposed to be worked did not admit of being reached by a level, then a pit was sunk to it, although rarely to a greater depth than 25 yards, the water being raised in buckets, or by a water-wheel engine, or else by a drain having its outlet in some distant but lower spot, such as is found to have led from the Broad Moor Collieries to Cinderford, a mile and upwards in length. The shaft of the pit was made of a square form, in order that its otherwise insecure sides might be the better supported by suitable woodwork,
which being constructed in successive stages was occasionally used as a ladder, the chief difficulty being found in keeping the workings free from water, which in wet seasons not unfrequently gained the mastery and drowned the men out. The skips appear to have been always rectangular in shape, similar to the shafts.
Intermediately between the date of the above coal-works and the present most approved collieries, Mr. Protheroe, in his evidence before the Dean Forest Commissioners, in 1832, relative to his thirty-two coal-pits, stated that “the depth of my principal pits at Park End and Bilson varies from about 150 to 200 yards; that of my new gales, for which I have engine licences, is estimated at from 250 to 300 yards. I have 12 steam engines varying from 12 to 140 horse power, 9 or 10 of which are at work, the whole amounting to 500 horse power; and I have licences for four more engines, two of which must be of very great power. The amount of wages paid by me, in the last twelve years, to colliers, hauliers, and labourers, is upwards of £150,000, giving constant employment on the average to from 400 to 500 individuals.”
The coal-pits were now lined throughout with stone walling, leaving a clear diameter of from 7 to 9 feet; greater regard was paid to their drainage and ventilation, both of which required particular attention, owing to the watery nature of the coal measures, and the abundance of “choke-damp,” although happily “fire damp” never appears. Horses were now used underground for bringing the coal-trams to the foot of the pit, and all the workings were accurately surveyed and recorded, agreeably to the regulations instituted by the Dean Forest Mining Commissioners, under the judicious Act of 27th July, 1838, to the effect that “the quantity of coals sent daily from each colliery should be duly entered, and plans made of the workings, for the information of the Gaveller, who might also inspect any underground operations at all reasonable times,” the whole undertaking being required to be carried on according to the best and most
In accordance with which excellent rules, each of the 105 re-awards of coal seams applied for during the years 1838–41 were so ably set out by Messrs. Sopwith, Buddle, and Probyn, as effectually to check the numerous disputes which formerly arose, and ere long so to develop the coal-works of the Forest
of Dean as to render them worthy to be compared with some of the finest collieries in the kingdom. As an instance of their present excellence, Messrs. Crawshay’s colliery at Light Moor may be mentioned, for its great extent, completeness, powerful machinery, and size of its pits. These last, four in number, are 291 feet deep, one of which, measuring 9 feet 6 inches by 14 feet, contains pumps raising 88 gallons of water per minute.
The number of coal-works in the Forest at the close of 1856 was 221, yielding in that year to the public use upwards of 460,432 tons; the ten largest collieries each producing as follows:—
| Tons. | |
| Park End Colliery | 86,973 |
| Light Moor „ | 86,508 |
| Crump Meadow | 41,507 |
| Bix Slade | 26,792 |
| The Nelson | 24,539 |
| Hopewell in Whimberry | 18,858 |
| Valletts Level | 17,918 |
| Bilson | 17,395 |
| Arthur and Edward | 12,857 |
| New Strip and at it | 11,502 |
| ------- | |
| 344,849 |
Probably a twentieth part of the above total should he added to the amount charged, in consideration of the quantity consumed by the colliery engines, thus making the gross annual produce a third of a million of tons.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Geology of the Forest, and its Minerals—Their character in general—Description of the beds of conglomerate, mountain limestone, iron veins, millstone grit, and lower coal measures—“The Coleford High Delf”—Elevation of the Forest range of hills—The middle coal veins—The upper veins—Mr. Mushet’s analysis of the Forest coal—Their fossils—The stone-quarries of the district.
The geological conditions of the Forest of Dean merit careful observation, not only as regards the mineral wealth comprised within its limits, but as explanatory of its undulations, and the means of maintenance for its inhabitants.
The strata of the Forest repose in a basin-like form, the greatest depression being near the centre; the longer axis extending from N. to S. about eleven miles, and the transverse axis, in the widest part, ranging from E. to W. about seven miles. The general observer, if he takes his stand on the edge of hills by which this basin is bounded, will see the enclosing character of the ridge, as well as the less conspicuous circle of somewhat elevated land occupying the central portion of the field, and which is separated by a valley or plain from the surrounding ridge.
This outlying ridge marks in most places the outcrop of the Conglomerate, Mountain Limestone, Iron Veins, Millstone Grit, and Lower Coal-measures.
Mr. Maclauchlan’s geological map of the district exhibits the course of the conglomerate bed, and the consequent disappearance of the old red sandstone formation under the Dean Forest basin. Occasionally this conglomerate, or hard grit, forms two distinct beds, very distant from one another, near Lydney for instance, and on the Kimin Hill and Buckstone, although it is sometimes cut
off altogether by a “fault,” as opposite Blackney. It varies in hardness as well as in the number of the pebbles, and not unfrequently presents an abrupt fall at its termination, as at “the Harkening Rock” in the Highmeadow Woods.
The upper portion of the bed is soft, and acquires the character of the limestone clay, often throwing out springs, such as St. Anthony’s Well, which have accumulated in the limestone rocks above. A very micaceous stone sometimes occurs in the upper parts, having the appearance of silver: hence the name of “Silver Stone” given to a spot near the Hawthorns, where it is found. The surface which the carboniferous limestone exposes is also represented in the map. The Forest coal-field is surrounded by this formation, with the exception of the line of fault between Lydney Park and Danby Lodge, a distance of four miles.
The principal iron-mine train of the district divides into a lower or more crystalline, and an upper or more argillaceous and sandy stratum. Mr. Mushet thus describes this important metallic vein:—“The iron ores of the Forest of Dean, which have become intimately known to me, are found, like the ores of Cumberland and Lancashire, in churns or caverns formed in the upper beds of the mountain or carboniferous limestone. The leaner ores contain a great deal of calcareous matter in the shape of common limestone or spar, which reduces the percentage in the ore as low as between 15 and 25 per cent., and it seldom exceeds 25, except when mixed with fragments of what is called brush ore, which, when in quantity, raises the percentage to 40 or 45. Brush ore is a hydrate with protoxide of iron, and frequently, if not much mixed with calcareous earth, contains from 60 to 65 per cent. of iron. These ores are found in chambers, the walls of which are exceedingly hard limestone, crystallized in rhombs. This limestone is called the ‘crease,’ and is frequently found enveloped and covered with the iron ore. The miner has to cut his way through this crystallized limestone from chamber to chamber, a distance of from 20 to 100 yards, before he reaches the next of these deposits, which are sometimes found to contain 3,000 or 4,000 tons of ore. The principal part of the ore is then dug easily, somewhat like gravel; but the sides of the chambers are often covered with the stony ore before described, which requires gunpowder to detach it from the rock.” These various ores were found by the same excellent authority to yield iron in the following proportions:—
| Hydrates of Iron | 57½ per cent. |
| “Brush” Ore | 64½ „ |
| Red Calcareous Ore | 9.7 per cent. |
| “Blake Ore” | 22 „ |
The inhabitants of the Forest consider the ores obtained on the east side superior to those on the west. They likewise suppose, but probably without foundation, that the ore will be found to deteriorate in proportion as the workings descend. Red and yellow ochre of superior quality occur in the iron veins, and have at various times been in considerable request. They are now used in the neighbourhood for marking sheep, and tinting whitewash.
Reverting to the limestone beds of the district, the lower veins are locally called “blue stone,” the middle “red stone,” and the top vein the “white head,” which is largely used as a flux in the smelting furnaces. The researches of Mr. R. Gibbs, of Mitcheldean, have enabled him to furnish me with the following list of fossils discovered by himself in the Forest limestone formation:—
| Zoophyta | Syringopora reticulata, Turbinolia fungites, Lithostrotion irregulare. |
|
Echinodermata „ „ „ |
Actinoerinus aculeatus, et lævissimus, Platyerinus lævis et rugosus. Poteriocrinus crassus, et pentagonus. Rhodocrinus costatus, et granulatus. |
| Mollusca Dimyaria. | Pallastra complanata. |
|
Brachiopoda. „ „ „ „ |
Terebratula hastata. Spirifer glaber, et rhomboideus. Chonetes cornoides, et papilionacea. Leptœna analoga. Productus cora, et longispinus, et martini, et pustulosus et cornoides. |
| Lamellibranchiata. |
Monomyaria. Aviculopecten fallax. Dimyaria. Psammobia complanata. |
Pisces.
Ctenacanthus tenuistriatus.
Cladodus conicus.
Psammodus porosus, et rugosus.
The millstone grit beds immediately succeed those of the carboniferous limestone just described, forming a similar belt round the Forest, and disappearing with it on the Blakeney side of the basin. Its chief interest consists in the circumstance that it has been employed from very early times as a material for building; for though it contains a vein of iron ore, little has been done in mining it. Most of the old buildings adjoining the parts where this grit crops out are formed of it, as several of the ancient neighbouring churches show, and likewise the oldest lodges in the Forest; now, however, this kind of stone is seldom used except for boundary walls, and such kind of rough work.
The rest of the outer circle of high land, on whose summit the observer has been supposed to be standing, and which so definitely marks the Forest coal-field, comprises the lower coal measures, containing the lower and upper Trenchard veins, the Coleford High Delf, with the Whittington and Nag’s Head seams, which together give about eleven feet of coal. Of these the Coleford High Delf, averaging a thickness of upwards of five feet, and extending over an area of 16,000 acres, is undoubtedly the chief, although in some places it has suffered from various disturbances, the principal of which occur in the neighbourhood of Coleford, extending in a line from Worcester Lodge to Berry Hill, and is marked on the surface by a succession of pools, named Howler’s Well, Leech Pool, Crabtree Pool, Hooper’s Pool, and Hall’s Pool. Mr. Buddle describes the width as varying from 170 to 340 yards in the most defined part, called by the colliers the “Horse,” and the dislocations adjoining, the “Lows.” “It is not,” he remarks, “what geologists term a fault, as there is no accompanying dislocation of the adjoining strata. In its underground character it is similar to those washes or aqueous deposits in many coal districts, but it differs from them in not being under the bed of any river, nor in the bottom of a valley, nor does it show itself at the surface.” And he adds, “On considering the various phænomena presented by this fault, and the seam of coal on each side of it, we may infer that it occupies the site of a lake which existed at the period of the deposition of the High Delf seam, and that
the carbonaceous matter which formed the seam was accumulated while the water was deep and tranquil. On the water being discharged from the lake, the ‘Horse’ itself occupied the bed of the river, by which the complete drainage of the lake was effected, and which washed the coal entirely out.”
The same scientific observer records an extraordinary depression about half a mile to the south-east, in the direction of the “Horse,” and in the same seam of coal, amounting to about twenty feet in depth, and of an oval shape. Various other defects and disturbances in the Coleford High Delf are detected from time to time by the new workings, especially in those places where the surface is most uneven. Thus its outcrop at Lydney is very imperfectly defined, and at Oakwood Mill the vein is rendered worthless by a fault, whilst on each side of the Lydbrook valley there is a contortion, by which it is thrown down in one instance seventy yards, and in two others thirty yards each.
Such is the geological character of the conspicuous range of hills by which the Dean Forest coal-field is bounded, especially on its north and east sides. The following table gives their height in feet at certain places above the sea:—
| Feet. | |
| Symmond’s Rock | 540 |
| Buck Stone | 954 |
| Knockholt | 760 |
| Clearwell Meand | 727 |
| Ruerdean Hill | 991 |
| High Beech | 891 |
| Coleford Meand | 760 |
| Berry Hill | 750 |
| Lea Bailey Hill | 580 |
| Mitcheldean Meand | 870 |
| Edge Hill | 908 |
| Stapledge | 749 |
| Putten Edge | 664 |
| Blaize Bailey | 684 |
| Blackney Hill | 507 |
Nearly all these spots afford magnificent views of the surrounding country, reaching as far as the Coteswold, Sedgebarrow, Malvern, Herefordshire, Welsh, and Monmouthshire heights, relieved intermediately by the windings of the Severn, cultivated plains, and woodland. Several very striking ravines intersect this Forest range, particularly at Lydbrook, Blackpool Brook, and
Ruspedge, such as would afford the artist many beautiful and interesting subjects for delineation. One of the hills, viz. that on which Mr. Colchester’s house, called “the Wilderness,” is situated, affords a prospect rarely equalled. The present residence dates from the year 1824, but it occupies a site which was built upon as early as 1710, if not before, for the accommodation of sporting parties in the days of Sir Duncombe Colchester, when its fine sycamores and trees of “the Beech Walk” were most likely planted.
Descending from the side of the hilly range on which the reader has been supposed to stand towards the middle of the Forest, a plain is reached varying in width from half a mile to little more than 100 yards, and forming a band round the somewhat elevated centre of the district. This circular valley or plain marks the outcrop of the middle series of coal seams, not less than ten in number, the principal ones being the Smith Coal, Lowery or Park End High Delf, Starkey, Rocky, and Upper and Lower Churchway. The combined thickness of these beds may be said to average 20 feet, and they are more argillaceous in character than the lower beds, which in general are harder in their nature, and hence they afford the larger portion of the fossiliferous remains observed and tabulated by Mr. R. Gibbs, who has kindly furnished the writer with the following—
Plantæ.
Asterophyllites equisetiformis, et foliosus.
Bothrodendron punctatum.
Calamites approximatus, nodosus.
Caulopteris primæva.
Lepidodendron dichotomum, et elegans, et Serlii, et Sternbergii, et majus.
Neuropteris acutifolia, et angustifolia, et flexuosa, et macrophylla, et oblongata.
Pecopteris abbreviata, et arborescens, et cristata, et dentata, et Serlii.
Sigillaria contracta, et elongata, et mammillaris, et ornata, et reniformis.
Sphenophyllum fimbriatum, et Schlotheimii, et truncatum.
Sphenopteris Hibbertii, et macilenta.
Stigmaria ficoides.
Ulodendron Lindleyanum, et Lucasii.
The same variations in thickness as well as “faults” which have been detected in the lower coal seams, occur in the middle measures, although they do not in any case assume the same magnitude as the “Horse” in the Coleford High Delf.
The heart of the Forest basin is well defined by its forming a slightly varied plateau, containing the inferior and comparatively unimportant seams of Woor Green coal, situated of course nearer to the surface than the other veins, but as yet only sparingly worked, and not accurately defined in its outcrop. The highest elevations in this portion of the district are:—Surridge, 658 feet; Speech-house, 581 feet; St. Paul’s, Park End, 270 feet. The combined vertical thickness of the entire formation, descending from the top surface to the old red sandstone, is calculated by Mr. D. Williams at 2,765 feet, an opinion which is corroborated by Mr. Atkinson’s highly interesting sections based on his practical acquaintance with the mining operations of the Forest.
Mr. Mushet obtained by analysis the following percentage of carbon in the various descriptions of coal, viz.:—
| Lowery Delf | 62. |
| Coleford High Delf | 63·72, 63·61, and 60·96. |
| Churchway | 60·33 and 64·135. |
| Rockey | 61·735. |
| Starkey | 61·53. |
| Park End Little Delf | 58·15. |
| Smith Coal | 63·36. |
None of these sorts of coal emit “fire-damp” in their natural condition—a fact which adds so much to the safety of the pits; but “choke-damp” is very prevalent.
The sandstone matrix of these coal-beds constitutes the grey and buff-coloured rock so well known in the neighbourhood of the Forest as a valuable building material, as well as for ornamental stonework. Although for many years past it has been generally preferred to the gritstone of the district, and is commonly met with in the better specimens of stonework on this side the
Severn, of which Mr. Telford’s Over Bridge and Lord Somers’s mansion at Eastnor are examples, yet originally such was not the case, since the earliest example of its being used for any considerable pieces of masonry occurs in the steeple of Ruerdean Church, a work of the 15th century. Now, however, almost all the 320 stone quarries worked in the Forest are of this stone, which is very pleasing in tint, and, if judiciously selected, very durable.
APPENDIX.
No. I.
Papers preserved in the Lansdowne Collection at the British Museum.
“Right Honourable,
“Acoording unto your Lordship’s warrant, Wee repaired unto and have veiwed and duelie considered the severall woodes, known by the names of Great Bradley, Little Bradley, Stonegrove, Pigstade, Buckholde Moore, and the Copps; all lying together and conteyning by the measure of 16½ foote the pole, 520 acres. In wch grounds we thinke (the woodes being muche differing in qualitie, by an equall proportion) there maie be raised for everie acre 30 coard of woode; reserving sufficient staddells according to the state, wch, according to the measure of the said grounds, amounted unto the number of 15,600 cordes of woode. Uppon conference with divers in the contrie, wee finde that such a quantitie of woode is not suddainly to be vented in anie other sorte then to the iron workes, wch causeth either the cheapnes or dearnes of the same; the contrie not vallewing the said woodes uppon the stem above xiiiid the coard, although to the iron workes it may be vallued at IIs VId the coard. So that according to the rate of the contrie, the said proportion of woode is worthe cccccv li. And according to the compictacon for the iron works, the same maie be vallued at mixclx li. We imagine that the charge of ffensing the said woodes, circuting 4 miles, will cost, to be done and kept according to the state, aboute cc markes. The rent is 20 li. per ann.
“Robert Treswell. J. Norden. Tho. Morgan.”
The wood standing in the 6 copses above named, Sir Edward Winter proposed to buy for 800 lib., cutting and carrying away the same, one copse after another, in 5 years’ time. But this proposal was so impugned as to elicit the ensuing defence from Sir E. Winter:—“A true Answere to
the objections made against my late bargaine for some of his Mties coppices or colletts adioyning to the fforest of Deane.
“‘1. Ffirst, that contrarie to the intention of this bargaine, I have alredie cut downe a great number of tymber-trees, whereas to this howre not any one is felled of that kynde or any other.
“‘2. That a follower of my Ld of Worcester’s should survey those woodes is a wilful mistakinge, synce by the particules it appeares that one Mr Hervye made this survey by warrant from the late L. Trer.
“‘3. That I should gaine a 1000 li. per ann. by this bargaine is soe vayre and ympossible a thing as deserves noe Aunswere.
“‘Yet that your Lpp maye see howe much Th’ informer hath exceeded therein, himselfe or any man els shall purchase my interest for a tenth parte of his valuation. Which I write not in any sorte to capitulate with your Lpp; for wthout any consideration at all, I am redie to yealde upp this bargaine, rather then by reteyning thereof to harbour in your noblest thoughts the least ill conceipt of mee or my proceedinges. But nowe, Sr, howe profitable a bargaine you have made for the Kinge, these considerations followinge will easely demonstrate—ffor whereas in former tyme a greater proffit was never raised out of these wooddes than xxvs per ann. vntill my Ld your ffather and Sr Walter Myldemaye did let them by lease, and soe made viili rent, wthout any ffyne, your Lpp hath now made 500li ffyne, and 20li rent, wch is noe smale improvement, consideringe that these 25 yeares last past not one pennye rent or proffitt otherwise hath bene made out of them, but left as a thing forgotten. That the coppice woodd or vnderwoodd through the abuse of the last ffarmer, who never inclosed these wooddes, and the contynuall spoyle and havocke of the country thereabouts, is utterly destroyed. That there is nothinge nowe eft in 4 of those 6 coppices for wch I have bargained but old beaches, heretofore topt and lopt, whereof many of them nowe are scarce worth the cuttinge out to any man but myselfe, in respect of my iron workes beinge soe nere to them. That the other twoe coppices which are well stored have nothinge in them but younge beaches, and some other woodd of xx or xxx yeares growth. That in dyvers of those coppices there are many acres wch have noe manner of woodd standing vpon them at all. Lastly,
that the enclosinge of these coppices wth a sufficient mound will cost me 200 markes the least, beside the great quantitie of woodd that must necessarilye be spent therein, for wch no manner of allowance is made mee, &c. &c. &c.’”
The next MS. in Sir J. Cæsar’s collection seems designed to promote the extension of the iron-works, and relates several interesting particulars. It is headed “Reasons to move his Mtie to make vse and profitt of the woodes within the fforest of Deane.” The Forest woods are said to “containe of great standing woodes, though of severall and different sortes, 15,000 acres, parte beinge tymber, and parte other, the most parte well sett, the lawndes not accompted. The same fforest is a forest for waste, and of soe ill condicõn for hunting, as that the preservinge the woodes thereof will nether yield pleasure to the hunter nor profitt to the owner; and the woodes thereupon soe subject to waste, will dayly grow worse and worse. The fforest is for II. or III. myles vpon the skirts soe exceedingly wasted, as well by the inhabitants as other the borderers adiacent, that yt is grief to see soe many goodly trees to be spoiled, the vse whereof hath bene such as yt hath converted the tymber trees to Dotards, and that almost generally vpon the borders of the same fforest. The liberty of makinge sale of the wood hath bred in the same such a multitude of poore creatures, as it is lamentable to thinke soe many inhabitants shall lyve vpon soe bare provision as vpon spoile of the fforest woodes, wch yf in tyme yt be not forseene, will consume all his Mties woodes without accompte. It appeareth by Recorde, that in the raigne of Henry III., Edward I., II., and III., and longe sithence, there were divers forges within the fforest, and noe other but the Kinge’s only; and of these there were VIII. at one tyme, as appeareth by the accompt of Maurice de Scto Amando, and the rest were Forgium Itinerans ad siccum in bosco de, &c. All lyberty beinge prohibited for cuttinge of greene wood but to his Mates owne forge. And whosoever cutt greene wood was by the officer of the Bayliwycke attached for the same. Also by negligence of former officers the inhabitantes of the said forest have much insulted by cuttinge of trees in the said forest, whereas by Recorde it appeareth the Kynge’s Warrant was in former tymes obtayned for cuttinge of deade trees, and who soe cutt, shredd, or lopped great wood wthout good warrant, was from tyme to tyme attached, presented, and made to paye for ye same. There are, to
keepe and preserve the woodes of the said forest, tenn woodwardes, or Baylyfes of ffee, who hould Landes by that service, viz. Per servitum custodiendi boscum Domini Regis infra Ballinam, &c. Yet late experience proveth that they, their Tenauntes and Servantes, are as great spoilers as any others. And the antient Recordes make mencõn, that some of these woodwardes have forfeyted their Bayliwyckes, and have compounded wth the Kinge to have them againe regranted. It appeareth alsoe by Recordes, that the King hath bene answered of Browsewood wthin the Forest of Deane, and therein is sett downe what ffees were from tyme to tyme allowed to the keeper and what not. The profitt to be made of the said woodes is either by convertinge the same to coles, and soe for makinge iron or otherwise by sellinge of the tymber by the tonne. In wch disposition of the woodes there wil be lytle or noe difference in advantage. But of the two the makinge of coles will be lykely to yield most profitt.”
These succeeding papers, preserved with those already given, have also their interest:—
“Certain lands and tenemts holden by the face, and called new sett landes, wch the tenantes doe passe from partie to partie in the Kinge’s Court at St Breuills, being all the Kinge’s lands liing in the fforest of Deane in com’ Glouc., every tenante there payeing a certein yerely rent to his Mts Bailiff. Imprimis, the parke of Thomas Baynham, Esqr, called Noxon, is parcell therof, except from the gutter to the pale towards his house, holden by the tenure aforesaid, 50li per ann.
“Item, the house and land of Richard Allowaye, gent., is so holden, 30li per ann.
“George Wirrelle’s land at Bicknor, from the same towne to one Sipprian’s howse, and so downe to Skidmore’s house, and likewise to the fforest side, is of the like tenure, together wth other lands beyond his house, 50li per ann.
“Richard Carpenter’s land, called 5 acres, and his corne leasowes, wth all his other landes abutting vpon Mr Thornburie’s Myll, and so vp to the same forrest, is so holden, 15li pr ann.
“Mr Thornburie’s Myll, wth all the landes thereunto belonginge, is so holden, 20li.
“Richard Wirgan’s land, nere to a place called the Meine, wthin the said forrest, adioyning to the woodside, is of that same tenure, 10li.
“Christofer Bunn holdeth parcell of the same landes wch I have not viewed, 10li.
“The Earle of Pembrooke holdeth by lease for 5 yeres yet to come, Whitemayde Parke, wch was taken out of the forrest, of the like tenure, 20li.
“Sir Edward Winter’s parke from the woodeside to the launde is of the like tenure, together wth the 2 highwaies wch have bene inclosed out of the forrest wthin this 20 yeres, 30li.
“Widowe Earwoode’s ground from Mr Carpenter’s to the forrest side is of the same tenure, 15li.
“Thomas Dininge’s Myll, called Breame, wth all the landes and tenements thereto belonging, is so holden, as allso his house and land upon the hill, and all other his landes towardes Breame likewise.
“Item, all the lands from Conyers bridge, being a great quantity, to the forrest, are belonging to the same landes, but lately aliened & sould by deed, & now holden by demise, are of like tenure, being parcell of the forrest, 40li.
“Mr. Jeames, of Bristoll, holdeth 100li per ann. of the same tenure wthin the forrest.
“Md these are not halfe the landes on that side the forrest, but towards Michell Deane & little Deane there is muche more.
“Item, Willm. Hall hath land there wch a Dyer holdeth vnder him, & was taken out of the Kinge’s comon, together wth other lands not yet throughly viewed.
“Item, all Wrurdyne is much more land, wch shall be viewed & sett downe hereafter.
“Item, Stanton’s myne, wth much other land vnviewed, is so holden.
“All wch particulars doe but conteine but the least parte of the landes holden by the foresaid tenure.”
Further particulars, of the same character as the above, and forming a part of the series now given, occur in the records of another survey, as follows:—
“Rent reserved for the farme of two Messuages and one Watermill, of which two Messuages one is called Sulley, the other Redmore; And of 5 cotages, with gardens and orchards to the same belonginge; and of one 30 Acres of Land, Meadow, Pasture, Arrable, and Woodland; Some whereof are called Salley fields, Gumspitt, Le Harper, Diwardens, Broadfeild, Radmore, Coppier, Kew-grove, Martin’s Wall, and Ediland, conteyninge together cccxlvii acres,
one rood, and one perch, late in the occupacon of Edward James, lying in the fforest of Deane, in the County of Gloucester, of the yearely value of vis and viiid and ivs penny halfepenny.
“And of six Messuages, six Barnes, gardens, and orchards to the same belongings, And of xvi. several Closes of Land, Meadowe, Pasture, Arrable Land, and Woodland; Two whereof are called Cownedge, ten called Digges, one called Bradley, one Beggars’ Thorne mead, one called Marshall’s grove, and the other called ffernefeilde, and one other called Bradley, conteyninge in the whole Threescore and ten acres and three roods, lying in the fforest aforesaid, late in the occupation of Robert Pearke, of the yearly value of iis and vid, &c. &c. &c.
“The names of the officers belonging to his Mties fforrest of Deane in Com’ Glouc., viz., the Earle of Pembrooke is now High Cunstable of the same fforest. William Winter and Roger Myners, Esqrs, or one of them, is deputie Cunstable to the said Earle, & they keepe Courtes every 3 weeks at St Breuilles, and allso every 6 weekes at the Speach House, or Court of Attachment wthin the same fforrest. William Carpenter is Steward of St Breuills Courtes & the said Speach Court or Attachementes courtes. Robert Bridgeman is Bailiff for all the said Courtes, and allso in all the liberties in the said fforrest, and James Yennys is his deputie Bayliff. Md every tenantes & the borderers doe take tymber for their buildings as allso hedge woods to inclose their own groundes, & take fyring at their pleasure wthin the fforrest, & sell their owne woodes and the woodes of the landes wthin mentioned, to the great spoile of the Kinge’s woodes wthin the said fforrest.”
No. II.
One of the Dean Forest Claims, put in at the Justice Seat, held in Gloucester Castle, 10 Chas. I.
Clamea posita in Itinere Forestæ de Deane tento apud Castrum Glouc. in com. Glouc. die Iovis decimo die Iulij anno Regni Domini Caroli nunc Regis Angliæ decimo coram Henrico Comite de Holland prænobilis Ordinis Garterii Milite Capitali Justitiario ac Justitiariis Itinerantibus omnium Forestarum Chacearum parcorum et warrennarum Domini Regis citra Trentam.
(18) Foresta de Deane in Comitatu Glouc.Et modo ad hanc curiam venit Willielmus Skynne, per Edwardum Offley attornatum suum, et dicit quod ipse est seisitus de antiquo mesuagio in Plattwell in parochia de Newland et de viginti acris terræ prati et pasturæ et de diversis horreis stabulis, Anglice barnes Stables, et aliis necessariis edificiis super terram prædictam ab antiquo edificatis in parochia de Newland infra Forestam de Deane prædictam in dominico suo ut de feodo, et pro se et hæredibus suis clamat has libertates privilegia et franchesias sequentia tanquam ad mesuagium terram pratum et pasturam et cætera edificia prædicta pertinentia et spectantia, videlicet pro necessaria reedificatione et reparatione dicti mesuagii sui et aliorum antiquorum edificiorum suorum super terram et tenementa sua prædicta existentium, quod ipse per visum et allocationem forestariorum et viridariorum Forestæ prædictæ de bosco et maeremio domini Regis super vasta et communia Forestæ prædictæ crescentibus de tempore in tempus capere et percipere potest. Et quod forestarii et viridarii Forestæ prædictæ post requisitionem per ipsum Willielmum Skynne eisdem factam apud Curiam domini Regis infra Forestam prædictam tentam vocatam Le Speech Court, debent ire videre et appunctuare boscum et maeremium in vastis et communibus Forestæ prædictæ sic ut præfertur crescentia prædictis necessariis reedificationibus et reparationibus suis dicti mesuagii et aliorum edificiorum suorum
supradictorum et eidem Willielmo Skynne inde allocationem facere. Clamat etiam pro necessariis estoveriis suis in dicto antiquo mesuagio comburendis et expendendis ad libitum suum capere de mortuis et siccis arboribus dicti domini Regis in vastis et communibus locis Forestæ prædictæ existentibus. Clamat etiam communiam pasturæ in omnibus locis apertis et communicalibus Forestæ prædictæ pro omnibus averiis suis communicalibus super terras et tenementa sua prædicta levantibus et cubantibus omnibus anni temporibus (mense vetito solummodo excepto). Clamat etiam habere pawnagium pro omnibus porcis suis super terras et tenementa sua prædicta levantibus et cubantibus in omnibus vastis Forestæ prædictæ tempore pawnagii, Reddendo domino Regi annuatim summam unius denarii pro pawnagio prædicto per nomen de Swinesilver et non amplius. Et pro titulo ad has libertates privilegia et franchesias sic ut præfertur superius per ipsum clamata, idem Willielmus Skynne ulterius dicit quod ipse et omnes antecessores sui et omnes illi quorum statum ipse nunc habet in mesuagio terra et tenementis supradictis a tempore cujus contrarii memoria hominum non existit in contrarium usi fuerunt et consueverunt de tempore in tempus facere sectam ad Curiam dicti domini Regis et prædecessorum suorum Regum et Reginarum Angliæ apud Castrum suum Sancti Briavelli de tribus septimanis in tres septimanas, ac etiam annuatim solvere feodo firmario domini Regis Forestæ prædictæ pro tempore existenti vel ejus ballivo redditum octo solidorum et octo denariorum ad usum dicti domini Regis. Ac etiam annuatim solvere dicto feodo firmario vel ejus ballivo summam unius denarii in nomine de Swinesilver ad usum dicti domini Regis. Et quod ipse præfatus Willielmus Skynne et omnes antecessores et omnes ili quorum statum ipse nunc habet in mesuagio terris et tenementis supradictis ratione soctæ ad Curiam dicti domini Regis et redditus octo solidorum et octo denariorum prædictorum ac summæ unius denarii in nomine de Swinesilver sic ut præfertur per ipsum de tempore in tempus domino Regi factorum et solutorum usi fuerunt et a toto prædicto tempore cujus contrarii memoria hominum non existit in contrarium uti consueverunt omnibus et singulis libertatibus privilegiis et franchesiis modo et forma prout per ipsum Willielmum Skynne superius sunt clamata tanquam ad prædictum mesuagium terras et tenementa prædicta spectantia et pertinentia, et eis omnibus
et singulis juxta vim formam et effectum clamei sui prædicti usi fuerunt, et idem Willielmus Skynne adhuc utitur prout ei bene licet. Et hoc paratus est verificare prout curia consideraverit unde idem Willielmus Skynne petit prædicta libertates privilegia et franchesias hic ut præfertur per ipsum superius clamata sibi et hæredibus suis allocari juxta clameum suum prædictum.
Tobias Rose.
No. III.
TABLE I.—FORMED BY MR. MACHEN.
An Account of the Admeasurement of Trees in Dean Forest; viz., A, an Oak near the Woodman’s in Shutcastle; B, “Jack of the Yat,” an Oak Tree on the Coleford and Mitcheldean Road; C, a large Oak in Sallow Vallets; D, an Oak which appears to be formed of two Oaks grown together, on the Lodge Hill, 300 yards west of York Lodge; E, a black Italian Poplar in the Garden at Whitemead. All taken at six feet from the ground.
[Note: In each table, Inc = Increase in Size.]
| A | B [a][265] | C [265a] | D [265b] | E | ||||||
| Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | ||||||
| Ft.ins | ins | Ft.ins | ins | Ft.ins | ins | Ft.ins | ins | Ft.ins | ins | |
| Oct 1814 | 3 9 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| „ 1816 | 3 10⅝ | 1⅝ | - | - | - | - | 17 2 | - | - | - |
| „ 1818 | 3 11⅝ | 1 | - | - | - | - | 17 3 | 1 | 0 11½ | - |
| „ 1820 | 4 0⅞ | 1¼ | - | - | - | - | 17 7⅛ | 4⅛ | - | - |
| „ 1822 | 4 2⅝ | 1¾ | - | - | - | - | 18 0¼ | 5⅛ | - | - |
| „ 1824 | 4 4½ | 1⅞ | - | - | - | - | 18 3¾ | 3½ | - | - |
| „ 1826 | 4 5½ | 1 | - | - | - | - | 18 9¾ | 6 | - | - |
| „ 1828 | 4 8 | 2½ | - | - | - | - | 18 11¾ | 2 | - | - |
| „ 1830 | 4 10 | 2 | - | - | 12 4½ | - | 19 0½ | 0¾ | 4 3 | - |
| „ 1832 | 4 10¾ | 0¾ | - | - | - | - | 19 1¾ | 1¼ | - | - |
| „ 1834 | 4 11¼ | 0½ | - | - | - | - | 19 4 | 2¼ | 6 1¾ | - |
| „ 1836 | 5 0 | 0¾ | - | - | - | - | 19 9 | 5 | 6 9 | 7¼ |
| „ 1838 | 5 0¾ | 0¾ | 17 9 | 12 10½ | 6 | 20 2 | 5 | 7 0½ | 3½ | |
| „ 1840 | 5 1 | 0¼ | 17 10 | 1 | 12 10¾ | 0¼ | 20 4 | 2 | 7 7 | 6½ |
| „ 1842 | 5 1¼ | 0¼ | 17 11¼ | 1¼ | 12 11½ | 0¾ | 20 8 | 4 | 8 0 | 5 |
| „ 1844 | 5 3½ | 2¼ | 18 2¾ | 3½ | 13 1 | 1½ | - | - | 8 10 | 10 |
| „ 1846 | 5 4¾ | 1¼ | 18 3½ | 0¾ | 13 2½ | 1½ | 21 0 | 4 | 9 3¼ | 5¼ |
| „ 1848 | 5 6 | 1¼ | 18 5¼ | 1¾ | 13 4 | 1½ | 21 4 | 4 | 9 10 | 6¾ |
| „ 1850 | 5 6½ | 0½ | 18 6 | 0¾ | 13 4¾ | 0¾ | 21 6½ | 2½ | 10 2 | 4 |
| „ 1852 | 5 7 | 0½ | 18 6½ | 0½ | 13 5¼ | 0½ | 21 8 | 1½ | 10 8 | 6 |
| „ 1854 | cut down | - | 18 7¼ | 0¾ | 13 7½ | 2¾ | 21 10 | 2 | 11 2½ | 6½ |
TABLE 2.—FORMED BY MR. MACHEN.
An Account of the Admeasurement of several Oak Trees in the Bailey Copse (North), A, B, C, D, E, and F.
N.B.—The Copse was open for many years, and the Oak underwood kept down by cattle browsing. It was enclosed in 1813, and thickly stored, and the underwood cut in 1817. It is now (1818) well stored with young Oaks of the same description as those measured.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | |||||||
| Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | |||||||
| in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | |
| Oct. 1818 | 7¾ | - | 10¾ | - | 9½ | - | 9 | - | 12⅝ | - | 10¾ | - |
| „ 1820 | 9 | 1¼ | 13 | 2¼ | 10½ | 1 | 10¼ | 1¼ | 14⅜ | 1¾ | 12⅛ | 1⅜ |
| „ 1822 | 10¼ | 1¼ | 15⅛ | 2⅛ | 11¼ | 0¾ | 11½ | 1¼ | 16¼ | 1⅞ | 13 | 0⅞ |
| „ 1824 | 11⅜ | 1⅛ | 17⅛ | 2 | 12⅜ | 1⅛ | 12⅝ | 1⅛ | 17¾ | 1½ | 14¾ | 1¾ |
| „ 1826 | 12¼ | 0⅞ | 18¾ | 1⅝ | 13¼ | 0⅞ | 13¾ | 1⅛ | 19⅛ | 1⅜ | 16⅛ | 1⅜ |
| „ 1828 | 13⅛ | 0⅞ | 19½ | 0¾ | 13¾ | 0½ | 14½ | 0¾ | 20⅜ | 1¼ | 17¼ | 1⅛ |
| „ 1830 | 13⅝ | 0½ | 20⅜ | 0⅞ | 14 | 0¼ | 15¼ | 0¾ | 21 | 0⅝ | 17¾ | 0½ |
| „ 1832 | 15⅜ | 1¾ | 22¼ | 1⅞ | 14½ | 0½ | 16⅝ | 1⅜ | 22½ | 1½ | 19¼ | 1½ |
| „ 1834 | 17⅜ | 2 | 25 | 2¾ | 15⅝ | 1⅛ | 18⅛ | 1½ | 24 | 1½ | 21 | 1¾ |
| „ 1836 | 19⅛ | 1¾ | 27¾ | 2¾ | 17⅝ | 2 | 19½ | 1⅜ | 25¾ | 1¾ | 22¾ | 1¾ |
| „ 1838 | 21⅛ | 2 | 30⅜ | 2⅝ | 19 | 1⅜ | 20¾ | 1¼ | 27¾ | 2 | 24¼ | 1½ |
| „ 1840 | 22⅞ | 1¾ | 32 | 1⅝ | 20⅜ | 1⅜ | 21¾ | 1 | 29 | 1¼ | 25¾ | 1½ |
| „ 1842 | 24⅝ | 1¾ | 33⅞ | 1⅞ | 21¾ | 1⅜ | 22⅝ | 0⅞ | 30¼ | 1¼ | 27 | 1¼ |
| „ 1844 | 26 | 1⅜ | 34¾ | 0⅞ | 22 | 0¼ | 22⅞ | 0¼ | 30¾ | 0½ | 27½ | 0½ |
| „ 1846 | 27½ | 1½ | 36½ | 1¾ | 22¾ | 0¾ | 23⅝ | 0¾ | 32⅛ | 1⅜ | 28⅝ | 1⅛ |
| „ 1848 | 30 | 2½ | 38¾ | 2¼ | 24½ | 1¾ | 25¼ | 1½ | 34⅛ | 2 | 30⅝ | 2 |
| „ 1850 | 31½ | 1½ | 40½ | 1¾ | 26 | 1½ | 26 | 0¾ | 35½ | 1⅜ | 32½ | 1⅞ |
| „ 1852 | 32¾ | 1¼ | 41 | 0½ | 26¾ | 0¾ | 26¼ | 0¼ | 37 | 1½ | 33¾ | 1¼ |
| „ 1854 | 33¾ | 1 | 44 | 3 | 26¾ | - | 27¼ | 1 | 37¾ | 0¾ | 34¾ | 1 |
TABLE 3.—FORMED BY MR. MACHEN.
An Account of the Admeasurement of Seven Beech Timber Trees growing in Doward Wood, near the walk by the side of the River Wye. They are clean and smooth in the bark, and appear fast growing.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | ||||||||
| Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | ||||||||
| ins | ins | ins | ins | ins | ins | ins | ins | ins | ins | ins | ins | ins | ins | |
| Oct. 1838 | 64½ | - | 52 | - | 56¼ | - | 58¼ | - | 56½ | - | 53¼ | - | 47¼ | - |
| „ 1840 | 65 | 0½ | 53 | 1 | 57⅛ | 0⅞ | 59 | 0¾ | 57½ | 1 | 53¾ | 0½ | 49 | 1¾ |
| „ 1842 | 66¾ | 1¾ | 54¼ | 1¼ | 58½ | 1⅜ | 60⅜ | 1⅜ | 58⅝ | 1⅛ | 55⅛ | 1⅜ | 49 | - |
| „ 1844 | 69¾ | 3 | 54½ | 0¼ | 59 | 0½ | 61¼ | 0⅞ | 59 | 0⅜ | 55¾ | 0⅝ | 49 | - |
| „ 1846 | 73 | 3¼ | 55½ | 1 | 60¼ | 1¼ | 62 | 0¾ | 59½ | 0½ | 56½ | 0¾ | 49½ | 0½ |
| „ 1848 | 73¼ | 0¼ | 56 | 0½ | 61½ | 1¼ | 62¼ | 0¼ | 60¼ | 0¾ | 57½ | 1 | 50½ | 1 |
| „ 1850 | 73½ | 0¼ | 56¼ | 0¼ | 62½ | 1 | 63¼ | 1 | 60½ | 0¼ | 58¾ | 1¼ | 50¾ | 0¼ |
| „ 1852 | 76 | 2½ | 56½ | 0¼ | 63¼ | 0¾ | 64½ | 1¼ | 61½ | 1 | 59½ | 0¾ | 51½ | 0¾ |
| „ 1854 | 78 | 2 | 58 | 1½ | 64¾ | 1½ | 65⅝ | 1⅛ | 62½ | 1 | 61¼ | 1¾ | 52½ | 1 |
TABLE 4.—FORMED BY MR. MACHEN.
An Account of the Admeasurement of 14 Oak Timber Trees, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, growing on Hall’s Hill, and H, I, J, K, L, M, and N, on Pritchard’s Hill, both near the Ride in the Highmeadow Woods. The trees are probably now (1822) 80 or 90 years old.
FIRST PART.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | ||||||||
| Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | ||||||||
| in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | |
| Oct 1822 | 61 | - | 62 | - | 65½ | - | 67⅜ | - | 46½ | - | 82½ | - | 49 | - |
| „ 1824 | 62½ | 1½ | 63¾ | 1¾ | 68 | 2½ | 69 | 1⅝ | 49¼ | 2¾ | 83¼ | 0¾ | 52 | 3 |
| „ 1826 | 65 | 2½ | 65¾ | 2 | 71¾ | 3¾ | 71½ | 2½ | 52 | 2¾ | 84 | 0¾ | 55½ | 3½ |
| „ 1828 | 67¼ | 2¼ | 67½ | 1¾ | 74½ | 2¾ | 73¼ | 1¾ | 54¾ | 2¾ | 85 | 1 | 58 | 2½ |
| „ 1830 | 68¼ | 1 | 68½ | 1 | 75 | 0½ | 73¾ | 0½ | 55¼ | 0½ | 87¼ | 2¼ | 59 | 1 |
| „ 1832 | 69 | 0¾ | 69½ | 1 | 76½ | 1½ | 74¼ | 0½ | 56¾ | 1½ | 88¼ | 1 | 60½ | 1½ |
| „ 1834 | 71 | 2 | 71¼ | 1¾ | 77½ | 1 | 75¼ | 1 | 57½ | 0¾ | 90 | 1¾ | 61½ | 1 |
| „ 1836 | 72½ | 1½ | 72¾ | 1½ | 78½ | 1 | 76 | 0¾ | 58 | 0½ | 91 | 1 | 62½ | 1 |
| „ 1838 | 73½ | 1 | 73½ | 0¾ | 79¾ | 1¼ | 76½ | 0½ | 59 | 1 | 92 | 1 | 63¾ | 1¼ |
| „ 1840 | 74 | 0½ | 74¾ | 1¼ | 80¼ | 0½ | 78 | 1½ | 59¼ | 0¼ | 92½ | 0½ | 64 | 0¼ |
| „ 1842 | 75⅝ | 1⅝ | 74⅞ | 0⅛ | 81½ | 1¼ | 79⅛ | 1⅛ | 59¼ | - | 93⅜ | 0⅞ | 64 | - |
| „ 1844 | 76¾ | 1⅛ | 75¾ | 0⅞ | 82 | 0½ | 80¼ | 1⅛ | 60½ | 1¼ | 93¾ | 0⅜ | 65¾ | 1¾ |
| „ 1846 | 78 | 1¼ | 77½ | 1¾ | 82¾ | 0¾ | 81½ | 1¼ | 61½ | 1 | 96 | 2¼ | 67 | 1¼ |
| „ 1848 | 80¼ | 2¼ | 78½ | 1 | 83¼ | 0½ | 82¼ | 0¾ | 63 | 1½ | 96¼ | 0¼ | 67 | - |
| „ 1850 | 82 | 1¾ | 79¾ | 1¼ | 84¾ | 1½ | 83¾ | 1½ | 64½ | 1½ | 98 | 1¾ | 68 | 1 |
| „ 1852 | 82½ | 0½ | 80½ | 0¾ | 85¼ | 0½ | 83¾ | - | 65¼ | 0¾ | 98½ | 0½ | 69¾ | 1¾ |
| „ 1854 | 83¼ | 0¾ | 81¼ | 0¾ | 85½ | 0¼ | 86 | 2¼ | 66¼ | 1 | 99¼ | 0¾ | 71 | 1¼ |
SECOND PART.
| H | I | J | K | L | M | N | ||||||||
| Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | ||||||||
| in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | in. | |
| Oct 1822 | 49 | - | 31¼ | - | 46¾ | - | 30 | - | 67¼ | - | 36¾ | - | 28 | - |
| „ 1824 | 52¼ | 3¼ | 32¼ | 1 | 49½ | 2¾ | 32 | 2 | 69¾ | 2½ | 39 | 2¼ | 29¾ | 1¾ |
| „ 1826 | 55¾ | 3½ | 33¾ | 1½ | 52½ | 3 | 34½ | 2 | 72½ | 2¾ | 42¼ | 3¼ | 31¾ | 2 |
| „ 1828 | 58¼ | 2½ | 35¼ | 1½ | 55¼ | 2¾ | 37 | 2½ | 75 | 2½ | 45 | 2¾ | 34 | 2¼ |
| „ 1830 | 59 | 0¾ | 36 | 0¾ | 56 | 0¾ | 37½ | 0½ | 76 | 1 | 45½ | 0½ | 34½ | 0½ |
| „ 1832 | 60¼ | 1¼ | 38 | 2 | 57¼ | 1¼ | 39 | 1½ | 77½ | 1½ | 47¼ | 1¾ | 36¼ | 1¾ |
| „ 1834 | 61 | 0¾ | 38¾ | 0¾ | 58 | 0¾ | 39 | - | 78¾ | 0¾ | 48 | 0¾ | 37 | 0¾ |
| „ 1836 | 62 | 1 | 39½ | 0¾ | 59 | 1 | 40 | 1 | 79 | 0¼ | 48¾ | 0¾ | 38 | 1 |
| „ 1838 | 62¾ | 0¾ | 40½ | 1 | 60¼ | 1¼ | 41¾ | 1¾ | 80¼ | 1¼ | 50 | 1¼ | 39 | 1 |
| „ 1840 | 63 | 0¼ | 41¼ | 0¾ | 61 | 0¾ | 42¾ | 1 | 82¼ | 2 | 51½ | 1½ | 39¼ | 0¼ |
| „ 1842 | 63¾ | 0¾ | 41¼ | - | 61 | - | 43¼ | 0½ | 83¼ | 1 | 53¼ | 1¾ | 39½ | 0¼ |
| „ 1844 | 64¼ | 0½ | 42 | 0¾ | 62 | 1 | 44 | 0¾ | 84¾ | 1½ | 54½ | 1¼ | 40⅛ | 0⅝ |
| „ 1846 | 66¼ | 2 | 43 | 1 | 62¾ | 0¾ | 45¼ | 0½ | 85¾ | 1 | 55½ | 1 | 41 | 0⅞ |
| „ 1848 | 67 | 0¾ | 44 | 1 | 63¾ | 1 | 46¼ | 1 | 86½ | 0¾ | 57 | 1½ | 42 | 1 |
| „ 1850 | 68¾ | 1¾ | 44½ | 0½ | 65 | 1¼ | 47½ | 1¼ | 88 | 1½ | 58 | 1 | 43 | 1 |
| „ 1852 | 69 | 0¼ | 44¾ | 0¼ | 65¾ | 0¾ | 48 | 0½ | 89 | 1 | 59 | 1 | 43¾ | 0¾ |
| „ 1854 | 69½ | 0½ | 45¾ | 1 | 66⅜ | 0⅝ | 48¾ | 0¾ | 90 | 1 | 60 | 1 | 44 | 0¼ |
TABLE 5.—FORMED BY MR. MACHEN.
An Account of the Admeasurement of nine Trees growing on York Lodge Hill: A, B, C are Oaks; D, E, F are Turkey Oaks; and G, H, I are Chesnuts. These trees have been planted singly on the open Forest without any Fence (now 1836), about 20 years since.
FIRST PART.
| A. | Oak. | B. | Oak. | C. | Oak. | D. Turkey | Oak. | E. Turkey | Oak. | |
| Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | ||||||
| ft.in. | in. | ft.in. | in. | ft.in. | in. | ft.in. | in. | ft.in. | in. | |
| Oct 1836 | 2 8½ | - | 2 5 | - | 2 9¼ | - | 1 7½ | - | 1 9 | - |
| „ 1838 | 2 11 | 2½ | 2 6¾ | 1¾ | 2 11¼ | 2 | 1 10 | 2½ | 1 11½ | 2½ |
| „ 1840 | 3 0¼ | 1¼ | 2 8½ | 1¾ | 3 1½ | 2¼ | 2 0¾ | 2¾ | 2 2½ | 3 |
| „ 1842 | 3 2 | 1¾ | 2 10 | 1½ | 3 3½ | 2 | 2 3½ | 2¾ | 2 5½ | 3 |
| „ 1844 | 3 5½ | 3½ | 3 1 | 3 | 3 6½ | 3 | 2 7 | 3½ | 2 9 | 3½ |
| „ 1846 | 3 8 | 2½ | 3 2 | 1 | 3 10 | 3½ | 2 10 | 3 | 3 0 | 3 |
| „ 1848 | 3 10¼ | 2¼ | 3 4 | 2 | 4 1 | 3 | 3 1 | 3 | 3 2¼ | 2¼ |
| „ 1850 | 4 0½ | 2¼ | 3 5½ | 1½ | 4 2 | 1 | 3 2¾ | 1¾ | 3 4¼ | 2 |
| „ 1852 | 4 2¾ | 2¼ | 3 7½ | 2 | 4 4 | 2 | 3 4¾ | 2 | 3 6½ | 2¼ |
| „ 1854 | 4 5¾ | 3 | 3 10 | 2½ | 4 7 | 3 | 3 8¾ | 4 | 3 10½ | 4 |
SECOND PART.
| F | Turkey Oak. | G | Chesnut. | H | Chesnut. | I | Chesnut. | |
| Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | |||||
| ft.in. | in. | ft.in. | in. | ft.in. | in. | ft.in. | in. | |
| Oct 1836 | 1 7¼ | - | 1 11½ | - | 2 2 | - | 2 0¼ | - |
| „ 1838 | 1 10¼ | 3 | 2 3 | 3½ | 2 5½ | 3½ | 2 5 | 4¾ |
| „ 1840 | 2 1¼ | 3 | 2 5¾ | 2¾ | 2 8¾ | 3¼ | 2 10 | 5 |
| „ 1842 | 2 4½ | 3¼ | 2 9½ | 3¾ | 3 0 | 3¼ | 3 3½ | 5½ |
| „ 1844 | 2 8 | 3½ | 3 1 | 3½ | 3 2 | 2 | 3 9 | 5½ |
| „ 1846 | 2 11 | 3 | 3 4 | 3 | 3 5½ | 3½ | 4 2¾ | 5¾ |
| „ 1848 | 3 2¼ | 3¼ | 3 7½ | 3 | 3 8½ | 3 | 4 7¾ | 5 |
| „ 1850 | 3 4¼ | 2 | 3 10 | 2½ | 3 9¾ | 1¼ | 4 11 | 3¼ |
| „ 1852 | 3 6¾ | 2¼ | 4 1 | 3 | 3 11½ | 1¾ | 5 3½ | 4½ |
| „ 1854 | 3 10 | 3¼ | 4 5 | 4 | 4 3½ | 4 | 5 8¼ | 4¾ |
The following letter of Mr. Vaughan, of Court Field on the Wye, near Lydbrook, merits insertion, as bearing testimony to the value of the preceding Tables compiled by Mr. Machen, exhibiting the growth of Trees in the Forest.
“Court Field, October 15, 1841.
“My dear Sir,
“I thank you very much for the interesting account you have sent me of the result of your observation during a series of years upon the growth of trees. It is really a most curious document. I ought to have thanked you sooner, but I was anxious, first, to compare your Table with the result of my own admeasurements of trees at Court Field in various situations; and give you, at the same time, the result of my calculations.
“I find that my experience fully corroborates yours, though it induces me to believe that the forest growth is slightly below an average—which the soil and situation would also induce one to imagine.
“I calculate, from your Table, that an oak-tree measuring 6 inches girt doubles its contents (exclusive of its increase in height and limb) in 5 to 6 years. Whereas, a tree measuring 8½ inches, or half a foot girt, requires 10 or 12 years to double itself.
“With regard to the trees 170 years old, I find that A has increased 19 feet or 28 per cent. only in 30 years, and B 26 feet or 48 per cent. during the same period; neither, therefore, paying much interest on their value within the last 30 years.
“I calculate that the value of the acres of growing timber which you refer to (73 oaks averaging 58 feet) would be £624 at £7 10s. per 50 feet; or, if the original value of the land and expense of ploughing it amounted to £25, about twenty-five times its original value.
“If the thinnings be considered equivalent to the expense of protection-fences, &c., and £25 at compound interest for 170 years be calculated, £624 will be found to be less than 1/20 per cent. = a hundredth of 5 per cent. per annum.
“I remain, my dear Sir, very faithfully yours,
“John V. Vaughan.”
No. IV.
Mr. Wyrrall’s Survey of the Forest of Dean Iron Works in 1635.
“Canop Furnace.—Most pt new built, the rest repaired by the Farmers, 22ft square, wheel 22ft diamr. Furnace box built 4 years since by the Farmers. Bridge-house 48ft by 21, 9 high, built 4 years, Bellow’s boards 18ft by 4. Clerk’s house and stable built by the Farmers. A cottage built by the Workmen belonging to the Works, now occupied by the Filler. Built before the Farmers hired.—Founder’s house, Minecracker’s cabin, A Mine Kiln.
“Park Furnace.—Same dimensions, repaired 4 years since by the Farmers, Wheel and almost all the houses built by the Farmers.
“Park end Forge.—2 Hamrs, 3 Fineries, 1 Chaffery, repd 2 years since, one of the Fineries new.
“Whitecroft Forge,—built abt 6 yrs since by the Farmers, d° d°
“Bradley Forge.—d° d° d°
“Sowdley Furnace, built 3 years—Qu. if rebuilt? Bridge house, pt built by the farmers, pt old and decayd, Trow leading to the wheel, ½ made new 5 years since, decayd, 5 Cottages, 1 built by the Farmers. A dam a mile above Sowdley built by the Farmers. A dam half a mile still higher, built long since.
“Sowdley Forge, 2 Fineries, 1 Chaffery built 2 years, in the place of the old Forge. Trows & Penstocks made new by the Farmers, decayed.
“Lydbrook Furnace, 23ft long, 9 bottom, 23ft deep, new built 3 yrs since from the ground, 3 ft higher than before, much cracked. A great Buttress behind the Furnace to strengthen it.
“Lydbrook Forge.—1 Chaffery, 2 Fineries, House built 4 years, being burnt by accident.”
Besides the above, Mr. Wyrrall also transcribed the
following additional particulars from a MS. dated 23 September, 1635, and endorsed,—“The booke of Survey for the Forest of Deane Iron work, and the Warrant annexed unto yt.”
“Cannope Furnace.—Now blowinge, and likely to contynue aboute 3 weeks. The most part new built, and the rest repaired by the Farmers about 4 years since. Stone walls, about 60lb, consistinge of the stone body thereof 22 foote square, wherein are:—
“In the fore front 4 Sowes of Iron }
and the Tempiron Wall 3 Sowes } 7 Sowes.
“A Wheele, 22 Foote diamr, 7 Iron Whops, one the Waste, made about three years since. With Shafte and all things belonginge about 20lb, in good repaire.
“The Furnace Howse half tiled, built with timber 4 years since by the Farmers, cost about 80lb, in repaire.
“The Bridge house, 21 foot broad, 48 foot longe, and 9 foote heigh, built about 2 years since, the bridge about 4 years, covered with bords bottomed with Planks.
“5 bellow bords ready sawed, 18ft longe, 4ft broad. A Watter Trowe 1ft at bottome and 15 ynches high, 75 yards longe, leadinge the water to the Wheele, cut out of the whole tymber, and ledged at the top, newe made within 4 years, and now in repaire, cost about 20lb.
“The Hutch leading the Watter from the Wheele, 5 foot square, 85 foote long, not mended by these farmers, in repaire.
“In doinge of the saied Workes, besids the Hutch used by estimate about 150 Tonns, at viiis, and the Hutch about 40 Tonns, being trees only slitt and clapt together at 5s the Ton.
“Outhouses.—The Furnace Keeper’s Cabbyne built of timber covered with bords built by the Farmers, cost 3lb, 4 tonns.
“A Cottage neare the said Furnaces built by the workmen of the said Works, now enjoyed by the Filler there, and not belonging to the Workes.
“A Howse wherein the Clarke dwells, built by the Farmers wth a stable, 20 Nobs 6 Tonns.
“Another howse adjoyninge for the founder, built before the Farmers’ time.
“Another little cabbyne for the Myne Cracker, built before the Farmers’ time.
“8 dozen of Collyers Hurdles, 13s 4d.
“A Myne Kilne not in repaire, built before the Farmers’ tyme, with 5 piggs of Iron in the walls, 20s will repaire.
“Cole places.
“Implemnts—one paire of Bellowes furnished with iron implemnts, somewhat defective in the lethers, valued at 15lb, made by the Farmers, the repaire whereof will cost 6lb 13s 4d.
“6 cambes of iron in Wheele Shafte waying about 4cwt.
“3 water Trowes for the Worke.
“1 Grindstone, 19 longe Ringers, 1 short one, 1 Constable, 7 Sinder Shovells, 1 moulding Ship, 2 casting ladles, 1 cinder hooke, 1 Plackett, 2 buck stoves, 1 Tuiron hooke, 1 Iron Tempe, 1 Sinder plate, 1 dame plate.
“4 Wheele barrowes, 1 great Sledge, 1 Tuiron plate cast, 1 Shamell plate, 1 Gage, 1 crackt wooden beame and scales, furnished, and triangles, 1 ton of Wtts, Pigs used for weights upon the bellows poises, 3½c of Rawe Iron, 1 new firkett in the Backside, 1 lader of 14 rungs, 1 dozen of cole basketts, 2 Myne hammers, 2 Myne Shovells, 2 Coale Rakes, 2 Myne Rakes, 2 baskes to put myne into the Furnace.
“Parke Furnace.—The stone body thereof 22 foote square in the Front, 2 broken sowes, one taken thence, 2 sowes in the Wall.
“Repaired 4 years since by the Farmers, viz., the backe wall from the foundation to the top, and parte of the wall over the Bellows, 40lb it cost.
“The Water Wheele 22ft heigh, wth a Shaft whereon 7 whops, 2 Gudgions and 2 brasses, built about the same tyme, in repaire, valued at 20lb. The Furnace Howse tiled, built with stone wall 9 foot heigh, 22 foote square, the Roof good, built about the same tyme, in repair, saving a Lace by the Bridge. The stone worke valued at 10lb. The Carpenter’s worke one the roofe at 20s, the tilinge valued at 6lb 13s 4d.
“A Pent house under the Furnace, 10s.
“The Bridge House 42ft longe, 22ft broad, the said walles 8½ foot, covered with boards, double bottomed with plancke, upon stronge sleepers, valued at 40lb.
“Fence Walls all built by the Farmers about 4 yeares since.
“100 Foote of trowes made of square timber, hollowed and covered with plancke, valued at 10lb, made by the Farmers.
“Another Water course, built with stone one both sides and covered wth planckes 2½ foot broad, 46 foot, in repaire, 5lb.
“An Iron cast grate one the same watercourse.
“A watercourse of half a mile one the North of the Furnace, at the head thereof a dam and a small breach, wants soweringe, otherwise good, cutt by the Farmers, and cost them 20lb, and will cost 3lb.
“A Water course of above ½ mile to the South, made before their tyme.
“The Hutch built with stone and covered with plankes of 6 foot heigh, 3 foot broad, 70ft, saving about 11 foot at the vent which is timber, repaired by the Farmers, in repaire, but the Courant stopt below with cinders, 13lb 6s 8d; the cutting of a newe will cost 8lb.
“The Fownder’s howse built before the Farmers’ tyme.
“A Cottage adjoininge.
“A Cabbyne for the bridge-server, covered with boards, built by them about a yeare since, 3 tonns, 18ft longe, 11 broad, valued at 5lb.
“A Cabbyne adjoining to the Furnace for the Furnace Keeper, about a Tonn, built by the Farmers, and valued at 2lb.
“A Faire Howse, the ends stone built, the rest with Timber 50 foot longe, 16 broad; in it is a crosse building stories heigh, in repaire, tiled, built before the Farmers now granted, with 2 stables belonging, of tymber.
“A smale cottage, now William Wayt’s.
“A myne kilne, the inside in decay, the piggs of iron taken out of the draught thereof, the repaire will cost 2lb.
“Tymber in doeinge of }
the saied worke .. } 150 Tonnes, worth vis viiid the tonne.
“Implemnts.—1 pr bellowes open with the furniture of iron thereto belonging, defective in the lethers, valued at 13lb 6s 8d, the repaire will cost 10lb.; 2 buckstaves, 1 dam-plate, 2 sinder plats, 1 tuiron plate, 1 plackett, 1 gadge, 1 tuiron hoocke, 1 dam hoocke or stopinge hoocke, 4 iron shovells, 9 ringers, 6 cole baskets, 2 wheel barrows, 2 myne hammers, 1 coale rake, 2 cinder raks, 1 great sledge, 1 ringer hammer, 1 constable, 1 shammell plate, 6 iron cambs.
“A beame with scales, hoocks, triangles, and lincks, with about ½ a ton of rawe iron for a wt, in repaire; 1 sowe
of iron of 16cwt. which was in the front wall, soe now lyes before the doore, 5lb.
“1 Grindstone, 2 bellowe boards, never used, and 4 old ones, 1lb 10s.
“Collyers’ Hurdles.
“The tymber ymployed about the said worke estimated at 140 tonns, and valued at 8s the tonn, 56lb.
“The Repaire of the body of the furnace and the buildings, beames thereto belonginge, and other defects, to make it fit to blowe, estimated at 60lb.
“Parkend Forge—consistinge of 2 hamers, 3 Fyneryes, and 1 chaffery, repayered about 2 years since by the Farmers, viz., 2 newe drome beames, 2 great hamers, shafts with wheeles and armes all newe, the body of the forge repaired in sundry places, one of the fyneryes built newe with the whole and shafts.
“The harmes to the great hamers newe and in repaire, valued at 12lb.
“One other finerye chimney, made within the yeare, 5lb, 3 newe trowes through the bay, 26ft longe a piece, covered with planke one the west side, 13lb 6s 8d.
“The hamer hutch one the west side, heigh and broad one the one side, plancked in the bottome ranges of tymber with spreaders conteyninge 150 foote in length, 40lb.
“The chaffery wheele in the west side, old and decayed, 3lb to repaire it.
“One longe trowe one the est side leadinge the watter to the fynerye, 66 foote longe, 6lb 13s 4d; another great trowe with a penstocke, 32 foote, cost 3lb 6s 8d; 1 great penstocke in the hamer trowe, 14 foot longe, 2 foote square, 40s.
“2 Water Pricke Posts with his laces, 4lb.
“The Hamer Hutch one the west side, 4 foote square, bottoms and sides with plancks, 2 ranges of timber 150 foote longe, 10lb.
“The bodye of one Fynerye wheele all newe, made within 2 yeares last past by the Farmers.
“One little house for the carpenter to work in one the bay.
“Two ranges of tymber worke in the lower side of the bay, consistinge of sils, laces, and posts, built by the Farmers within 2 yeares, 120 foote, 12 heigh, 80lb.
“The front of the bay where the water is led to the west side and drawinge gates built about 2 years since. Stone walls on each side, 5lb.
“A flowd gate with 6 sluices, strongly tymbered, built with stronge wall one either side thereof, 160 foote longe, 3ft heigh, 3 foot thicke, aproned and plancked on the top for a bridge 3 years since, 44 foot longe, 22ft broad, 50lb.
* * * * *
The same careful investigator (Mr. Wyrrall) of every particular relating to the iron-works of the Forest formed a glossary of the terms used in the above specifications, which not only sufficiently explains them, but also shows that very similar apparatus continued to be used in this neighbourhood up to the close of the last century. It proceeds thus:—
“Sows of Iron are the long pieces of cast iron as they run into the sand immediately from the furnace; thus called from the appearance of this and the shorter pieces which are runned into smaller gutters made in the same sand, from the resemblance they have to a sow lying on her side with her pigs at her dugs. These are for working up in the forges; but it is usual to cast other sows of iron of very great size to lay in the walls of the furnaces as beams to support the great strain of the work.
“Dam Plate is a large flat plate of cast iron placed on its edge against the front of the furnace, with a stone cut sloping and placed on the inside. This plate has a notch on the top for the cinder or scruff to run off, and a place at the side to discharge the metal at casting.
“The Shaft of a wheel is a large round beam having the wheel fixed near the one end of it, and turning upon gudgeons or centres fixed in the two ends.
“The Furnace House I take to be what we call the casting house, where the metal runs out of the furnace into the sand.
“The Bridge is the place where the raw materials are laid down ready to be thrown into the furnace. I conceive that it had its name (which is still continued) from this circumstance—that in the infancy of these works it was built as a bridge, hollow underneath. It was not at first known what strength was required to support the blast of a furnace bellows; and the consequence was that they were often out of repair, and frequently obliged to be built almost entirely new.
“Bellows Boards—not very different from the present dimensions.
“Water Troughs—scooped out of the solid timber. This shows the great simplicity of these times, not 150 years ago.
“The Hutch, or as it is now corruptly called the Witch, a wide covered drain below the furnace-wheel to carry off the water from it, usually arched, but here only covered with timbers to support the rubbish and earth thrown upon it.
“Cambs are iron cogs fixed in the shaft to work the bellows as the wheel turns round.
“Cinder Shovels, iron shovels for taking up the cinders into the boxes, both to measure them and to fill the furnace.
“Moulding Ship, an iron tool fixed on a wooden handle, so formed as to make the gutters in the sand for casting the pig and sow iron.
“Casting Ladles, made hollow like a dish, with a lip to lade up the liquid iron for small castings.
“Wringers, large long bars of iron to wring the furnace, that is to clear it of the grosser and least fluid cinder which rises on the upper surface, and would there coagulate and soon prevent the furnace from working aright.
“Constable, a bar of very great substance and length, kept always lying by a furnace in readiness for extraordinary purposes in which uncommon strength and purchase were required. I suppose this name to have been given to this tool on account of its superior bulk and power, and in allusion to the Constable of St. Briavel’s Castle, an officer heretofore of very great weight and consequence in this Forest.
“Cinder Hook, a hook of iron for drawing away the scruff or cinder which runs liquid out of the furnace over the dam plate, and soon becomes a solid substance, which must be removed to make room for fresh cinder to run out into its place.
“Plackett, a tool contrived as a kind of trowel for smoothing and shaping the clay.
“Buckstones, now called Buckstaves, are two thick plates of iron, about 5 or 6 feet long, fixed one on each side of the front of the furnace down to the ground to support the stone work.
“Iron Tempe is a plate fixed at the bottom of the front wall of the furnace over the flame between the buck-staves.
“Tuiron Plate is a plate of cast iron fixed before the noses of the bellows, and so shaped as to conduct the blast into the body of the furnace.
“Tuiron Hooke, a tool contrived for conveying a lump of tempered clay before the point of the tuiron plate, to guard the wall from wearing away as it would otherwise do in that part, there being the greatest force of the fire.
“Shammel Plate, a piece of cast iron fixed on a wooden frame, in the shape of a ──│, which works up and down as a crank, so as for the camb to lay hold of this iron, and thereby press down the bellows.
“Firketts are large square pieces of timber laid upon the upper woods of the bellows, to steady it and to work it.
“Firkett Hooks, two strong hooks of square wrought iron fixed at the smallest end of the bellows to keep it firm and in its place.
“Gage, two rods of iron jointed in the middle, with a ring for the filler to drop the shortest end into the furnace at the top, to know when it is worked down low enough to be charged again.
“Poises, wooden beams, one over each bellows, fixed upon centres across another very large beam; at the longest end of these poises are open boxes bound with iron, and the little end being fixed with harness to the upper ends of the firketts are thus pressed down, and the bellows with it by the working of the wheel, while the weight of the poises lifts them up alternately as the wheel goes round.”
No. V.
Dr. Parson’s description of the mode of making Iron.
“After they have provided their ore, their first work is to calcine it, which is done in kilns, much after the fashion of our ordinary lime-kilns; these they fill up to the top with coal and ore untill it be full, and so putting fire to the bottom, they let it burn till the coal be wasted, and then renew the kilnes with fresh ore and coal: this is done without any infusion of mettal, and serves to consume the more drossy part of the ore, and to make it fryable, supplying the beating and washing, which are to no other mettals; from hence they carry it to their furnaces, which are built of brick and stone, about 24 foot square on the outside, and near 30 foot in hight within, and not above 8 or 10 foot over where it is widest, which is about the middle, the top and bottom having a narrow compass, much like the form of an egg. Behind the furnace are placed two high pair of bellows, whose noses meet at a little hole near the bottom: these are compressed together by certain buttons placed on the axis of a very large wheel, which is turned round by water, in the manner of an overshot mill. As soon as these buttons are slid off, the bellows are raised again by a counterpoise of weights, whereby they are made to play alternately, the one giving its blast whilst the other is rising.
“At first they fill these furnaces with ore and cinder intermixt with fuel, which in these works is always charcoal, laying them hollow at the bottom, that they may the more easily take fire; but after they are once kindled, the materials run together into an hard cake or lump, which is sustained by the furnace, and through this the mettal as it runs trickles down the receivers, which are placed at the bottom, where there is a passage open, by which they take away the scum and dross, and let out their mettal as they see occasion. Before the mouth of the furnace lyeth a great bed of sand, where they make furrows of the
fashion they desire to cast their iron: into these, when the receivers are full, they let in their mettal, which is made so very fluid by the violence of the fire, that it not only runs to a considerable distance, but stands afterwards boiling a great while.
“After these furnaces are once at work, they keep them constantly employed for many months together, never suffering the fire to slacken night or day, but still supplying the waste of fuel and other materials with fresh, poured in at the top.
“Several attempts have been made to bring in the use of the sea coal in these works instead of charcoal; the former being to be had at an easy rate, the latter not without a great expence; but hitherto they have proved ineffectual, the workmen finding by experience that a sea coal fire, how vehement soever, will not penetrate the most fixed parts of the ore, by which means they leave much of the mettal behind them unmelted.
“From these furnaces they bring the sows and piggs of iron, as they call them, to their forges; these are two sorts, though they stood together under the same roof; one they call their finery, and the other chafers: both of them are upon hearths, upon which they place great heaps of sea coal, and behind them bellows like those of the furnaces, but nothing near so large.
“In such finerys they first put their piggs of iron, placing three or four of them together, behind the fire, with a little of one end thrust into it, where softening by degrees they stir and work them with long barrs of iron till the mettal runs together in a round masse or lump, which they call an half bloome: this they take out, and giving it a few strokes with their sledges, they carry it to a great weighty hammer, raised likewise by the motion of a water-wheel, where applying it dexterously to the blows, they presently beat it into a thick short square; this they put into the finery again, and heating it red hot, they work it under the same hammer till it comes to the shape of a bar in the middle, with two square knobs in the ends; last of all they give it other beatings in the chaffers, and more workings under the hammer, till they have brought their iron into barrs of several shapes, in which fashion they expose them to sale.
“All their principal iron undergoes the aforementioned preparations, yet for several other purposes, as for backs
of chimneys, hearths of ovens, and the like, they have a sort of cast iron, which they take out of the receivers of the furnace, so soon as it is melted, in great ladles, and pour it into the moulds of fine sand in like manner as they do cast brass and softer mettals; but this sort of iron is so very brittle, that, being heated with one blow of the hammer, it breaks all to pieces.”
No. VI.
Being Minutes, &c., of the Court of Mine Law.
“Forest of Deane to witt.Att a Court of Mine and Miners of Our Sovereign Lord the King, held att the Speech-ouse, in and for the Forest of Deane, on Tuesday the 13th day of December, in the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty-eight, before Christopher Bond, Esqr, and Thomas James, gentleman, deputyes to the Right Honourable Augustus, Earl of Berkeley, Constable of the Castle of St Briavels, in the County of Gloucester, Christopher Bond, Esqr, gaveller of the said mines, and Phillip Elly, deputy gaveller of the said mines.
“The names of the Jury.—Richard Powell, Simon Bannister, George Thomas, Frances Dutheridge, William Kerr, Richard Hawkins, Joseph Cooper, Samuel Kerr, Henry Roberts, William Meeke, Richard Tingle, James Teague.
“William Gagg otherwise Smith, and his Vearns, against James Bennett and his Vearns.
“I complaine against William Gagge and his Vearns for hindering our levell and doing of us willfull trespas, whereby we have sustained great damage, att a stone (lime) coale worke called Churchway, otherwise Turnbrooke, in the Hundred of Saint Briavels, (as this,) they hindered the levell, and deepwall they would not bring forward to our new pit that was then just downe. We leave this to the best proof & the order.I asked them the reason, and they told me it was to make coale scarce and men plenty; they went back sixteen or eighteen weeks into their scale, contrary to the rule and custom of all free miners beneath the wood with us; and likewise before, they hindered the levell in their new deepit. And wilfully more they cut up to their land gutter, and tooke in the water by a single sticken gutter in their backer deep pit, and turned it across the bottom of our deep pit into our air gutter, which we prepared for ourselves and
them, whereby our lamping the charks was swelled downe, and have destroyed the air, and filled our gateway with water and sludge, and very likely to destroy the levells, and put us by getting a scale of coale there. And by their so doing, I and my vearnes are dampnified thirty pounds. All this I will prove myself and by evidence in the King’s mine.”
Another suit, dated 20th January, 1753, is also subjoined:—
“William Dukes and his vernes, plaintiffs, against William Keare and his vernes, defendants.
“We complain against William Keare and his vernes for wrongfully forbidding us out of a stone coal work, called the Gentlemen Colliers, within the Hundred of St Briavels, that we should not get any coal of the deep side of our former work, which coal our levell drains, and ours being the most ancient level. We leave this to the best evidence.We have attended the place, and burned our light, according to our laws and customs, and through this wrong forbidd we are dampnified five pounds. And whereas several forbidds have been given before, we, the aforesaid plaintiffs and defendants, left the same to the determination of Charles Godwin and Richard James, and we the said plaintiffs have duly observed the said determination, and that the said defendants have gone contrary to an order made by 48 free miners in getting of coal that our levell would have drained, and have dampnified our levell, whereby they have forfeited the penalty of the said Order. And this we will prove by evidence, and the damages in getting coal we will leave to the Order in Ct.
“We deny the forbid given to him or his vernes. We forbidd them in getting any coal betwixt our work and theirs, except their levell could dry it fairly. There was an agreement betwixt us, and they went contrary to the agreement, and this we will prove ourselves and by witnesses.”
Here is a copy of an Agreement, resembling no doubt the one mentioned above:—
“August the 8th.—In the ear of our Lord 1754. Aun award, or an Agreement, made by Richard Powell, John Jenkins, Wm Thomas, Thos Worgan, and James Elsmore, betwixt James Bennet and his vearns, belonging to a coale work called by the name off Upper Rockey, and
Robert Tingle and his vearnes, belonging to the Inging Coale Work near the Nail Bridge, within the Hunderd of Saint Bravewells; and we have farther agreed that the fore said James Bennet and his vearns shall have the liberty of getting what coale their leavel will dry without being interrupted, but they shall not get coale by the strength of hauling or laveing of water within the bounds of Robert Tingle and his vearns, except to drowl their work, under the forfet of the sum of five pounds; and we do farther agree that Robert Tingle and his vearns shall com in at any time to see if they do carry on their work in a proper manner without trespassing them; and if the foresaid James Bennet and his vearns do interrupt them for comming in to see their work, they shall forfeit the sum of five pounds. And we do order the partys to stand to their expenses share share alike, and the viewers to be paid between both partys, which his fifteen shillings.
“The mark of X Richd Powell.
“The mark of X John Jenkins.
“The mark of X James Elsmore.
“The mark of X Wm Thomas.
“The mark of X Thos Worgan.”
The following is a specimen of an official “Forbid:”—
“Thomas Hobbs. I do hereby, in his Majesty King George the Third’s name, being owner and chief gaveller of his Majesty’s Forest of Dean, in the county of Gloucester, and of the coal and mines therein, forbid you, your verns, your servants, agents, or workmen, for getting, diging, or raising any more stone coal out of any fire pitt or pitts, or water pitt or pitts, a deep the Majors suff level gutter in the said Forest, or to permit or suffer any stone coal to be got, dug, or raised out of any such pitt or pitts, untill you have satisfied and paid me his Majesty’s gale and dues for working and getting coal in such pitts for two years last past, and untill you agree with me for the gale and dues of such pitt and pitts for the future. If you break this forbid, you will incur the penalty of an Order made by forty-eight free miners.
“Dated this 22d day of } John Robinson, &c.,
May, 1775. } deputy gaveller.”
In the terms of a Memorandum, apparently of this date, or perhaps earlier, it is said:—
“The place of gaveler within the Forest of Dean is
held by patent from the Crown, & by vertue of his office the gaveler hath a right to put a man to work in every coalwork or work for iron mine within the limitts of the Forest, or within any private person’s property in the hundred of St Briavels (but not in any stone quarry that is belonging to Ld Berkeley). This right the gaveler never makes use of by setting his man to work in the mine pitt or coalwork, but lets it out to the partners of the work at such price as he can agree for, which is from twenty shillings to three pounds a work.”
