A. D. 1663-1692.
First "Order" of forty-eight free miners in Court--8,487 acres enclosed
and planted--Speech-house begun--Second order of the Miners' Court--The
King's iron-works suppressed--The six "walks" and lodges planned out--All
mine-works forbidden in the enclosures--Third order of the Miners'
Court--Enclosures extended--Fourth order of the Miners'
Court--Speech-house finished--The Forest perambulated--Fifth order of the
Miners' Court--Proposal to resume the King's iron-works rejected--Sixth
and seventh orders of the Miners' Court--Riots connected with the
Revolution--Eighth order of the Miners' Court--Dr. Parsons's account of
the Forest.
Contemporaneously with the important Parliamentary enactments noticed in
the preceding chapter, there took place, on the 18th of March (1663), the
earliest session of a local but very significant court, that of "the Mine
Law," whose date and proceedings have been preserved. It was held at
Clearwell before Sir Baynham Throgmorton, deputy constable of St.
Briavel's Castle, and a jury of forty-eight free miners, and shows that
the Forest Miners of that day were a body of men engaged in carrying on
their works according to rule, so as to avoid disputes or unequal
dealing.
The Court ordered and ordained, as respects the western half of the
district, that the minerals of the Forest could only be disposed of,
beyond the limits of the Hundred, by free miners; that no manner of
carriage was to be used for transporting them, nor more than four
horses kept by any one party; that the selling price was to be
determined by six "Barganers"; but that any free miner might carry "a
dozen" of lime coal to the lime slad for 3s., to the top of the
Little Doward for 5s. 6d., to any other kilns thereon for 5s. 4d., to
the Blackstones for 5s., to Monmouth for 5s. 6d., to the Weare over
Wye for 4s., to Coldwall for 3s. 6d., to Lydbrook for 3s., and to
Redbrook for 4s. 4d.; that no young man who had not served an
apprenticeship for five years should work for himself at the mine or
coal, nor should any of the "labourers" do so unless they had worked
seven years, neither was any young man to carry coal, &c., unless he
was a householder; and that none should sue for mine, &c., but in the
Court of the Mine, under the penalty "of 100 dozen of good sufficient
oare or coale, the one-half to be forfeited to the King, and the
other halfe to the myner that will sue for the same." The originals
of this foregoing, and of the seventeen succeeding "Orders," written
on parchment, are preserved in the office of the Deputy Gaveller at
Coleford. The forty-eight signatures to it are almost effaced, and
about half have "marks" affixed to them, but the whole are written in
the same hand.
The new Act of 1668 was soon brought into operation. Immediately after
it had passed, upwards of 8,487 acres of open land were enclosed and
planted, the remaining 2,513 acres being taken in some time afterwards.
The following statement of Mr. Agar, then surveyor of the woods, shows
that the cost of making the enclosures was raised as the Act directed.
He said that he "received several sums of money by the sale of cordwood
to Mr. Foley and divers others, and of the timber that did happen to
arise out of the old oaks and beeches felled for the cordwood and other
uses, and of wood that I _sold_ to the colliers for their pits, in the
whole amounting to 5 pounds,125 8s. 9.25d., which money was expended in
buying Cannope, &c., of Banistree Maynard, Esq., at 1,500 pounds; in
setting up his Majesty's Enclosures in the said Forest, of 8,400 acres,
with gates, stiles, &c., and some reparations of them; in employing a
sworn surveyor to admeasure them; in building part of the Speech House;
in divers repairs at Saint Briavel's Castle; in the charge of executing
two several commissions, and other services in the said Forest."
In allusion to the item of timber _sold_ to the colliers, the
commissioners, in their report of 1788, remark:--"Immediately after the
passing of the Act of 1668, the colliers, who, it is said, now pretend to
have a right to whatever timber they find necessary for carrying on their
works in the Forest, without paying anything for it, then purchased it
from the Crown." It seems also that "the Speech House" was then
commenced, although it was not finished until 1682.
The _second_ existing Order of the Mine Law Court states that it met in
1674, on the 9th March, at Clowerwall, before Sir George Probert, deputy
constable of St. Briavel's Castle, chiefly with the design of raising a
fund for defending in a legal way the rights of the free miners, and
affording them support when injured at their work.
To these ends a payment of 6d. per quarter was levied upon each
miner, digging for or carrying mineral, if fifteen years of age, as
also upon every horse so used, payable within fourteen days, under a
fine of 2s. Six collectors were to receive the above payments, to be
remunerated at the rate of 1s. per quarter for each pound they
gathered. Twice a year they handed in their accounts, under a
penalty of 5 pounds, and perpetual exclusion from any office of
trust, if such were found defective. It appears therefore that the
free miners valued their rights, and not only took thought for the
morrow, but provided for it. They added a proviso that the servants
of the Deputy Constable should have the benefit of always being
supplied first at the pits, showing that they knew something also of
public diplomacy. This "Order" has the names of forty-eight miners
attached, all severally sealed, but written in one hand.
In this year also (1674) it was suggested that if the King would put the
old iron-works of the Forest in repair, and also build one furnace and
two forges, all which might be done for 1,000 pounds, a clear profit of
2,190 pounds could be made upon every 8,000 long and short cords of wood,
of which the Forest was in a condition to supply a vast quantity. This
proposal was nevertheless not acted upon, it being judged desirable
rather to pull down the old iron-works than erect new, lest the waste in
supplying the necessary quantities of wood should ultimately prove
destructive to the Forest, now in a flourishing condition. Accordingly
the iron-works then standing were ordered to be pulled down, and the
materials sold. The greatest attention is admitted by the commissioners
of 1788, who examined the office papers relating to this period, to have
been given by the then Ministers of State, by Sir Charles Harbord,
surveyor-general of the Crown lands, and by his son and successor Mr.
William Harbord, to the protection of the young wood and the enclosures;
and they affirm that "it is chiefly in those parts of the Forest which
were then enclosed that the timber with which the dockyards have been
since furnished from this Forest has been felled, and in which any
considerable quantity of useful timber may now be found."
On the 28th of September, 1675, at the recommendation of Sir Charles
Harbord, to whom the plan was probably suggested by the precedent of the
ten bailiwicks into which the district had been anciently divided, the
Forest was formed into six "walks," or districts, a keeper being
appointed to each. Six lodges were built for their use in convenient
situations, with 30 acres of land attached, "for the better encouragement
and enabling of the said keepers to attend and watch over the said
enclosures within their several walks, and to preserve the same, and the
young springs of wood and trees thereon growing, and to grow from time to
time, from spoil and harm." The names given to each of the six divisions
were derived from some of the most eminent living characters of that day.
Thus, the Speech House, or King's Walk, was so called after Charles II.;
York Walk and Lodge after the Duke of York; Danby Walk and Lodge after
the Earl of Danby, prime Minister at the time; Worcester Walk and Lodge
after Henry Marquis of Worcester, the then constable of the Castle of St.
Briavel's, and warden of the Forest; Latimer Walk and Lodge after
Viscount Latimer; and Herbert Walk and Lodge after Lord Herbert; in the
two last instances, out of compliment to the Worcester family apparently.
The Speech House was so called from its being intended for the use of the
ancient Court of "the Speech," as mentioned in the Laws and Franchises of
the Mine. Now also a grant of sixty tons of timber was made by the King
towards rebuilding the parish church of Newent, as a tablet therein
declares.
How strictly the enclosures were preserved at this time against all
mining operations, is shown by the refusal which Sir Charles Harbord gave
to a petition presented to the Treasury by several gentlemen and
freeholders of the parish of Newland, for leave to make a coal level
through an enclosure, although they were backed by Sir Baynham
Throckmorton, Deputy-Governor of St. Briavel's Castle, who had also been
one of the Commissioners first appointed for carrying out the Act of
1668, and who gave it as his opinion that agreeing to the prayer of the
petition would conduce to the preservation of the woods in the Forest,
and the convenience and advantage of the country. The wording of the
refusal was very peremptory, to the effect that "the enclosures could
only be preserved for timber by being kept discharged from all claims;"
that "although miners and quarrymen had been long permitted to dig where
they pleased, yet that they could not prove their right to do so; and as
to coal-works, any such claims were unknown, much less any liberty of
cutting his Majesty's woods for the support thereof; and the same ought
to be totally suppressed, and would be so by a good officer, as Colonel
Wade was in the time of the Usurpation, and that only by the Forest Law,
and the ordinary authority of a Justice of Peace." It is not unlikely
that in the last observation a hint was intended to be given to Sir
Baynham Throckmorton, lest he should compromise his independent position
with the colliers in the Forest by publicly accepting, as he had done the
year before at their Mine Law Court, "their thankfull acknowledgment of
the many favors received by them from him," in return for which they
agreed that, when he "should send his own horses or waynes to any of the
colepitts for cole, the miners shall presently seame and load them before
any other person whatever."
Passing over an interval of three years, we come to the date of the
_third_ of the Mine Law Courts, held on the 8th September, 1678, at
"Clowerwall," before Sir Baynham Throckmorton, &c., whose favour it shows
the free-miners were most anxious to preserve, since, upon understanding
that the former order of 1668, forbidding any foreigner to convey or
deliver minerals, had proved prejudicial to him and his friends and
tenants, they now revoked the same, allowing any foreigner to carry fire
or lime coal for his own use; besides which, they constituted the Marquis
of Worcester, the then Constable of St. Briavel's Castle, as well as Sir
Baynham Throckmorton, his Deputy, "free miners to all intents and
purposes."
This same Court decided that "the Winchester bushell, three of which
were to make a barrell," should be the constant measure for "iron ore
and coale," 4d. being the smallest price allowed to be taken for "a
barrell of fire coale." Pits having become numerous, they decreed
that "none should presume to sink a pit within 100 yards of one
already made without the consent of the undertakers, under a penalty
of 100 dozen of good fire coale" (which is the earliest regulation
for protecting coal-works). Lastly, six "barganers" were to fix the
price at which iron ore should be sold or carried to the different
works. The names of forty-eight miners are appended to this "order,"
all written in the same hand opposite their respective marks.
The importance of securing a supply of timber for the navy led to
frequent Commissions of Inquiry, and the issue of Instructions, with
respect to the royal forests. The Marquis of Worcester, Warden of Dean
Forest, made a Return, on the 23rd of April, 1680, minutely describing
the condition of the older trees, as well as of those planted ten years
before, together with the state of the fences surrounding the new
plantations. Parts of several of the enclosures are reported to have
trees which were grown up out of the reach of cattle, and therefore fit
to be thrown open, an equal quantity of waste land being enclosed
instead, which was accordingly done by warrant, dated 21st July, 1680,
not more than eleven years from the time they were taken in: consequently
the young trees must have grown with rapidity, or else were left to take
their chance very early. With the design as it would seem of making room
for the new plantations, it is further stated that "there were remaining
about 30 cabins, in several parts of the Forest, inhabited by about 100
poor people, and that they had taken care to demolish the said cabins,
and the enclosures about them." It should be remarked that these poor
people must not be classed with the "free miners" of the Forest, although
"they had been born in it, and never lived elsewhere," but as "cabiners,"
who had to work seven years in the pits before they could become "free."
[Picture: The Speech House]
The _fourth_ Record of the Mine Law Court informs us that it sat before
Sir Baynham Throckmorton on the 27th April, 1680, at the Speech House,
yet barely completed, unless it were the spacious Court-room, devoted to
the public business of the Forest, for which it has been used ever since.
The "Order" then passed implies, that although the last Court had
appointed six "bargainers" to deal with the difficult question of valuing
the minerals offered for sale, inconvenience was yet experienced on this
head.
It was therefore decreed that a dozen Winchester bushels of iron ore
should be delivered at St. Wonnarth's furnace for 10s.; at
Whitchurch, for 7s.; at Bishopswood, for 9s.; at Linton, for 9s.; at
Longhope, for 9s.; at Flaxley, for 8s.; at Gunsmills (if rebuilt),
for 7s.; at Blackney, for 6s.; at Lydney, for 6s.; at those in the
Forest lately demolished (if rebuilt), for the same as before; at
Redbrooke, for 4s. 6d.; at the Abbey, viz. Tintern, for 9s.; at
Brockweare, for 6s. 6d.; at Redbrooke Passage, for 5s. 6d.; at
Gunspill, for 7s. So also no house or smith's coal was to be
delivered on the banks of the Wye, below Huntsam Ferry, for less than
8s. a dozen bushels, or for 4s. 6d. if only lime coal; and if above
Huntsam, 3s. 6d., on a forfeiture of 100 dozen of good iron ore, the
one half to his Majesty, and the other to the miner that will sue for
the same, together with loss of "freedom" and utter expulsion from
the mine-works--a very heavy penalty for such an offence, showing the
arbitrary power assumed by the court, at one time conferring
free-minership upon strangers and foreigners, and at another deposing
the free miner merely for an over or even an under charge.
This "order" likewise informs us that the instructions given in 1674, to
pull down the King's iron-works in the Forest, had been so thoroughly
executed, that all the furnaces were ere this demolished, leaving such
only to be supplied with ore as were situated beyond the Forest limits.
These furnaces seem to have taken about 600 dozen bushels of ore at one
time, during the delivery of which no second party was allowed to come
in. It is signed by fourteen out of the forty-eight free miners in their
own hands, which is so far an improvement; but if the iron trade was
unpromising, owing to the course which the Government felt constrained to
take, lest its development should endanger the timber, it was not so with
the coal, the getting of which the Crown would obviously regard with
favour, in the hope that it would relieve the woods from spoliation.
Accordingly, we shall find that from about this period on through the
next century coal-works were constantly on the increase, so as eventually
to throw the getting of iron-ore into the shade. This last "order"
cancelled an agreement passed by the Mine Law Court on the 9th of March,
1675, to the effect that a legal-defence fund be raised; but it confirmed
the decree of a former court forbidding any young man to set up for
himself as a free miner unless he was upwards of twenty-one years of age,
and had served by indenture an apprenticeship of five years, and had also
given a bond of ten pounds to obey all the orders of the said court.
One of the most minute of the various perambulations of this Forest dates
from about this time, and serves to identify several spots, the early
names of which have long passed away. On this occasion nineteen
"regarders" went the rounds, preserving much the same course as the
bounds of 28 Edward I.
The next, or _fifth_ session of the Mine Law Court was held at Clearwell,
on the 19th of September, 1682, Henry Melborne and William Wolseley,
Esqrs., acting as joint deputies for the Marquis of Worcester, constable
of St. Briavel's Castle.
It confirmed, for the most part, the "orders" already issued, and
further exacted the payment, within six days, of 6d. from every miner
thirteen years of age and upwards, and an additional 6d. for every
horse used in carrying mineral, "for raising a present sum of money
for urgent occasions," and required all coal-pits which had been
wrought out to be sufficiently secured. Only fourteen signatures are
attached to this "order," the remaining thirty-four free miners
making their "marks."
In the course of the next year, A.D. 1683, a scheme resembling that
proposed ten years before was started by Sir John Erule, supervisor or
conservator of the Forest. His project was to raise 5,390 pounds a year
for the Crown, upon an outlay, in the first place, of no more than 1,000
pounds, to be spent in building iron-works, and an annual consumption of
8,000 cords of wood out of the Forest, care being taken that no oak or
beech-tree, fit or likely to become fit for shipbuilding, be used. The
Lords of the Treasury referred the plan to Mr. William Harbord and Mr.
Agar, to be investigated and reported on. They rejected it however, as
was done in the former case, and for the same reason, namely, that if
carried out it would prove injurious to the woods and timber.
The _sixth_ order of the Court of Mine Law records that it assembled on
the 8th of December, 1685, at Clearwell, before William Wolseley, Esq.,
deputy to the Duke of Beaufort, constable of St. Briavel's Castle.
Its principal design seems to have been that of confirming the former
6d. rate, and authorizing the same to be raised to 10s., if
necessary, towards keeping up a fund for supporting the miners'
claims at law, which of late they had been obliged to do in the Court
of Exchequer against Mr. Beck and others. The order concludes with
the following direction: "That one-half of the jury should be
iron-miners, and the other half colliers," so rapidly had coal-mining
advanced, and so important had its condition become. An examination
of the original document shows this order to have been signed by one
person writing down the names of the forty-eight free miners, since
they all exhibit the same hand-writing.
The _seventh_ of the orders still extant reports the Court of the Mine to
have been held at Clearwell on the 5th of April, 1687, before William
Wolseley, Esq., and commences by stating that more money was wanted for
legal purposes, and that every miner must pay two shillings, with two
shillings besides for every mine-horse, towards meeting them.
It likewise directed that each coal-pit and dangerous mine-pit, if
left unworked for a whole month together, should be fenced with a
stone wall or posts and rails, under a penalty of 10s. All previous
orders, fixing the prices at which the minerals of the Forest were
alone to be sold, were now abolished, not having been found to
answer; and all miners were left at liberty to sell or carry and
deliver their ore and coal to whom, where, and how they pleased; and
whereas previously all colliers were entitled to be first served at
the pits, now it was ordained that the inhabitants of the hundred
should precede the trade, and that those miners only should keep
horses who had land sufficient to feed them. The following provision
speaks for itself--"For the restrayning that pernicious and
abominable sinne of perjury too much used in these licentious times,
every myner convicted by a jury of 48 miners in the said Court shall
for ever loose and totally forfeite his freedome as touching the
mines, and bee utterly expelled out of the same, and all his working
tooles and habitt be burnt before his face, and he never afterwards
to be a witness or to be believed in any matter whatsoever." Of the
forty-eight jurymen whose names are appended to the above, sixteen
signed.
It was in the month of January following (1688) that a riotous assemblage
of the people pulled down Worcester Lodge and York Lodge, besides much
defacing and spoiling the Speech House; an outrage connected probably
with the unpopularity of James II., after whom the Speech House and York
Lodge were called. With reference to the general feeling of the
neighbourhood respecting the principles of the Revolution, Mr. Pyrke, of
Dean Hall, states that the release of Lord Lovelace, a supporter of the
Prince of Orange, out of Gloucester prison, was effected by "a young
gentleman of that county," an ancestor of his, "who took up arms for the
Prince, and drove out all the Popish crew that were settled in that
city," and that the exploit has been handed down in the following rude
lines, sung by his haymakers at their harvest supper:--
"A health to Captain Pyrke, who in Little Dean was bred,
And of a thousand men he was the head;
He fought for the truth and the Protestant faith;
We drink his good health, and so do rejoice.
He down in the West King William did meet,
And to him he sent both oxen and sheep,
Till he had an order which from him did come,
And with honour to Gloucester he brought him along.
When he came to Gloucester he had but forty men,
The city of Gloucester all barred unto him;
The city was guarded with soldiers about,
But he brought Lord Lovelace from his prison quite out.
With sword in his hand he before them did go;
He was not ashamed his face for to show:
'They who have anything to say to Lord Lovelace,' said he,
'O then, if they have, let them speak it to me.'
Then up to the Mayor away he did get,
And his wooden god to pieces did beat;
And the big golden chair where King James sate
He threw in the fire, which made a brave heat.
Then up into Oxfordshire away he did ride,
To bring Lord Lovelace safe home;
He plundered the Papists along as he goes,
He could not endure to see us abused."
Two years later than the date of the above outrages, wood-fellings to the
extent of 6,186 short cords were made, pursuant to their Majesties'
letters of Privy Seal. They were sold, it is said, for six shillings a
cord, which was considered a good price for the county of Gloucester.
A period of about five years from the time that the last was held brings
us to the date of the _eighth_ record of the Mine Law Court, viz. the
17th of January, 1692. It was held at Clearwell, before the three
deputies of the Constable of St. Briavel's Castle, _i.e._ Tracy Catchmay,
John Higford, and George Bond, Esqrs.
The Court levied a further contribution of 12d. upon every miner,
with an additional 1s. on every mine horse, with which to clear off
certain charges incurred in a recent suit in the Court of Exchequer
at Westminster. It extended the protective distance of 100 yards,
within which every pit was guarded from being encroached upon by any
other work, to 300 yards. It also provided that no iron ore intended
for Ireland should be shipped on the Severn or Wye for a less sum
than 6s. 6d. for every dozen bushels. This order was signed by
sixteen out of the forty-eight miners with their own hands, the rest
making their marks only.
To this period is assigned Dr. Parsons's quaint remarks on the Forest.
"It abounds," he says, "with springs for the most part of a brownish or
umber colour, occasioned by their passage through the veynes of oker, of
which there is a great plenty, or else through the rushy tincture of the
mineralls of the ore. The ground of the Forest is more inclined to wood
and cole than corn, yet they have enough of it too. The inhabitants are,
some of them, a sort of robustic wild people, that must be civilized by
good discipline and government. The ore and cinder wherewith they make
their iron (which is the great imployment of the poorer sort of
inhabitants) 'tis dug in most parts of ye Forest, one in the bowells, and
the other towards the surface of the earth. But, whether it be by virtue
of the Forrest laws, or other custome, the head Gaviler of the Forrest,
or others deputed by him, provided they were born in the Hundred of St.
Briavel's, may go into any man's grounds whatsoever, within the
limitation of the Forrest, and dig or delve for ore and cinders without
any molestation. There are two sorts of ore: the best ore is your brush
ore, of a blewish colour, very ponderous and full of shining specks like
grains of silver; this affordeth the greatest quantity of iron, but being
melted alone produceth a mettal very short and brittle. To remedy this
inconvenience, they make use of another material which they call cinder,
it being nothing else but the refuse of the ore after the melting hath
been extracted, which, being melted with the other in due quantity, gives
it that excellent temper of toughness for which this iron is preferred
before any other that is brought from foreign parts. But it is to be
noted that in former times, when their works were few and their vents
small, they made use of no other bellows but such as were moved by the
strength of men, by reason whereof their fires were much less intense
than in the furnaces they now imploy; so that, having in them only melted
downe the principal part of the ore, they rejected the rest as useless,
and not worth their charge: this they call their cinder, and is found in
an inexhaustible quantity throughout all the parts of the country where
any glomerys formerly stood, for so they were then called."