"The jurors say that Ralph de Abenhalo hath a mine in the bailiwick
of Abenhale. And our Lord the King hath nothing except six semes
(eight bushels) of mine ore each week, and giveth for it to the work
people VId.
"The Church of Michegros hath a mine in the bailiwick of Bikenore if
it should be found (inventa). Walter de Astune claims a mine in the
bailiwick of Blackeneye, if it should be found.
"Our Lord the King hath a mine in the bailiwick of Magna Dene, and he
takes from each workman who shall gain every three days three semes
of mine ore, 1d. per week. And when a mine is first of all found,
our Lord the King shall have one man working with the other workman
in the mine, and hire him for 2d. a day, and he shall have such
profit as he may find by the one workman. Item, our Lord the King
shall have from thence each week, six semes of mine ore, which is
called 'Lawe ore.' And he shall give for this to the workmen VId. a
week. {22}
"Our Lord the King hath in the bailiwick of the Birs, because there
are there more mines than in the bailiwick of Dene, all as if in the
bailiwick of Dene, this excepted, that he hath from thence each week
XXIV. semes of mine, which is called 'Lawe ore.' And he giveth for
this to the workman, every seven days, 11s."
"Our Lord the King hath in the bailiwick of Staunton a mine, and he
takes from thence, all as if in the bailiwick of Magna Dene, this
excepted, that our Lord the King shall have for each workman that
gains each week three semes of mine ore, .5d. every seven days and
not more.
"Item, if our Lord the King shall have a 'forgeam arrantem,' the
aforesaid workmen shall bring him mine ore for the supply of the
aforesaid forge. And our Lord the King shall give them for each seme
1d.
"Item, our Lord the King shall have for each seme of mine ore that is
taken out of the Forest, .5d.
"And all that our Lord the King takes from the mine are put to farm
for 46 pounds.
"Item, in the bailiwick de Lacu is a mine, and our Lord Richard
Talebat holds it, and it is unknown by what warrant. And our Lord
the King takes nothing from it.
"Item, the Earl of Warwychiae hath a mine in his own wood of
Lideneye, and our Lord the King takes nothing from it, except for the
mine which is carried out of the Forest, a .5d. The jurors say that
the foresters take cooper's stuff out of the open woods from the
miners to the inbondage of the miners, and work it for their own
profit."
From the above curious items it appears that the iron mines, in common
with the forges, were mostly situated on the Wye side of the Forest. But
then the bailiwicks of Little Dean and Ruerdean are not included.
It would appear, too, that the ore was then measured by the bushel, as it
has been ever since, owing, of course, to its loose powdery nature, which
seems, therefore, to have been the sort preferred.
The other singular particulars descriptive of "lawe ore," &c., are
noticed elsewhere, in the second portion of this work, containing the
"Book of Dennis."
Another "Inquisition" exists, bearing date the 12th Edward II., {23} but
applying to the year commencing with Easter the 10th Edward II., or
thirty-five years later than the former return. It was made at (Mitchel)
Dene, on the Wednesday before the feast of St. Nicholas (6th December),
by Lord Ralph de Abbendale and other foresters of fee, and by twelve
jurors.
It assigns one "fabrica," consuming ten shillings' worth of wood-coal per
week, or 24 pounds yearly, to each of the following persons, located as
under:--
"_At St. Briavel's_.--Nicholas Le Prichure (who makes ploughs),
Philip Hurel (making 'grossum ferrum'), Richard Walencius, William
FitzOsbert, Adam Betricz, Roger Spore, John Le Hayward, Stephen
Malemort, William Bocod--in all 9.
"_At Stanton_.--Philip Clerk, Thomas Jan,--Walding--total 3.
"_At Ruwardyn_.--Roger Fowel, Peter de Obre, William Buysche, John
Kole, Celimon Le Dine, with William Le Smale, William FitzMaud,
Thomas de Leye, Adam de Leye (making ploughs), Robert Smart, Peter de
Huwale, Walter de Wyteling, Thomas de Leye--in all 12.
"_At (Mitchel) Dene_.--Galfridus Dobel, Nicholas Draylax, John
Geffray, Richard Stranglebowe, Richard de Gorstleye, Hugo Godewyne,
Robert Down, Robert, son of Roger de Ponte, Hugo le Powmer, Margary
de la Lond, Reginald Rouge, Robert Palmer, Thomas Bulloc--in all 13.
"_Parva Dene_.--John Hereford, Thomas Lewelin--total 8.
"_Erleyeforde_, i.e. Ayleford.--Adam de Erleyeforde, Robert Pote,
Stephen Edy, John Schotticus--altogether 4."
If this list includes all the forges then at work in the Forest, a
diminution of seventeen had occurred during the last thirty-five years,
and apparently on the west side of the district. Changes may also be
observed to have taken place in the owners, although several names are
met with a second time.
Considerable prosperity and steadiness continued to attend the mining and
making iron in the Forest, so as to render it eligible for the imposition
of tithes. So, on the completion of Newland Church, at this period, the
Bishop of Llandaff, who presented to it, applied for and obtained from
Edward III., in the fourteenth year of his reign, A.D. 1341, a grant of
the tenth part of the ore raised in the neighbourhood, which, together
with the forest forges, yielded a rental of 34 pounds the same year.
{25a}
To the Edwardian period, that has now, by the aid of the numerous records
already quoted, been so minutely substantiated, must be assigned the most
prosperous era of the Forest of Dean iron works. A large portion of such
success is to be traced to the celebrity at this date of the great fair
in Gloucester. It began annually on the eve of St. John Baptist's day,
and continued for the five days following. Agricultural implements were
in much request at it, and even noblemen are said to have attended. {25b}
Other places, such as Caerleon, Newport, Barkley, Monmouth, and Trellech,
obtained their supplies of iron, or at least the mine-ore, from this
neighbourhood, the Forest miner having a certain status of his own, and
constituting, with his partners or "verns," a guild of considerable local
influence. {25c}
The heraldic crest (p. 67) forming part of a mutilated brass of the
fifteenth century, within the Clearwell Chapel of Newland Church, gives a
graphic representation of the iron miner equipped for his work, if not
actually engaged in it. He is represented as wearing a cap, and holding
between his teeth a candle-_stick_, an appurtenance still in use amongst
the miners about Coleford, as may be observed by examining the
frontispiece to this volume, thus illustrating the primitive use and
significance of the phrase candle-_stick_. With the small mattock in his
right hand, he would loosen the fine mineral earth lodged in the cavity
within which he worked, as occasion required, or else detach the metallic
incrustations lining its sides. A light wooden mine hod, covered,
probably, with hide, hangs at his back by a shoulder-strap, fastened to
his belt. His attire is completed by a thick flannel frock and leathern
breeches, tied with thongs below the knee. The feet most likely were
bare.
[Picture: Representation of Miners' and Smiths' Tools]
[Picture: Representation of Iron Miners' Tools]
Other contemporary representations of the mining implements in use at
this time in the Forest occur at Abbenhall, where the west side of the
church tower, and also the font, exhibit panels carved with hammers,
shovels, &c.
Some persons of considerable experience have concluded that the ore was
washed ere placed in the forge. The mounds of deep red earth that occur
in some parts of the Forest are supposed to establish this practice. If
ever such was the custom, no other trace of it appears, and it is quite
unknown now. In parts of South Wales, water may be used with advantage,
but were it applied to the mineral here, much would be washed away,
because of its finely divided state.
An interval of two centuries and upwards intervenes at this point. No
data for determining the state of the Dean Forest iron works again occurs
until the reign of Elizabeth. For the mean time, however, there seems
every probability that operations went on without intermission, although
some decline had apparently taken place. Perhaps the dissolution of the
monasteries interrupted the works at Flaxley and Tintern, by causing the
discharge of the old hands and the employment of unskilled operatives in
their stead.
The domestic series of the State Papers enable the clue to be resumed
under date 30th June, 1566, when one William Humfrey, upon information
derived from some German miners, addressed a letter "to Sir Wm Cecill abt
the plenty of good iron contained in the Forest of Dean." It was, no
doubt, the general rumour of this fact that rendered it an object of
spoliation to the would-be invaders from Spain in 1588. At this date,
wire, drawn by strength of hand, is said to have been made at Sowdley.
For such kind of manufacture the Forest iron, from its toughness and
ductility, was admirably fitted, without requiring any essential change
in the mode of reducing the ore, although improved methods of doing so
were being adopted in other parts of the kingdom, particularly in Sussex.
That the old way of working lingered long in the northern counties
appears from a statement of Mr. Wyrrall's, to the effect that "The father
of the late Mr. James Cockshut of Pontypool found, some years ago, an old
man working by himself at a bloomary forge in a remote part of Yorkshire.
Being himself well acquainted with every branch of the iron trade and
works, he stayed with the man long enough to investigate and comprehend
his mode of working, and saw him work, with his own hands, a piece of
iron from the ore to the bar."
The earliest intimation of any decided alteration being adopted in the
manner of operating on the raw metal occurs in the terms of a "bargayne"
made by the Crown "wth Giles Brudges and others," {28} 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 per centage of metal, which
the former method had failed to extract.
Early in the year following (17 Feb. 1612), a similar "bargayne" was made
with no less a person than William, Earl of Pembroke, elder brother of
Sir Philip Herbert, one of James I.'s earliest favourites. His high
position did not prevent him, therefore, from engaging in manufacture and
trade, only in the prosecution of them he would be made to pay
accordingly. Thus, whilst the former party paid 3s. for each cord of
wood, the earl was charged 4s. for 12,000 cords yearly for twenty-one
years, or 200 pounds per annum, with 33 pounds 6s. 8d. besides, all for
fuel only. He was, however, "to have allowance of reasonable fireboote
for the workmen out of the dead and dry wood, and to inclose a garden not
exceedinge halfe an acre to every howse, and likewise to inclose for the
necessity of the workes the number of XII. acres to every severall worke;
the howses and enclosures to be pulled downe and layd open as the workes
shall cease or remove."
Similar appreciation of the remunerative character of iron making occurs
in connection with a still more illustrious person. There exists a
letter, dated 7 May, 1611, addressed by Sir Francis Bacon to Cecil, Lord
Salisbury, endorsed, "Ld Lisle, Sir F. Bacon, and others, to be preferred
in the sale intended in the Forest of Deane for some reasonable portion
of wood, for maintenance of their Wire-works, paying as any others."