"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 8000 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. A
few cast-iron fire-backs have been noticed in some of the old houses in
the vicinity of the Forest, but none have an earlier date on them. The
cast-iron grave-slabs found in the ancient iron-making districts of
Surrey and Sussex do not occur here. 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 pig-iron with pit-coal," no remains had been found. It was the
same with the like operations of Cromwell, 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.
The troubles of the civil wars, in which the country surrounding the
Forest was so much involved, materially disturbed its iron manufactures.
Sir John Winter's large works at Lydney were wholly destroyed, and
probably such others as continued in operation were limited to the
casting of cannon and shot, similar to what was used in the siege of
Goodrich Castle by Colonel Birch in 1646. Otherwise iron making was for
the time suppressed.
When matters had become somewhat settled, the attention of the
Commonwealth was directed to them. They were placed under the general
supervision of Major John Wade, who was assisted in their management by
John a Deane.
A document exists giving a debtor and creditor account from 13th
September, 1653, to 20th August, 1655. {42a} During these two years,
upwards of 12,607 pounds 16s. 9.75d. was laid out by the Council of State
and the Commissariat of the Admiralty, whilst only 10,705 pounds 14s. 3d.
was received, leaving a deficit of 1902 pounds 2s. 6.75d.
Another paper states "what iron in pigs, barr, and shott have beene cast
and made, sold, or otherwise disposed of, or remaining in stock," between
28th February, 1653, and 2nd August, 1656.
There remains also "a true inventory of all the tooles and utensils
belonging to the forge at Whitecroft, this 13th August, 1656," divided
into "all the chaffery, for the upper finery, for the lower finery."
John a Deane died in 1655, and was succeeded by Mr. John Roades. {42b}
From 2nd August, 1656, to 15th September, 1657, the Government account
stood thus
pounds s. d.
Dr. side 10,135 15 10.75
Cr. 8,023 15 3.25
Balance 2,112 0 7.5
Hardly had the king's return been effected when, amidst the innumerable
petitions which instantly greeted him, is one from Sir Hugh Middleton,
Bart., for "the place of Overseer and Receiver of Profits of His
Majestie's Iron Works in the Forest of Dean." {42c} He strengthened his
application with the timely remark that the appointment for which he
sought was held by Major John Wade, "put in by Cromwell; an officer of
which Wade, in July last (1659), robbed him of horses, arms, &c., kept
him four months in close imprisonment for adhering to His Maty, & has
several times ransacked his house."
A contemporary petition, to much the same end, but from a different
quarter, was presented by Sir Edward Massey. He stated, truly enough,
that "he had formerly held the works for which he now applied, but they
and all his stock were taken from him by the Rump Parliament for his
loyalty." But he suppressed saying, how they were formerly voted to him
by the House of Commons for defeating the staunch royalist Sir John
Winter, to whom they previously belonged.
Sir John, himself, was a third, and reasonable applicant for the
restoration of his patent for the same, which was as justly restored him;
the other, but unsuccessful candidate, being Sir Baynham Throckmorton.
In an elaborate return, {43} addressed to the Barons of the Exchequer,
and dated the 12th April, 1662, the question is mooted, "What advantages
will yearly accrue to His Maty by his furnace and forge, if taken into
his owne hands?" The answer is worked out in the following manner:--
"Imprimis.--Fower Long Coards of Wood will make two Loads of Coles
wch two Loads of Coales will make one Tunne of Sowe Iron.
"Charges to make a Tunn of Sow Iron.
_li._ _s._ _d._
For cutting and 00 14 00
coarding of
Four Long
Coards genrlly
will cost
For Coaleing at 00 07 00
3s 6d per
loade
For carrying it 00 07 00
to the Furnace,
genrlly
For Mine and 00 05 00
Oar
For Cinders 00 03 00
To the Founder 00 02 06
or Caster
01 18 06
"Price of a Tun of Sow Iron.
"Which Tune of Sow Iron will yield coib annis, although now debased by
the late mispending of the Stock, but wil bee brought up agn to 6li 10.
"What Quantity the Furnace will cast yearly.
"The Furnace may wth the Expence of 100li to pr serve & pcure a greater
ppcon of water, cast Were Thirty Tunn p weeke, but to reduce it to a
greater certainty we will compute at 26 Tunne p weeke, wch at 6li 10s 6d
p Tunn amounts to 1248 Tunn p An., wch at 6li 10s Od p Tunn amounts to
8112li. But the Charges to be deducted at 1li 18s 6d p Tunn amounts to
2402li 8s deducting wch out of the generall pfitt there remains 709li 12s
Od.
"Other Charges to be deducted and alowed out of the
Furnace profits.
_li._ _s._ _d._
To a Stock 16 00 00
Taker p An.
To a Clerk 40 00 00
To a Carpinter 6 13 04
Other Reprs of 12 00 00
the Furnace
(coib annis)
For travelling 05 00 00
Charges to the
Clerk to sell
iron
To two Wood 20 00 00
Clerks p An.
And for Sacks 20 00 00
and Hurdles p
An.
Totall 119 13 04
"Charges of Product of the Forge.
"The Forge will make Coibus Annis 150 Tunn wch will yield genrally 16li
10s p Tunn, although now debased by the late mispending of the Stock.
"Charges to make a Tunn of Barr Iron.
"Three Load of Coales will make a Tunn of Barr Iron, whereof one may be
brasses, but sett it at three Loade,
_li._ _s._ _d._
The Cutting, 02 02 00
Cording,
Coaling, and
Carriage will
amount unto
And 2650 weight 08 12 00
of Sow Iron
will make one
Tunn of Barr
Iron, wch said
2650 weight of
Sow Iron at 6li
10s p Tun
amounts unto
And to the 01 00 00
Workmen (viz.)
Raffiners and
Hammermen
11 14 00
Produce 150 2475 0 0
Tunn at 16li
10s 0d p Tun
amounts p an.
to
Charges at 11li 1740 0 0
14s 0d p Tun as
aforesaid
amounts to
Remaynes cleare 735 0 0
"Other Charges to be allowed out of the yearly
pfitts of the Forge.
_li._ _s._ _d._
To a Clerk p 25 0 0
Ann.
To a Stock 16 0 0
taker
To a Carpinter 09 13 4
For other 20 0 0
Reprs, as Oyle,
Greese, &c.,
Coibus Annis
64 13 4
_li._ _s._ _d._
Totall of the 5609 18 8
Furnace,
deducting the
Officers' Fees,
&c., is
Totall of the 0667 06 8
Forge,
deducting the
Officers' Fees,
&c., p An. is
6277 5 4
So considerable a balance each year, from one furnace and a single forge,
admits of comparison with the profits made by ironmasters now.
The Commissioners further report that all necessary appliances existed on
the spot:--
"One excellent Furnace called the Park Furnace, and one Forge called
Whitecros Forge. The later is in good repre, but the Furnace wants a
Roofe to ye Cole hous, and some other Reprs, wch we compute may cost
us circa 40li, and care must be taken whensoever his Maty shall take
them into his own handes, that all the Implemts the late psons
intrusted wth the managemt thereof had deliv'd to them by inventory
or otherwise, be forthcoming, or else it will be a great prjudice to
his Maty."
It was also pointed out that, besides "the greate yearely pfitt" likely
to accrue to the King, should he take the Iron Works into his own hands,
they were "capable to serve his Navey both wth beter Iron and at much
Easier Rates then now he payes for all sorts, and wee conceive that Iron
Ordinance might be cast here for ye Service of ye Navey also at ye same
rates." Some of the Forest iron, in the form of iron hoops, had already
found its way to the navy store at Woolwich. {46}
Even the last winter's great storm (18th of February, 1662) is made to
support their counsels, for the Commissioners affirmed that--"500li,
together with the young beechen timber lately blowne downe in the Lea
Bayley, will sett the workes a goeing."
Lastly, the same officials suggested that a check should be put to the
practice of sending iron ore and cinder out of the Forest, lest the
supply to the king's works, as proposed, should run short. They suggest
a tax "6d. at first, for fifteen bushells," adding "that they were
informed that there is carryed out yearly at least 4000 dozen; and there
is now lying at Newnham a small vessell to transport some for Ireland.
There must needs be a Prohibition to carry out of the Forrest any
cinders, least his Maty's owne works should need them in tyme." {47a}
Reasons so carefully analyzed for inducing the Crown to take in hand iron
making at Park End, deserved a better fate. But the king had irons
enough in the fire, without becoming a manufacturer of iron in the Forest
of Dean. Its timber was rather wanted for the navy, which the Duke of
York longed to render more effective. Besides, places more convenient of
access, in Surrey and Sussex, were supplying the iron trade. Hence, when
in 1683 the above-named proposal was renewed by Sir John Erule, the
Forest supervisor, it was rejected, although he promised a profit of 5390
pounds per annum. {47b}
The authorities went further than this, in refusing, as they thought, to
sacrifice the timber for the iron. They even directed, about this time,
the demolition of the Forest furnaces, thus reducing its iron works to
such a degree as almost to annihilate them for the next hundred years.
What their recent state of prosperity had been, Andrew Yarranton, in his
book of novel suggestions for the "Improvement of England by Sea and
Land," printed in 1677, describes 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 owner 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 iron stone; 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 underground, 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 iron, and
20 pounds will be given for it."
The 4th "Order" of the Mine Law Court, dated 27th April, 1680, fixes the
prices at which twelve Winchester bushels of iron mine should be
delivered at the following places:--St. Wonnarth's furnace, 10s.;
Whitechurch, 7s.; Linton, 9s.; Bishopswood, 9s.; Longhope, 9s.; Flaxley,
8s.; Gunnsmills (if rebuilt), 7s.; Blakeney, 6s.; Lydney, 6s.; at those
within the Forest (if rebuilt), the same as in 1668; Redbrooke, 4s. 6d.;
the Abbey (Tintern), 9s.; Brochweare, 6s. 6d.; Redbrooke Passage, 5s.
6d.; Gunnpill, 7s.; or ore (intended for inland) shipped on the Severn,
6s. 6d.
Most of these localities present traces of long continued iron
manufacture, especially St. Wonnarth's, Whitchurch, Bishopswood, and
Flaxley, where the energetic proprietress, Mrs. Boevey, is said by Sir R.
Atkyns to have had (c. A.D. 1712) "a furnace for casting of iron, and
three forges." Charcoal is the only fuel of which any indications
remain, the coppice woods being in several instances preserved from which
it used to be obtained, and the furnaces are shown to have been
invariably situated where waterpower was at command.
The prices affixed to the ore, including delivery, indicate a
discontinuance, in a measure, of the mines on the north-east edge of the
Forest. Those adjoining Newland and in Noxon Park, both on the opposite
side of the Forest, appear to have formed the principal sources of
supply. The records of the Court of Mine Law, belonging to this date,
allude oftener to these works than to others, for the same reason.
Its "order," dated 8th December, 1685, in providing that "the one-half of
the jury of 48 should be iron-miners, and the other half colliers,"
manifests considerable decay in the influence and number of the former
operatives, once so much otherwise. It is remarkable that the later
orders are silent as regards iron, owing to the suppression of the Forest
furnaces.
With respect to the mode now in use of reducing the mine ore, there is
preserved so explicit an account, from the pen of Dr. Parsons, the county
antiquary and naturalist of that age, as to call for its verbatim
insertion here:--
"The ore and cinder, wherewith they make their iron (which is the
great employment of the poorer sort of inhabitants), 'tis dug in most
parts of the Forest, one in the bowells, and the other towards the
surface of the earth.
"There are two sorts of ore: the best ore is your Brush ore, of
blewish colour, very ponderous, and full of shiny specks, like grains
of silver; this affordeth the greatest quantity of iron, but being
melted alone, produceth a metal 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.
"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 over-shot 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 heatings 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."
As an instance of the considerable extent to which the old cinders
continued to be used in the iron furnaces round the Forest, the following
abstract of an indenture, found in Mr. Wyrrall's collection, and dated
20th October, 1692, may be quoted:--
"Jephthah Wyrall, Gent., to Rd Avenant, Gent., and John Wheeler,
Gent.
"Articles for the Sale of 10 thousand dozn of cinders, in certain
grounds near Mr. Wyrall's house, called the Correggio, the Limekiln
Patch, the Long Sevens, and the Ockwal Field, if so many could be
found there. The Price, 10 Pence the dozen, or 12 Bushels; 6 to be
heaped and the other 6 even with the top of the Bushel, or
hand-weaved. Such of them as should be taken to Bishopswood or
Parkend to be measured by the Bushel used at Bishop's wood Furnace;
and such as should be carried to Blakeney Furnace by the Bushel used
there. To be raised and fitted for carriage by Avenant and Whealer.
To employ no persons in raising the cinders but such as Mr. Wyrall
approves of. Mr. Wyrall to carry yearly as many cinders as he should
please, not exceeding 250 Dozens, to Parkend, at 4s a dozen. Should
carry to the banks of the river Wye, at 13d a Dozen such as should be
used at Bishop's Wood Furnace. Avenant and Whealer to get 800 dozn a
year, and as many more as they shd please till the 10 Thousand Dozens
should be raised: and pay for them yearly on the 1st day of May, and
the 1st day of October; and should leave the ground as level and
plain as usually is where cinders are gotten (which was promising
nothing at all)."
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 in the above-named furnaces having been brought by
sea from Whitehaven. {54} 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."
Flaxley was one of the very last places where iron was made in the old
way. The Rev. T. Budge, writing at the commencement of the present
century, says of it:--
"The iron manufactory is still carried on, and the metal is esteemed
peculiarly good; but its goodness does not arise from any
extraordinary qualities in the ore, but from the practice of working
the furnace and forges with charcoal wood, without any mixture of
pit-coal.
"The quantity of charcoal required is so considerable that the
furnace cannot be kept in blow or working more than nine months
successively, the wheels which work the bellows and hammers being
turned by a powerful stream of water. At this time (28th Oct. 1802)
a cessation has taken place for nearly a year. Lancashire ore, which
is brought to Newnham by sea, furnishes the principal supply; the
mine found in the Forest being either too scanty to answer the
expense of raising it, or when raised too difficult of fusion, and
consequently too consumptive of fuel, to allow the common use of it.
"When the furnace is at work, about twenty tons a week are reduced to
pig iron; in this state it is carried to the forges, where about
eight tons a week are hammered out into bars, ploughshares, &c.,
ready for the smith."
Though these operations have been long given up, the furnace buildings
removed, and the pools drained in which the water accumulated for driving
the machinery, yet the old people of the neighbourhood still recollect
when the Castiard's Vale, now wholly devoted to the picturesque,
resounded with the noise of engines. A solitary heap of Lancashire iron
mine alone remains to show what was once operated upon at this spot.
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 the late 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.
"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 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 arrangements 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 tin-plate 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 tin-plate 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 use, 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."
As narrated in an earlier part of this account, Park End long since
possessed a furnace and forge, though afterwards suppressed in 1674, and
not resumed until 1799, the date of the oldest iron furnace there. It is
situated about half a mile lower down the valley than the former one, and
was carried on by a Mr. Perkins. The Works were eventually sold to Mr.
John Protheroe, and by him disposed of to his nephew, Edward Protheroe,
Esq., formerly M.P. for Bristol, who was likewise the possessor of
several collieries near. 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, & Co. This
arrangement continued until 1826, when Messrs. William Montague, of
Gloucester, and John James, Esq., of Lydney, became the sole lessees. A
second furnace was erected by these gentlemen in 1827, as well as an
immense water-wheel of 51 feet diameter and 6 feet wide, said at the time
to be the largest in the kingdom. Two extensive ponds, still observable,
were formed higher up the vale, and connected with the Works by a canal
yet remaining. Little use was made, however, of these appliances, owing
to the general introduction and superior advantages of steam power. A
steam-engine was consequently put up for creating the necessary blast.
Not being found sufficiently powerful to keep two furnaces in operation,
each being 45 feet high, 9.5 feet diameter at the top, 14 feet across at
the boshes, and 5 feet diameter at the hearth, another steam-engine of 80
horse power was erected in 1849; but owing to 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 bought
all his interest in the Works and became the sole lessee, until the year
1854, when he purchased from Mr. Protheroe the fee of the property,
together with all the liabilities of the lease. Since that time the two
furnaces have been occasionally worked together, under the
superintendence of Mr. Greenham, one of the proprietors, the firm still
continuing as "The Forest of Dean Iron Company." They produce upwards of
300 tons of pig-iron per week, consuming in the meantime 350 tons of
coke, and 600 tons of iron ore, obtained from the neighbouring mines at
Oakwood and China Eugene; and from the Perseverance and Findall Mine, on
the eastern side of the Forest. These operations give employment to
something like 300 men; and the foundation is now being laid for another
furnace.
Besides its iron furnaces, Park End is the site of Messrs. T. and W.
Allaway's extensive Tin-Plate Works, erected at a large outlay by Messrs.
James and Greenham in 1851. They find employment for some 200
work-people, by whom 500 boxes of tinplate are made per week. Two-thirds
of the iron so used is obtained in the Forest.
Similar works, only on a larger scale, are carried on at Lydney by
Messrs. W. Allaway and Sons. These are five in number, and bear the
names of The Lower Mill, The Lower Forge, The Middle Forge, The Upper
Mill, and The Upper Forge. About 400 hands are engaged at them, and turn
out about 1,000 boxes of tin-plate every week, besides a quantity of
sheet-iron. The materials supplied to these works from the Forest of
Dean are pig-iron, coal, fire-bricks and clay, fire-stone and fire-sand,
and cordwood for conversion into charcoal. Lydney has long been famed
for its ironworks, which at one time belonged to the Talbot family.
_Sowdley_, in spite of its natural beauties and retired situation, has
been occupied by ironworks since 1565, the ancient family of the Joneses
of Hay Hill conducting them as wire-works drawn by power of hand.
Messrs. Parnell and Co. then took to them; from 1784 to 1804 Dobbs and
Taylor carried on the works; Browning, Heaven and Tayer followed in 1824,
and Todd, Jeffries and Spirrin in 1828, converting a part of the premises
into paint and brass works.
In 1837 they were raised to the dignity of blast furnaces by having two
of them erected of the usual size, by Edward Protheroe, Esq., and worked
by him for four years. The late Mr. Benjamin Gibbons purchased them in
1857; and in 1863 his representatives sold them to Messrs. Goold, by whom
they are conducted. At present but one furnace is in blast, yielding
about 20 tons of Forest iron each casting, South Wales coke being the
fuel employed. Eighty hands are engaged at these works.
_Lydbrook_ has long been the site of several busy ironworks. They may be
specified as the Upper and Lower; the last of these, situated near the
Wye, was once the property of the Foleys, by whom so many of the iron
works of the beginning of the last century were carried on. More
recently they were in Mr. Partridge's hands, and were worked in connexion
with the furnace at Bishopswood. In 1817 Mr. Allaway leased them, at
which time they comprised three forges, rolling and bar mills, and
tin-house complete, capable of producing from 100 to 150 boxes of tin
plates per week. Now, however, under the able management of the late Mr.
Allaway's sons, the Works yield 600 boxes, sent off by the Wye. The iron
used is chiefly that from Cinderford, as being the best suited for the
purpose.
The Upper Works, formerly the property of Lord Gage, at the time when the
High Meadow Estates belonged to the family, are now owned by Messrs.
Russell, the late Mr. Russell having bought them from the Crown in 1818.
His son, Mr. Edward Russell, writes:--
"We have since then considerably improved and enlarged them, and are
now employing about 100 hands. We manufacture wire for fencing, as
also for telegraph purposes, of which we can roll from 40 to 50 tons
per week. We likewise make charcoal iron for horse-nails and smith's
work, besides that for agricultural purposes, using the Cinderford,
Shropshire, and Staffordshire iron, especially the former."
Other works, resembling those just described, are being carried on by Mr.
James Russell at the Forest Vale Iron Works, near Cinderford. When
perfected, they will employ not less than 60 pairs of hands, and will
supply considerable quantities of iron rods for telegraphic and other
wire, as well as chain-cable iron, the adjoining furnaces affording the
requisite metal.
All the iron ore supplied from this neighbourhood to these different
works is derived from one or other of the following iron mines, whose
present extent may be thus particularized. {61}
The _Shake-mantle_, _Buckshraft_, and _St. Annal's_ pits, on the
_eastern_ side of the Forest, constitute that exceedingly important range
of mining operations, from which the Cinderford furnaces have long
obtained their chief supply of iron ore. These are four in number,
having a height of 43 feet, an extreme breadth of 14 feet, that of the
hearth being 6 feet. They make 500 tons every week of the finest
hot-blast iron.
A peculiar interest attaches to the first of these three pits, owing to
its being the oldest mine still at work in this vicinity, though it dates
no earlier than 1829, so recently has iron mining been resumed in this
part of the district. Buckshraft was begun in 1835-7, and that at St.
Annal's in 1849, each originating in the increasing demand for iron ore
at the adjoining blast furnaces. They all descend to the same vein of
red hematite, as well as to one common "level." This runs from one to
the others, almost in a direct line two miles long. The shafts are
severally 70, 160, and 221 yards deep.
Upwards of 36,000 tons of rich ore have been annually obtained from these
iron mines for many years, leaving a transverse area of cavernous
workings about 70 yards wide. But a far greater void was formed by the
old miners, whose holes occur immediately above, and in which a few
scattered tools have been discovered, left behind when operations were
abruptly stopped in 1674, but not before the men had burrowed down some
150 yards.
The natural drainage of these mines being towards the Shake-mantle pit, a
very powerful pumping engine has been put up there, capable of raising
250 gallons of water to the surface at every stroke.
As many as 250 hands are employed in working these valuable iron mines.
The _Westbury-brook_ iron mine, so called from its situation near the
head of that stream, is one of the most productive pits on the _eastern_
side of the Forest basin.
It was begun about the year 1837, immediately below "the old men's
workings." These proved to be remarkably extensive and searching, all
the ore having been cleared out to a depth, in some places, of 160 yards.
They were also found to contain many ancient mining implements, such as
plank-ladders, shovels, helves, &c., all of ash, besides leather shoes
and mattock heads, left behind probably when the iron furnaces of the
district were suppressed in 1674.
Since 1843 this mine work has been very prosperously conducted by the
agents of the Dowlais Iron Company, whither most of its ore is sent to be
mixed and smelted with the ore there, much to the improvement of the iron
so made.
Nearly 200 hands are employed at the Westbury-brook mine pit. The
excavations run north and south for upwards of a mile and a half, their
breadth averaging about 16 yards. They are reached by a shaft 186 yards
deep, to the top of which a plunging pump raises 33 gallons of water at
each stroke.
For several years past this iron mine has yielded many thousands of tons
yearly of the finest red hematite ore. A steam-engine of 36 horse power
brings it to the surface.
The _Old Sling_ iron mine, begun in 1838, on the Clearwell Mean, has long
been considered one of the principal mine works on the western edge of
the Forest. Its chief access is by a shaft that descends 105 yards to
where the deepest workings begin. These gradually rise, in accordance
with the upward slope of the mine train, until they attain an area of
about 20 acres, leaving some 33 acres unwrought above them, to where "the
old men's workings" are reached. Such is the case about 50 yards below
the surface, after they had worked over upwards of seven acres of the
mine ore. These excavations were found to contain some ancient picks and
wooden shovels tipped with iron, an addition not met with elsewhere, but
rendered necessary in this instance by the harder nature of the matrix of
the mine ore.
This iron mine has yielded for several years past 1,000 tons of red
hematite ore per month, and employed nearly 100 hands.
Another remunerative iron mine, opened on the western side of the forest,
is the _Easter_ iron mine. It has three shafts sunk upon it, 100, 113,
and 118 yards deep respectively. The first of these, and the only one in
work, at which a light steam-engine of 14 horse power is used,
communicates with "the old men's workings," though none of their tools
have been found in them. About fifty men and boys are employed in this
mine, from which upwards of 1,000 tons of ore are procured each month.
The table here appended, by the kind permission of the deputy gaveller,
Mr. T. F. Brown, exhibits the proceeds of each of the Dean Forest Iron
Mines during the years 1864-5:--
AN ACCOUNT OF IRON ORE RAISED IN DEAN FOREST AND HUNDRED OF
ST. BRIAVEL'S FROM CHRISTMAS, 1863, TO CHRISTMAS, 1865.
NAME OF IRON Half-year Half-year Total. Half-year Half-year Total.
MINE. ended Mid ended ended Mid ended
Summer 1864. Christmas Summer 1865. Christmas
1864. 1865.
Perseverance 5,199 4,217 9,416 5,742 7,126 12,868
and Findall
New China 123 66 189 240 170 410
Level
New Dun Pit 1,255 985 2,190 ... ... ...
Buckshraft 21,400 18,370 39,770 22,245 23,882 46,127
Tingle's Mine 548 ... 548 ... 405 405
Level
Crow's Nest 1,893 2,975 4,868 ... ... ...
Old Ham 514 ... 514 89 456 545
Oakwood Mill 2,923 2,222 5,145 1,723 4,761 6,484
Westbury Brook 10,180 9,773 19,953 7,756 11,293 19,049
Old Sling 8,889 7,051 15,940 6,267 6,113 12,380
Easter 5,584 3,911 9,495 1,788 2,760 4,548
Yewtree 173 67 240 ... ... ...
Dean's Meend 7,540 7,228 14,768 8,192 6,176 14,368
Clearwell 1,277 3,416 4,693 ... ... ...
Shraves 731 364 1,095 367 186 558
Scar Pit 524 ... 524 ... ... ...
Staunton ... ... ... 543 941 1,484
Wigpool ... ... ... ... 402 402
Scar Pit ... 488 488 ... ... ...
Forty other gales of iron ore have been awarded to various parties,
and will no doubt be shortly opened.
No account of the production of iron in the Forest of Dean can be called
complete which does not include some description of the "laws and
privileges," the "customs and franchises" of the original operatives by
whom the mine ore was obtained. As the miners themselves invariably
refer to the "Book of Dennis" and the seventeen orders of their court of
mine law for all authoritative information respecting their guild, or
fraternity of free minership, the reader is furnished with the following
summary of their contents.
Thus the first-named document begins by specifying the franchises of the
mine locally and personally, meaning its liberties or privileges, as not
to be trespassed against, and consisting apparently in this, that every
man who possessed it, _though it is not stated how_, might, with the
approval of the king's gaveller, dig for iron ore or coal where he
pleased, not limiting him, as in later times, to the Hundred of St.
Briavel's, but giving as his range the whole county south-west of
Gloucester and as far south as the Severn. There was, too, a right of
way awarded to every mine, although in certain cases "forbids" to sell
might be declared.
One-third part of the profits of the undertaking belonged to the king,
whose gaveller called at the works every Tuesday "between Mattens and
Masse," and received one penny from each miner, the fellowship supplying
the Crown with twelve charges of ore per week at twelve pence, or three
charges of "sea coal" at one penny.
Timber was allowed for the use of the works above and below ground.
Only such persons as had been born and were abiding in the Forest were to
frequent the mines, in working which the distance of a stone's throw was
always to be kept, and property in them might be bequeathed.
The miners' clothes and light are mentioned, as likewise the standard
measure called "bellis," and carts and waynes are prohibited.
It alludes to the "court of the wod" at the speech before the Verderers;
but more particularly to the debtor court at St. Briavel's castle or
gate, and to the mine court, as regulated by the constable, clerk, and
gaveller, with the miners' jury of twelve, twenty-four, or forty-eight,
where all causes relating to the mines were to be alone heard. Three
hands, or three witnesses, were required in evidence, and the oath was
taken with a stick of holly held in the hand.
The miners of Mitcheldeane, Little Deane, and Ruer Deane are called
"beneath the wood." It also appears that at Carlion, Newport, Barkley,
Monmouth, and Tulluh, the manufacture of iron was carried on by "smiths,"
who were connected with smith holders living in the Forest, and supplying
the ore.
For many ages the mining operations of the Forest and the action of the
miners' court seem to have gone on so smoothly, and as a matter of
course, that no notices regarding them occur in the documents of those
times.
With the Restoration, however, and the revival of the ancient rights of
the crown, it was found necessary to resume the sessions of the court of
mine law, under the presidency of Sir Baynham Throckmorton. Thus it
first of all met again on the 16th November, 1663, and continued so to
do, from time to time, for the ensuing Hundred years, passing at
different periods its seventeen "orders." These verdicts are chiefly
remarkable for reducing the area of the miners rights to the Hundred of
St. Briavel's, though they fail to say what constituted _free minership_
beyond the old definition given in the "Book of Dennis," viz., "beene
borne and abiding within the castle of St. Brevill's and the bounds of
the Forest as aforesaid." In 1834 the Government commissioners were
informed that it involved birth from a free father, and working a year
and a day in the mines. They are still a numerous and important
fraternity, without whom no new mine works can be commenced.
[Picture: Effigy of a Forest Free Miner]
Their aspect when accoutered for work is given in the frontispiece. If
compared with their mediaeval appearance, as displayed in the miners'
crest, the interval of four hundred years is scarcely discoverable.
Every mining appurtenance is retained, only somewhat altered in shape,
and that, perhaps, not for the better, be it cap, "bellis," or general
attire. Only the beard is absent, but then there are the shoes.
[Picture: Forest of Dean Iron Miners ready for work]
On several occasions they conferred their freedom on the leading gentry
of the neighbourhood. By their orders they also sanctioned the sinking
of _pits_, as distinguished from _levels_, extending the interval between
mine and mine from "within so much space that ye miner may stand and cast
ridding and stones soe farr from him with a bale as the manner is," to
five hundred yards. At the present time the deputy gaveller, Mr. T.
Forster Brown, is the resident official under the Commissioner in charge
of Her Majesty's Woods, &c., and he, with his respected predecessor, have
at all times most obligingly facilitated the author's inquiries by giving
the desired information. It was during the deputy gavellership of the
late Mr. John Atkinson at Coleford that the writer chanced to meet with
the original transcript, here presented to the reader, of the "Book of
Dennis." The first printing and publication of it took place in 1687, by
William Cooper, at the Pelican, in Little Britain, and it has been
frequently but imperfectly reprinted.
Finding on examination that the reign of the first of the Edwards, and
not the third, was the period to which it assigned the confirmation of
the Forest of Dean Mine Laws, and that it contained many other
inaccuracies, he determined to prepare, in accordance with the valued
suggestion of Mr. Smirke, Judge of the Stannaries of Cornwall, a true
copy of so ancient and curious a document.
From the note which is appended to it, the existing MS. is evidently the
only authentic copy of the original "parchment roll," out of which it was
transcribed by the gaveller, Richard Morse, A.D. 1673, of the penmanship
of which period it is a good specimen.
It seems to be a presentment of the Court of Mine Law, duly signed by the
jury of forty-eight free miners. Although its early date, and one or two
forms of expression, may seem to indicate that it was first of all
written in Latin, yet so many of its words and phrases, together with its
concluding signatures, are so thoroughly old English, as to show that it
was most probably composed in our own language. There are no paragraphs
nor punctuations.
In character it is "sui generis," though it exhibits traces of
resemblance to the laws and customs of the old mining districts of
Somerset and Derbyshire, and even with those of Germany, as the
accompanying notes show. The words between brackets do not occur in the
original MS., having been inserted by modern printers. Those in italics
give the corrections needed in modern copies.