Iron Making in the Olden Times Part 2

"_Of Staunton_.--Robert le Noreys, G.o.dfrey le Stempore, William Dorby, Nigel de Staunton, Adam le Coliere, Thomas the jailer, William Cambel, Peter le Monner, Philipp the clerk, William Clayneberd--in all 10.

"_Of Bikemore_ (English Bicknor).--Walter Pisum, another by the same.

"_Of Hopo Malhoysel_ (Hope Mansel).--The Abbot of Gloucester, Henry Duke of Gloucester.

"_Of Reruwardin_.--William, son of Matilda, Roger Fowel, Nicholas Charlemayne, Thomas Mone, Roger Kingessone, Thomas le Leye, William Baret, William Jordan--altogether 8.

"_Of Magna Dene_.--Adam Simund, Robert le Paumer, Reginald Balloc, Hugo le Paumer, Robert de la Zone, Galfrid the Nailer, Robert Dun, Thomas Balloc, Hugo G.o.dwyn, Phelicia Pecoe, John Geffrey, Nicholas Drayclasz, Galfrid Dobel, Richard Strongbowe--in all 14."

According to this return, there were 60 forges (fabrica) at work in the district of the Forest at this period. Of these, 19 were situated on the east side, towards Gloucester; 6 were on the south, towards the Severn; 23 were on the west, towards the Wye; and 12 were on the north, towards Herefordshire. Hence, they were most numerous on the east and west, especially the latter, in accordance with the greater extent of the ancient mine holes on that side.

The annual charge levied by the Crown for each forge was usually at the rate of 13s. 6d., or a mark. When otherwise--for in certain cases it amounted to 20s.--it arose, probably, from some local circ.u.mstances connected with the quant.i.ty or quality of the iron made at that particular work.

Taken altogether, the forges in the Forest now yielded the king more than 30 pounds every twelve months.

They were leased for periods varying from three months to twenty years, although the general length approached much nearer to the shorter limit than to the longer one.

By the same "regard," the iron mines are specified as follows:--

"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 a.s.signs 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 G.o.dewyne, 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 t.i.thes. 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 a.s.signed 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 n.o.blemen 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 const.i.tuting, with his partners or "verns," a guild of considerable local influence. {25c}

The heraldic crest (p. 67) forming part of a mutilated bra.s.s 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 ill.u.s.trating 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 Suss.e.x.

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 c.o.c.kshut 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 ill.u.s.trious 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."

The letter itself runs in these words:--

"It may please your good Lordship,