The Forest of Dean: An Historical and Descriptive Account Part 10

The succeeding year of 1850 is chiefly noticeable for a general meeting on behalf of the fund for defraying the expenses of the contemplated Industrial Exhibition of all Nations, to take place the next year. It was held upon Wednesday the 12th of June, on the green in front of the Speech-house, under the presidency of Mr. Machen, supported by the magistrates and master-miners of the district. The day was fine, and at least 5,000 people attended--three bands of music accompanying them from the different sides of the Forest. A large waggon const.i.tuted the platform on which the speakers stood. The sight was a striking one, amidst the fine foliage of the surrounding Forest, and all pa.s.sed off in a manner worthy of the occasion.

The Commissioners of Woods' Report, dated the 27th of June this year, informs us that gales of coal had been granted, under the names of the Beaufort Engine, Oaken Hill, New Bridge, East Slade (lapsed), and the Injunction Iron Mine--paying a total rental of 54 pounds. In November following this Forest contributed its quota of navy-timber, amounting to 388 loads 22 feet, towards the total of 1,000 loads levied upon the Royal Forests; which quant.i.ty was delivered at the Pembroke Dockyard at the cost of 992 pounds 8s. for carriage. It may also be mentioned that at the Gloucester Summer a.s.sizes of this year the action of Lord Seymour, as Chief Commissioner of Woods, _versus_ Morrell, for arrears of dead rent which acc.u.mulated to the amount of 1,291 pounds 1s. 2d., was tried before Lord Chief Justice Campbell and a special jury, when a verdict was found for the Crown, subject to the opinion of the Court of Queen's Bench upon a special case, which proved, however, confirmatory of the original decision.

On the 30th of July, 1851, the official Report on the Forest was issued.

It gives us the dates of three grants of land made this spring for school purposes, situated at Viney and Blakeney Hill, and at Ruerdean Woodside.

It also bears fresh testimony to the satisfactory working of the Act of 1 & 2 Vict., c. 43, for regulating the opening and working of mines and quarries, the litigation to which they had formerly given rise under the ill-defined and objectionable customs which had so long prevailed having almost entirely ceased. The actual amount annually paid to the Crown during the last six years was stated to be 4,281 pounds 17s. 4d., besides the profit made by the sale of pit-timber. Royalties and tonnage-dues were its chief sources, although arrears of minimum or dead rent had acc.u.mulated to the extent of 12,805 pounds 8s. 2.5d.--payment having been refused in some cases on the plea that at certain times no minerals had been raised. Gales of coal had been granted to Cousin's Engine, Beaufort, and Fox Hole; and during the previous year 335,687 tons of coal and 80,531 tons of iron mine had been raised. This autumn arrangements were made for felling 553 loads of timber in the Forest, and 177 loads in the High Meadow Woods, for the use of the navy, under the Queen's sign-manual of the 7th of May.

In the following year (1852) there were two grants of land for educational and ecclesiastical purposes; one piece was for the site of a school at the Hawthorns, and the other for a parsonage attached to the new church at Lydbrook, which was consecrated on the previous 4th of December by Dr. Ollivant, Lord Bishop of Llandaff, acting for Dr. Monk, who was unable to attend.

During the months of April and June of this year the Right Hon. T. F.

Kennedy, who, in October, 1851, had been appointed Chief Commissioner, visited the Forest of Dean, and was much struck with its fine character and great capabilities. Impressed with the conviction that it might be brought to yield a larger return to the Crown, he sought the advice of Mr. Brown, well known in Scotland as a surveyor of woods, who inspected the several plantations, and suggested that every encouragement should be given to the extension of railways through the Forest, and also recommended the erection of circular sawing power, for the purpose of reducing the timber to a portable size and shape for naval purposes, by which its value would be much increased, and the expense of carriage reduced. He likewise advised that the plan hitherto pursued of stripping the bark from the young oaks, standing, should be discontinued, and that the bark should be removed after the trees were felled, as being more convenient, and favourable to the durability of the wood, and likewise as affording the earliest opportunity to the adjoining trees to shoot out into the vacant s.p.a.ces. He also thought that the bark was better cured on stages raising it above the ground, than merely by setting it upon an end; and he suggested more frequent and moderate thinnings of the plantations, which for the sake of uniformity should be marked by the same person, thinning more on the productive soils than elsewhere. Mr.

Brown considered, moreover, that fewer woodmen and keepers might suffice.

Accordingly the bark was this autumn dried on stages, and the number of keepers was reduced to three. The whole of the timber in Russell's Enclosure was felled, and the trees at Howler's Slade, Church Hill, Park End, and on the side of the road to Blakeney were marked for being so, with the exception of any very large or picturesque ones. At this time also the Lydbrook Deep Level Colliery, and the East Dean Deep Colliery, were awarded; and at the close of the year Mr. Machen resigned his office of Deputy-Gaveller, which was next held by Mr. Warington Smith.

In the spring of 1853 all the timber on Church Hill, at Howler's Slade, and between the Blakeney Roads was cut down, forming what is now usually called "the great fall." The mode of management in the Forest was now rapidly changing, and Mr. Machen, the Deputy-Surveyor, decided this year to resign, after a service of well nigh half a century. He was succeeded by Mr. Brown. The flittern bark of this season was dried on stages, having been taken off the young oaks after they had been felled; but the process was not found to answer.

The Hagloe estate, situated between the Forest and the river Severn, was this year purchased by Government on account of its securing the best site for railway communication with the South Wales line, as well as for shipping timber, the river in that part being particularly favourable for the purpose. The formation of three distinct tramways was now also licensed, one from near Milkwall down to the Severn and Wye line, another from Speculation Colliery to the same point, and a third from the Ruerdean Woodside Colliery to East Slade.

In the next year (1854) a select Committee of the House of Commons sat during the month of June, under the presidency of Mr. Henry Drummond, to collect information respecting "the management and condition of the Crown Forests." So far as related to the Forest of Dean, the inquiry seems to have arisen from its being supposed that the timber therein, of which 7,800 loads had been felled during the two previous years, might have been sold at higher prices, and that the mode of stripping and drying the bark was defective. Yet it appeared in evidence that the price of the timber was about the same as such timber usually fetched in the neighbourhood, and that, upon the whole, the method of removing the bark from the trees whilst standing, and then setting it upright to dry, was as good as that of first felling the tree, and then stripping it and drying the bark on stages. Moreover, the portable steam saw, which had been sent to the Forest with the design of cutting the timber, as recommended by Mr. Brown, was found to be too small for the purpose, although it was as large as could be conveniently moved from place to place, and hence it proved of little or no use.

The Lords of the Treasury, desirous to satisfy the public and the legislature as to the state of Dean Forest in common with the other Crown Forests, directed Messrs. J. Matthews, William Murton, and W. Menzies to make a personal examination of them, and to report their opinion thereon.

This they accordingly did in considerable detail. With regard to Dean Forest they say--"The enclosures were originally planted with extreme care, their situations judiciously chosen, the land well prepared, and the plants protected with nurses." "Viewing these plantations as a whole," they say, "we feel quite justified in representing to your Lordships that not only is their state such as to merit approval, but having reference to their regularity, growth, and prospective ultimate development, they are not surpa.s.sed by any Forest property in the kingdom."

Whilst the condition of the Forest of Dean was being thus canva.s.sed, its management had been entrusted to Mr. Brown; but after a few months he was removed, and at the particular request of Government he was succeeded by Mr. Machen, until a permanent arrangement should be made, which was not, however, before the 11th of November, when the office was conferred on Sir James Campbell, Bart., heretofore Deputy-Surveyor of Bere and Parkhurst Forests, and now selected for the ability he had shown in their management. The Treasury Letter announcing his appointment also states that "after the satisfactory opinion conveyed in the Report of Messrs.

Matthews, Menzies, and Murton regarding the system of management heretofore followed in this Forest, the time has come when Mr. Machen may be honourably relieved from the charge which he so long ably fulfilled, and which he resumed at the request of this Board."

During this year (1854) no less than 4,982 acres 1 rood 20 poles of plantation were thrown open, comprising the enclosures of Haywood, Edge Hills, Ruerdean Hill, and Aston Bridge. The following licences were likewise granted:--To the Messrs. Kingsford for constructing a length of tramway connecting the Woodside Colliery with a terminus to be formed at Church-way; to Messrs. Allaway for making a tramroad from the Plumphill to their iron-mine at Wigpool; to Messrs. Davis, Cooper, and Roberts to open a brickyard, and to sink additional iron-pits at Cinderford, Clearwell, and Lamb's Quay.

In 1855 information was sought to be procured as to the expediency of removing the dead wood from growing oak-trees. The practice hitherto had been not to do so, a course of which a large number of timber merchants, whose known experience justified their being consulted, expressed their unanimous approval, declaring it far better to leave its removal to nature. Another interesting investigation was now also inst.i.tuted, relative to the suitableness of the Deodara pine as a Forest tree.

Upwards of 120,000 plants had been raised from seed, supplied by the East India Company, in four private nurseries, half of which were distributed in Dean Forest and the New and Delamere Forests; but it is yet too early to afford any definite results. The young plants, however, appear to be particularly susceptible to frost.

On the 31st of March in this year the Hon. James Kenneth Howard was appointed one of the Chief Commissioners to administer the affairs of the Royal Forests, the Hon. Charles Gore having for some time, after Mr.

Kennedy's retirement, been the sole Commissioner.

Three additional coal-mines, called Richard White's Colliery, Hollow Meadow ditto, and Ruardean ditto, besides an iron-mine, called Maxwell and Brooklyn Mine, were now granted, besides six stone-quarries and another brickyard. Licence was also granted to Messrs. Crawshay to connect their extensive colliery at Light Moore with the main line of railway near Cinderford, on the broad gauge principle, besides four other licences to connect various other works with the chief lines of traffic by short lengths of tramway.

It may be here remarked, that two years previously an inspector was appointed to view the timber intended to be felled for the navy before its being cut, and the following table exhibits the proportion of timber received at the Dockyard before and since the adoption of such a plan, showing its great utility:--

DEAN FOREST. HIGH MEADOW.

1851 48 per cent. 1851 22 per cent.

1852 44 ,, 1852 31 ,, 1853 30 ,, 1853 no fall.

1854 no fall 1854 ,, 1855 65 per cent. 1855 92 per cent.

On Tuesday, the 22nd of January, 1856, an important meeting took place at the Speech-house, Sir J. Campbell taking the chair, a.s.sisted by the Rev.

H. W. Bellairs, Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, with the object of attempting to raise the standard of teaching in the schools of the district, eighteen in number, the Crown contributing to the support of each of them. The meeting was largely attended, especially by the neighbouring clergy, and resulted in a period of five years being allowed to the managers of such schools to secure the services of certificated or registered teachers, and to adopt a scale of payments by the children, graduated according to the rental or rateable value of the tenements occupied by their parents. The formation of a central school, adapted for educating youths for filling responsible situations in the iron and coal works of the Forest, was likewise recommended, and is obviously desirable. Changes were also now made, with a view to economy, in the staff of woodmen and labourers on the Forest, whereby an annual saving, both immediate and prospective, would be obtained.

With the exception of a few decayed timber trees being felled in the course of the following year (1857), there is nothing requiring further notice, and I therefore here close the historical account of the Forest, and shall proceed in the following chapters with the other objects of inquiry which have been indicated.

CHAPTER IX.

THE ORIGINAL OCCUPIERS OF THE FOREST.

The inhabitants of the Forest--Its Aborigines--Celtic indications in the names of persons and places--The forty-eight free miners' names appended to their book of "Dennis," contrasted with the present roll of free miners--Traces of Saxon and Norman influence--Early civilization indicated in the methodical character of their mine laws, and in miners being summoned to several sieges, qualified by their acts of plunder--Successive notices of the inhabitants during the last 150 years, with their present improved condition--Kitty Drew, the Forest poetess--Mining usages described--Order for pit timber--Miners' Court and Jury--Richard Morse's poem--Intelligence of the present race--Their superst.i.tions, self-importance, defects of character--Occupations--Domestic animals--Beverage--Dress--Dwellings--Diversions--Dialect--Christian names--Former distribution of population--Present numbers.

The heading of this chapter refers to one of the most interesting circ.u.mstances connected with the Forest of Dean, namely, the origin, character, customs, and early condition of its people.

The original occupiers of this part of the kingdom, according to Richard of Cirencester, a writer of the 14th century, were the Silures, an offshoot of the immense Celtic family by which the middle and western parts of Europe were overspread. The numerous remains left in the district by the Romans indicate that there had been considerable intercourse between them and the inhabitants; but the chief influences of which any traces are left appear to have descended from the Welsh, with whom the foresters of the present day still seem closely to a.s.similate.

Hence their somewhat impulsive temperament, and the occurrence of Celtic or Silurian names, such as the following, indicative of the character of the places they designate:--

Dean _i.e._ Woodland.

Lidney ,, Broadwater.

Awre ,, yellowish.

Bicknor ,, above the river.

Lydbrook ,, a river's sh.o.r.e.

Penyard ,, the hill-top, &c.

There are also many families bearing the Welsh names of Williams, Morgan, Pritchard, Watkins, Roberts, Gwilliam, Hughes, Jenkins, Griffiths, Lewellyn, &c. The list of the forty-eight free miners const.i.tuting the jury who signed the Book of Mine Laws some 400 years ago, containing so few of those which are now most common in the neighbourhood, indicates a considerable change as having taken place in the population; they may be thus cla.s.sed:

_Not now to be found on the roll of free miners_--Garone, Clarke, Wytt, Nortone, Mitch.e.l.l, Lumbart, Ocle, Barton, Heynes, Arminger, Rogers, Hathen, Miller, Croudfell, Dull, Loofe, Forthey, Walker, Tinker, Witch, Delewger, Doles, Hinde, Tellow, Backstar, Lawrence, Dolet, Caloe, Holt; in place of which names the following now occur--Baldwin, Cook, Dobbs, Hale, Jenkins, Kear, Morgan, Philipps, Harper, Davis, Meek, Brain, Jones, Jordan, Robins, Rudge, James, Milnes, Marfell, Chivers, &c. The names of Hathway, Skin, Baker, Holder, and Warr still appear in the Forest, although they no longer occur on the rolls of free miners.

_Yet to be found on the rolls_--Preeste, Smith, Addis, Burt, Hopkine, Tyler, Roberts, Parsons.

Similar traces of Saxon or Norman influence appear in the words Staunton, Newnham, Newland, Ayleford, Coleford, &c.; those of a Norman stamp being apparent in St. Briavel's, Ruerdean (_i.e._ riviere Dean), Lea, Coverham (Covert), &c., or in the family names of Baldwin, Waldwin, Chivers, &c.

To which may be added the circ.u.mstance that in most of the ancient churches adjoining the Forest there are portions of Early Norman, viz., Newnham, Staunton, English Bicknor, Ruerdean, Woolaston, St. Briavel's, &c.

a.s.suming that "the customs and franchises" of the miners of the Forest were first granted to the inhabitants by William I., they certainly show, for that early period, a highly creditable appreciation of justice, order, and right feeling. Their skill in the use of the bow, and in excavating the soil, is proved by the attendance demanded of them at various sieges during the first half of the 14th century; but their outrageous interruption of vessels navigating the Severn in the reign of Henry VI., and in one instance even so late as in that of George III., ill.u.s.trates the common truth that "every field has its tares." Probably the troubles of the Great Rebellion would have little affected them, had they been left to themselves, their warmth of feeling being chiefly manifested when they apprehended danger to their "customs and franchises:"--hence Dr. Parsons's character of them:--"The inhabitants are some of them a sort of robustic wild people, that must be civilized by good discipline and government." Such was no doubt their state and condition 150 years ago. In 1808 they were described as "not very orderly;" in 1810 as being in a condition "nearly as wretched as anything now existing in Ireland," and as "exceedingly excitable," p.r.o.ne to make unlimited demands in opening and carrying on their works, destroying the timber for such purposes, so as ultimately to leave hardly a t.i.the for the supply of the Royal dockyards, perpetually at strife amongst themselves, so jealous of any "foreigners" coming into the Forest as to deter most persons, and highly suspicious of any efforts to improve the property of the Crown, even when intended for their personal good, repeatedly destroying the new plantations, and terrifying the adjoining districts by forming riotous mobs. Yet the Chartists from Newport and places adjacent, in 1840, met with no sympathy from the Foresters, who drove their delegates away.

Happily for all parties these evils have almost entirely disappeared, through the good success which Providence has vouchsafed to the late judicious laws for regulating the mines, settling the relief of the poor, and establishing churches and schools in every part of the Forest. The former state of things was in fact the effect of the exclusive and protective rights, with corresponding usages, of which the well-meaning but short-sighted inhabitants thought so much; and hence their Magna Charta, as they were wont to call their book of "Dennis," was rather a mischief than a benefit. Their general feelings are characteristically described in the following lines from the pen of worthy Kitty Drew, the self-taught Forest poetess, in her poem on the Forest of Dean, dated 1835:--

"In days of old 'twas here and there a cot, Of architecture they'd little knowledge got; None but a few free miners then lived here, Who thought no harm to catch a good fat deer, Or steal an oak--it was their chief delight.

Old foresters, I'm told, did think 'twas right To steal an oak, and bear it clean away; But caught, the jail a twelvemonth and a day It was their doom, or else must pay a fine, The which to do they did not much incline.

"But n.o.ble miners there have been, I ken, By their old works, stout, able-bodied men; They'd not the knowledge then that now they've got, To work by steam--hand-labour was their lot.

But I am told that many ages back A foreign army did our land invade, And blood and carnage then was all the trade; They pitched their tents, and then without delay They waited anxious for the b.l.o.o.d.y fray; But our bold miners underneath did get, And many a ton of powder there did set; So up they blew the unsuspecting foe, Their shattered limbs came rattling down below.

Our land thus cleared, our liberty thus saved, Our n.o.ble miners dug the caitiffs' grave.

The King with honour did them so regard, Made them free miners as a just reward; The Forest Charter to them granted was, And firm and sure were made the Forest laws.

In former times they gloried in the name, But now the foreigners have got the game.

"The Forest now is numerous got of late, Since moneyed men come here to speculate Where once a little turfen hut did stand, You'll see a n.o.ble house and piece of land.