The Forest of Dean: An Historical and Descriptive Account Part 15

Mr. Gee, speaking of the birds which he has observed on the north-east side of the Forest, states--"The raven is seen more frequently in the neighbourhood than in most parts of England: his croak over head is not at all an uncommon sound. A pair of buzzards will occasionally circle aloft for a considerable time. The snipe is found very early on the Forest, so much so that I have known in the month of July six killed in a day. The jack snipe particularly abounds about 'the Dam Pool.' The bittern has been twice shot near the same spot within the last twenty years. The seagull skims over occasionally from the Severn side. The water-ousel is frequently met with on the Forest brooks. The cross-bill comes sometimes into the neighbourhood. The turtle-dove particularly abounds, so that in early summer our woods are in a charm with their soft purring. The fern owls are very numerous. I once came on a considerable flock of the rare bird, the siskin. The t.i.tmouse tribe are abundant; but we never see the rarer species, the bearded or the crested t.i.t. The chats and the wheatear are of course common. The woodp.e.c.k.e.rs are very common: even the two pied species might be obtained here with very little trouble. We are all over willow wrens in the spring. On the whole, I should say that it is a neighbourhood unfavourable for the observation of birds; and yet, were an observant naturalist to come among us, he would soon astonish us by what he would discover."

THE TIMBER.

Most strangers visiting the Forest do so in the expectation of seeing groves of stately timber covering the ground in every direction, and are much disappointed when they find the greater part to consist of oaks, barely fifty years old, comprised in enclosures, and the remainder of the surface disfigured by furnaces, collieries, and groups of inferior buildings. The Forest as it existed in the days of the Norman and Plantagenet kings, William I. and John, who resorted to it for the pleasures of the chase, when its dark recesses often concealed n.o.ble fugitives, or disposed its population to habits of violence and plunder, or at a still later period, when its stately trees had become objects of apprehension or jealousy to the Spaniards, was widely different from what it is at present. Few of the trees of those days have survived the fellings, spoliations, and storms of succeeding ages. According to Mr.

Pepys, "a great fall" in Edward III.'s reign left only those which in his time were called "forbid trees," to be further reduced by the requirements of seventy-two iron forges, which then lit up the district, or the yet more voracious furnaces by which they were succeeded. One storm alone, viz. that of the 18th of February, 1662, prostrated in one night 1,000 oaks, and as many beech, whilst only 200 were, it is said, left standing after the wholesale fellings perpetrated by Sir John Winter. Of these select few, the venerable "Jack of the Yat," near the Coleford and Mitcheldean Road on the top of "The Long Hill," appears to be one.

[Picture: "Jack of the Yat"]

Mr. Machen thinks it the most ancient tree in the Forest, and probably four or five hundred years old. It is of the Quercus robur kind, or old English oak, the stalks of its acorns being long, with rarely more than one acorn on a stalk, and the stalks of its leaves short. A few years back it was struck by lightning, which has left a deep groove on its trunk. In 1830 it measured, at 6 feet from the ground, 17 feet 8.75 inches; and in 1846 upwards of 18 feet 3.5 inches: but it has long since pa.s.sed its prime. {208} Two other oaks, similar in form, and fully as large in girth, yet exist, but in a decaying state, on Shapridge.

[Picture: The "Newland Oak."]

There are other trees approaching in age to the above, viz. an oak in Sallow Vallets Enclosure near the Drive, of the Quercus sessiliflora kind, its leaves growing on long stalks, and the acorns cl.u.s.tering together on short stalks, and perhaps 200 years old, being 13 feet round at 6 feet from the ground, and still in a very flourishing condition.

Another oak-tree, near York Lodge, measuring 21 feet round, formed apparently of two trees which grew together for ages, but not long since threatened to fall asunder, necessitating their being cramped up across the head by a transverse iron bar. At the Brookhall Ditches also there is an oak entirely variegated, containing 100 feet of timber; besides several other fine trees near. There are five very large beech-trees growing about two miles from Coleford on the road to Mitcheldean, and others likewise, almost as large, on the Blaize Bailey, besides several more near Danby Lodge; but the finest of all the beeches in the Forest is near the entrance to Whitemead Park, near York Lodge, measuring 17 feet at 6 feet from the ground. Most of the lesser oaks which have become timber, and have not been removed by the recent "falls," are probably the remains of the plantations made in 1670, such as the various flourishing oaks which may be noticed near the Speech House, on the Lea Bailey, the Lining Wood, and in a few other places. Many of the old hollies seem to belong to the same date, being either indigenous, or planted about this time to serve as food for the deer. One of the largest of those growing near the Speech House measures 9 feet in girth at 4 feet from the ground.

[Picture: An Oak, near York Lodge]

During the earlier half of the last century the devastations were so rapid as to necessitate re-enclosing and re-planting various parts, about the year 1760; but the effort to restock the whole of the Forest as it now appears was reserved to 1810 and the thirty subsequent years. Its present aspect, with very few exceptions, is such as to afford the best hopes that by the close of the present century a large proportion of the woods will be yielding profitable timber, provided the crops be duly protected from injury, which otherwise the rapidly increasing population of the neighbourhood will too surely occasion. Nine-tenths of the present stock are oaks; the rest are Spanish chesnuts, Scotch fir, larch, spruce, beech, and a few elms, sycamores, and horse-chesnuts; birch grows spontaneously in most parts of the Forest.

The following Table exhibits the quant.i.ty of timber growing at different times in the Forest within the last two hundred years.

A.D. Tons. Cords. Loads fit for the Navy.

1635 61,928 153,209 14,350 The trees generally decayed; about 500 past their full growth.

1662 25,929 Oak 121,500 11,335 4,204 Beech ------- 30,133 (30,000 old trees.) 1764 27,302 1783 90,382 Oak 95,043 17,982 Beech ------- 108,364 1788 48,000 1808 22,882 1857 10,000 About 5,000 trees, 7,500 having been felled since 1845.

With respect to the rarer plants found in the neighbourhood, it may be observed that the walk by the side of the Wye from Ross to Chepstow is said to be the most productive in objects of botanical interest of any part of England. The following list, kindly furnished by Mr. Gee, applies chiefly to the north-east section of the Forest and its vicinity:--

_Toothwort_ (Lathraea squamaria), at the Scowles above the Lining Wood.

_Bog Asphodel_ (Narthecium ossifragum), in the Mitcheldean Meand Enclosure.

_Gentian_ (Gentiana amarella), Limestone Quarry near Silverstone, at the Hawthorns.

_Winter Green_ (Payrola media), Hare Church Hill.

_Bog Pimpernel_ (Anagallis tenella), Purlieu Road.

_Sundews_ (Drosera rotundifolia and longifolia), Mitcheldean Meand.

_Little Sallow_ (Salix repens), Mitcheldean Meand.

_Viola lactea_, Mitcheldean Meand.

_Cotton Gra.s.s_ (Eriophorum angustifolium), Mitcheldean Meand.

_Petty Whin_ (Genista Anglica), the waste between the Dampool and the Speech House.

_Gromwell_ (Lithospermum officinale), throughout the Forest.

_Bee Orchis_ (Ophrys apifera), road to Bishopswood.

_Services_ (Pyrus pinnatifida and aria), Bicknor Rocks.

_Barberry_ (Berberis vulgaris), Bicknor Rocks.

_Cotyledon umbilicus_, Purlieu Road.

_Narcissus biflorus_, Hope Mansel.

_Mentha piperita_, Bishopswood.

Mr. Bird has been so good as to supply the accompanying list of Forest Ferns:--

Scolopendrium ceterach, and S. vulgare.

Polypodium vulgare. Blechnum boreale.

,, phegopteris. Pteris aquilina.

,, dryopteris.

Aspidium lobatum, and Filix mas and spinulosum, dilatatum, Ruta muraria, Trichomanes, Adiantum nigrum, Filix foemina.

To which may be added the Polypodium calcareum, noticed by Mr. Anderson, of the Bailey Lodge, who further states that the Daphne Mezereon shrub, as well as the wood laurel, are indigenous in the Forest, especially in the coppices on the limestone.

CHAPTER XIV.

_The Iron Mines and Iron Works in the Forest_--Mr. Wyrrall's description of the ancient excavations for iron--Their remote antiquity proved, and character described--Historical allusions to them--The quality, abundance, and situation of the old iron cinders--The early forges described--Portrait of an original free miner of iron ore--His tools--Introduction of the blast furnace into the Forest--Various Crown leases respecting them--A minute inventory of them--Mr. Wyrrall's glossary of terms found therein--Mr. Mushet's remarks on the remains of the above works--First attempts to use prepared coal in the furnaces--Iron-works suppressed--Value of iron ore at that time--Dr.

Parsons's account of the manner of making iron--State of the adjoining iron-works during the seventeenth century--Revival of them at its close--Their rise and prosperity since--At Cinderford, Park End, Sowdley, Lydbrook, and Lydney--Character of the iron-mines at the present time.

"There are," writes Mr. Wyrrall, in his valuable MS. on the ancient iron-works of the Forest, dated in the year 1780, "deep in the earth vast caverns scooped out by men's hands, and large as the aisles of churches; and on its surface are extensive labyrinths, worked among the rocks, and now long since overgrown with woods; which whosoever traces them must see with astonishment, and incline to think them to have been the work of armies rather than of private labourers. They certainly were the toil of many centuries, and this perhaps before they thought of searching in the bowels of the earth for their ore--whither, however, they at length naturally pursued the veins, as they found them to be exhausted near the surface." Such were the remains, as they existed in his day, of the original iron-mines of this locality; and except where modern operations have obliterated them, such they continue to the present time. Beyond the inference of remote antiquity, which we naturally draw from the fact of their presenting no trace of the use of any kind of machinery, or of gunpowder, or the display of any mining skill, we may cite the unanimous opinion of the neighbourhood, that they owe their origin to the predecessors of that peculiar order of operatives known as "the free miners of the Forest of Dean;" a view which is confirmed by the authentic history of the district. But the numerous Roman relics found deeply buried in the prodigious acc.u.mulations of iron cinders, once so abundant here as to have formed an important part of the materials supplied to the furnaces of the Forest, afford proof that the iron-mines were in existence as early as the commencement of the Christian era; so that the openings we now see are the results of many centuries of mining operations, with which their extent, number, and size perfectly accord.

[Picture: The Devil's Chapel]

These mines present the appearance either of s.p.a.cious caves, as on the Doward Hill, or at the Scowles near Bream, or they consist of precipitous and irregularly shaped pa.s.sages, left by the removal of the ore or mineral earth wherever it was found, and which was followed in some instances for many hundreds of yards, openings being made to the surface wherever the course of the mine permitted, thus securing an efficient ventilation, so that although they have been so long deserted the air in them is perfectly good. They are also quite dry, owing probably to their being drained by the new workings adjacent to them, and descending to a far greater depth. In the first instance they were no doubt excavated as deep as the water permitted, that is, to about 100 feet, or in dry seasons even lower, as is in fact proved by the water-marks left in some of them. Occasionally they are found adorned with beautiful incrustations of the purest white, formed by springs of carbonate of lime, originating in the rocky walls of limestone around. Sometimes, after proceeding a considerable distance, they suddenly open out into s.p.a.cious vaults fifteen feet in width, the site probably of some valuable "pocket" or "churn" of ore; and then again, where the supply was less abundant, narrowing into a width hardly sufficient to admit the human body. Occasionally the pa.s.sage divides and unites again, or abruptly stops, turning off at a sharp angle, or changing its level, where rude steps cut in the rock show the mode by which the old miners ascended or descended; whilst sometimes the rounds of ladders have been found, semi-carbonized by age. These excavations abound on every side of the Forest, wherever the iron makes its appearance, giving the name of "Meand" or mine to such places. Of the deeper workings, one of the most extensive occurs on the Lining Wood Hill above Mitcheldean, and is well worth exploring.

The earliest historical allusion to these underground works is made by Camden, who records that a gigantic skeleton was found in a cave on the Great Doward Hill, now called "King Arthur's Hall," being evidently the entrance to an ancient iron-mine. The next refers to the period of the Great Rebellion, when the terrified inhabitants of the district are said to have fled to them for safety when pursued by the hostile soldiery of either party.

[Picture: "King Arthur's Hall"]

Adverting, in the next place, to the heaps of cinders left where the ancient iron-manufacturers of the district worked, their _quality_, _abundance_, and _situation_ suggest several interesting points of observation. Thus, their _quality_ proves that charcoal was the fuel invariably employed, and the large percentage of metal left in them shows that the process then in use of extracting the iron was very imperfect.

They are said to vary in richness according as they belong to an earlier or later period--so much so, that some persons have ventured on this data to specify their relative ages; but other causes may have produced this difference. As to their _quant.i.ty_, it was once so great, that, although they have formed a large part of the mineral supply to the different furnaces of the district for the last 200 years, they still abound for miles round the Forest, wherever human habitations appear to have cl.u.s.tered, sometimes giving the names to places, as "Cinderford" and "Cinder Hill," or forming a valuable consideration in the purchase of land containing them.

Equally remarkable with the two former characteristics of these cinders is their _position_, not unfrequently on elevated spots and far removed from any watercourse. Under such circ.u.mstances, the high temperature necessary for acting upon the ore must have been obtained by constructing the fireplace so as to create a powerful draft of air, the fuel and mineral being placed alternately in layers within a circular structure of stone, resembling the rude furnaces said to be used amongst the natives of central Africa.

The "_forgioe errantes_," or itinerant forges, {216} mentioned in the records of the Justice Seat held at Gloucester Castle in 1282, were no doubt improvements on the structures just mentioned, being at the same time so formed as to admit of being removed and set at work elsewhere, as is in fact intimated by the name given to them, as well as by the more frequent occurrence and smaller size of those cinder-heaps which are found nearer to the centre of the Forest; and consequently of more modern date, presenting a striking contrast to the larger and more ancient mounds existing in places more remote, the refuse of the earlier forges kept at work for many years in one spot.

The moderate capacity of the _forgioe errantes_ may be inferred from the circ.u.mstance that in the reign of Edward I. there were seventy-two of them in the Forest alone, supplied with ore by at least fifty-nine iron-mines, by which Gloucester, Monmouth, Caerleon, Newport, Berkeley, Trelleck, &c., are stated in the Book of the Laws and Customs of the Mine to have been furnished with that metal. We also know that the two forges at Flaxley consumed two oaks every week, and that in that age 46 pounds was paid to the King by such persons as farmed any of them, or 7s. if they held a year's licence.

In the year 1841, when that part of the old road leading up to the Hawthorns from Hownal was altered, near the brook below Rudge Farm, the hearths of five small forges, cut out of the sandstone rock, and curiously pitched all round the bottom with small pebbles, were laid open, and an iron tube seven or eight inches long, and one inch and a half bore, apparently the nozzle of a pair of bellows, was found, as well as scores of old tobacco pipes, bits of iron much rusted, and broken earthenware, besides a piece of silver coin; but unfortunately none of these relics have been preserved.

[Picture: Effigy of a Forest Free Miner]

The heraldic crest here copied from a mutilated bra.s.s of the 15th century, within the Clearwell Chapel of Newland Church, gives a curious representation of the iron-miner of that period equipped for his work.

It represents him as wearing a cap, holding a candlestick between his teeth, handling a small mattock with which to loosen, as occasion required, the fine mineral earth lodged in the cavity within which he worked, or else to detach the metallic incrustations lining its sides, bearing a light wooden mine-hod on his back, suspended by a shoulderstrap, and clothed in a thick flannel jacket, and short leathern breeches, tied with thongs below the knee. Although in this representation the lower extremities are concealed, the numerous shoe-footed marks yet visible on the moist beds of some of the old excavations prove that the feet were well protected from injury by the rough rocks of the workings. Several mattock-heads exactly resembling the one which this miner is holding have also been discovered; and to enable us, as it were, to supply every particular, small oak shovels for collecting the ore, and putting it into the hod, have in some places been found.

[Picture: Leather sole of a Shoe]

[Picture: Iron Mattock head]