Chapter II: Part 2

"4 Wheele barrowes, 1 great Sledge, 1 Tuiron plate cast, 1 Shamell plate, 1 Gage, 1 crackt wooden beam and scales, furnished, and triangles, 1 ton of Wtts, Pigs used for weights upon the bellows poises. 3.5c of Rawe Iron, 1 new firkett in the Backside, 1 lader of 14 rungs, 1 dozen of cole basketts, 2 Myne hammers, 2 Myne Shovells, 2 Coale Rakes, 2 Myne Rakes, 2 baskes to put myne into the Furnace.

"_Parke Furnace_.--The stone body thereof 22 foote square in the Front, 2 broken Sowes, one taken thence, 2 sowes in the Wall.

"Repaired 4 years since by the Farmers, viz., the backe wall from the foundation to the top, and parte of the wall over the Bellows, 40lb it cost.

"The Water Wheele 22 feet heigh, wth a Shaft whereon 7 whops, 2 Gudgions and 2 brasses, built about the same tyme, in repaire, valued at 20lb. The Furnace Howse tiled, built with stone wall 9 foot heigh, 22 foote square, the Roof good, built about the same tyme, in repair, saving a Lace by the Bridge. The stone worke valued at 10lb. The Carpenter's worke one the roof at 20s, the tilinge valued at 6lb 13s 4d.

"A Pent house under the Furnace, 10s.

"The Bridge House 42ft longe, 22ft broad, the said walles, 8.5 foot, covered with boards, double bottomed with plancke, upon stronge sleepers, valued at 40lb.

"Fence Walls all built by the Farmers about 4 yeares since.

"100 foote of trowes made of square timber, hollowed and covered with plancke, valued at 10lb, made by the Farmers.

"Another Water course, built with stone one both sides and covered wth planckes 2.5 foot broad, 46 foot, in repaire, 5lb.

"An Iron cast grate one the same watercourse.

"A watercourse of half a mile one the North of the Furnace, at the head thereof a dam and a small breach, wants soweringe, otherwise good, cutt by the Farmers, and cost them 20lb, and will cost 3lb.

"A Water course of above .5 mile to the South, made before their tyme.

"The Hutch built with stone and covered with plankes of 6 foot heigh, 3 foot broad, 70ft, saving about 11 foot at the vent which is timber, repaired by the Farmers, in repaire, but the Courant stopt below with cinders, 13lb 6s 8d; the cutting of a newe will cost 8lb.

"The Fownder's howse built before the Farmers' tyme.

"A Cottage adjoininge.

"A Cabbyne for the bridge-server, covered with boards, built by them about a yeare since, 3 tonns, 18ft longe, 11 broad, valued at 5lb.

"A Cabbyne adjoining to the Furnace for the Furnace Keeper, about a Tonn, built by the Farmers, and valued at 2lb.

"A Faire Howse, the ends stone built, the rest with Timber 50 foot longe, 16 broad; in it is a crosse building ? stories heigh, in repaire, tiled, built before the Farmers now granted, with stables belonging, of tymber.

"A smale cottage, now William Wayt's.

"A myne kylne, the inside in decay, the piggs of iron taken out of the draught thereof, the repaire will cost 2lb.

"Tymber in doeinge of )

) 150 tonnes, VIs VIIId the tonne.

the saied worke )

"_Implem__nts_.--1 pr bellowes open with the furniture of iron thereto belonging, defective in the lethers, valued at 13lb 6s 8d, the repaire will cost 10lb.; 2 buckstaves, 1 dam-plate, 2 cinder plats, 1 tuiron plate, 1 plackett, 1 gadge, 1 tuiron hoocke, 1 dam hoocke or stopinge hoocke, 4 iron shovells, 9 ringers, 6 cole baskets, 2 wheel barrows, 2 myne hammers, 1 coale rake, 2 cinder raks, 1 great sledge, 1 ringer hammer, 1 constable, 1 shammell plate, 6 iron cambs.

"A beame with scales, hoocks, triangles and lincks, with about .5 a ton of rawe iron for a wt, in repaire: 1 sowe of iron of 16cwt. which was in the front wall, soe now lyes before the doore, 5lb).

"1 Grindstone, 2 bellowe boards, never used, and 4 old ones, 1lb 10s.

"Collyers' Hurdles.

"The tymber ymployed about the said worke estimated at 140 tonns, and valued at 8s the tonn, 56lb.

"The Repaire of the body of the furnace and the buildings, beames thereto belonginge, and other defects, to make it fit to blowe, estimated at 60lb.

"_Park End Forge_--consistinge of 2 hamers, 3 Fyneryes and 1 chaffery, repayered about 2 years since by the Farmers, viz., 2 newe drome beames, 2 great hamers, shafts with wheeles and armes all newe, the body of the forge repaired in sundry places, one of the fyneryes built newe with the whole and shafts.

"The harmes to the great hamers newe and in repaire valued at 12lb.

"One other finerye chimney, made within the yeare, 5lb, 3 newe trowes through the bay, 26ft longe a piece, covered with planke one the west side, 13lb 6s 8d.

"The hamer hutch one the west side, heigh and broad one the one side, plancked in the bottome ranges of tymber with spreaders conteyninge 150 foote in length, 40lb.

"The chaffery wheele in the west side, old and decayed, 3lb to repaire it.

"One longe trowe one the est side leading the watter to the fynerye, 66 foote longe, 6lb 13s 4d; another great trowe with a penstocke, 32 foote, cost 3lb 6s 8d; 1 great penstocke in the hamer trowe, 14 foot longe, 2 foote square, 40s.

"2 Water Pricke Posts with his laces, 4lb.

"The Hamer Hutch one the west side, 4 foote square, bottoms and sides with plancks, 2 ranges of timber 150 foote longe, 10lb.

"The bodye of one Fynerye wheele all newe, made within 2 yeares last past by the Farmers.

"One little house for the carpenter to work in one the bay.

"Two ranges of tymber worke in the lower side of the bay, consistinge of sils, laces, and posts, built by the Farmers within 2 yeares, 120 foote, 12 heigh, 80lb.

"The front of the bay where the water is led to the west side and drawinge gates built about 2 years since. Stone walls on each side, 5lb.

"A flowd gate with 6 sluices, strongly tymbered, built with stronge wall one either side thereof, 160 foote longe, 3ft heigh, 3 foot thicke, aproned and plancked on the top for a bridge 3 years since, 44 foot longe, 22ft broad, 50lb.

* * * * *

The same careful investigator (Mr. Wyrrall) of every particular relating to the iron works of the Forest, formed a glossary of the terms used in the above specifications, which not only sufficiently explains them, but also shows that very similar apparatus continued to be used in this neighbourhood up to the close of the last century. It proceeds thus:--

"_Sows of Iron_ are the long pieces of cast iron as they run into the sand immediately from the furnace; thus called from the appearance of this and the shorter pieces which are runned into smaller gutters made in the same sand, from the resemblance they have to a sow lying on her side with her pigs at her dugs. These are for working up in the forges; but it is usual to cast other sows of iron of very great size to lay in the walls of the furnaces as beams to support the great strain of the work.

"_Dam Plate_ is a large flat plate of cast iron placed on its edge against the front of the furnace, with a stone cut sloping and placed on the inside. This plate has a notch on the top for the cinder or scruff to run off, and a place at the side to discharge the metal at casting.

"_The Shaft_ of a wheel is a large round beam having the wheel fixed near the one end of it, and turning upon gudgeons or centres fixed in the two ends.

"_The Furnace House_ I take to be what we call the casting-house, where the metal runs out of the furnace into the sand.

"_The Bridge_ is the place where the raw materials are laid down ready to be thrown into the furnace. I conceive that it had its name (which is still continued) from this circumstance--that in the infancy of these works it was built as a bridge, hollow underneath. It was not at first known what strength was required to support the blast of a furnace bellows; and the consequence was that they were often out of repair, and frequently obliged to be built almost entirely new.

"_Bellows Boards_--Not very different from the present dimensions.

"_Water Troughs_--scooped out of the solid timber. This shows the great simplicity of these times, not 150 years ago.

"_The Hutch_, or as it is now corruptly called the Witch, a wide covered drain below the furnace-wheel to carry off the water from it, usually arched, but here only covered with timbers to support the rubbish and earth thrown upon it.

"_Cambs_ are iron cogs fixed in the shaft to work the bellows as the wheel turns round.

"_Cinder Shovels_, iron shovels for taking up the cinders into the boxes, both to measure them and to fill the furnace.

"_Moulding Ship_, an iron tool fixed on a wooden handle, so formed as to make the gutters in the sand for casting the pig and sow iron.

"_Casting Ladles_, made hollow like a dish, with a lip to lade up the liquid iron for small castings.

"_Wringers_, large long bars of iron to wring the furnace, that is to clear it of the grosser and least fluid cinder which rises on the upper surface, and would there coagulate and soon prevent the furnace from working aright.

"_Constable_, a bar of very great substance and length, kept always lying by a furnace in readiness for extraordinary purposes in which uncommon strength and purchase was required. I suppose this name to have been given to this tool on account of its superior bulk and power, and in allusion to the Constable of St. Briavel's Castle, an officer heretofore of very great weight and consequence in this forest.

"_Cinder Hook_, a hook of iron for drawing away the scruff or cinder which runs liquid out of the furnace over the dam plate, and soon becomes a solid substance, which must be removed to make room for fresh cinder to run out into its place.

"_Plackett_, a tool contrived as a kind of trowel for smoothing and shaping the clay.

"_Buckstones_, now called Buckstaves, are two thick plates of iron, about 5 or 6 feet long, fixed one on each side of the front of the furnace down to the ground to support the stone work.

"_Iron Tempe_ is a plate fixed at the bottom of the front wall of the furnace over the flame between the buckstaves.

"_Tuiron Plate_ is a plate of cast iron fixed before the noses of the bellows, and so shaped as to conduct the blast into the body of the furnace.

"_Tuiron Hooke_, a tool contrived for conveying a lump of tempered clay before the point of the tuiron plate, to guard the wall from wearing away as it would otherwise do in that part, there being the greatest force of the fire.

"_Shammel Plate_, a piece of cast iron fixed on a wooden frame, in the shape of a [Picture: Symbol], which works up and down as a crank, so as for the camb to lay hold of this iron, and thereby press down the bellows.

"_Firketts_ are large square pieces of timber laid upon the upper woods of the bellows, to steady it and to work it.

"_Firkett Hooks_, two strong hooks of square wrought iron fixed at the smallest end of the bellows to keep it firm and in its place.

"_Gage_, two rods of iron jointed in the middle, with a ring for the filler to drop the shortest end into the furnace at the top, to know when it is worked down low enough to be charged.

"_Poises_, wooden beams, one over each bellows, fixed upon centres across another very large beam; at the longest end of these poises are open boxes bound with iron, and the little end being fixed with harness to the upper ends of the firketts are thus pressed down, and the bellows with it, by the working of the wheel, while the weight of the poises lifts them up alternately as the wheel goes round."

* * * * *

As to the length of time these works continued in operation, the late Mr. Mushet, who knew the district intimately, in his valuable papers on iron, &c., considered that they were abandoned shortly after the date of the inventory, _i.e._ 1635, since, "with the exception of the slags, traces of the water-mounds, and the faint lines of the water-courses, not a vestige of any of them remains."

He adds,--

"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.