The mining and making of iron continued to be carried on in the Forest in the manner indicated by the foregoing particulars, until the improved methods of manufacture established in other parts of the kingdom, particularly in Suss.e.x, had been adopted here. As early probably as the commencement of the reign of Elizabeth, these improvements came into use in this locality, and superseded the old "make." It was for its iron-mines, even more than for its timber, that this Forest excited the jealousy of the Spaniards, who designed to suppress the former by destroying the charcoal fuel with which they were worked.

[Picture: Oak Shovel]

The earliest intimation of any such change in the mode of manufacture occurs in the terms of a "bargayne," made by the Crown, and preserved in the Lansdowne MSS. "wth Giles Brudges and others," 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 percentage of metal which the former method had failed to extract. In the year following a similar "bargayne" was made with William Earl of Pembroke, at the enormous rental of 2,433 pounds 6s. 3d., but with leave to take "tymbr for buildinges & workes as they were," with "allowance of reasonable fireboote for the workmen out of the dead & dry wood, &c., to inclose a garden not exceedinge halfe an acre to every house, and likewise to inclose for the necessity of the worke; the houses and inclosures to bee pulled downe & layd open as the workes shall cease or remove." A third and corresponding "bargayne" was agreed to, on the 3rd of May, 1615, with Sir Basil Brook, there being reserved in rent "iron 320 tonns p. annum, wch att xiill xs the tone cometh to 4,000 per an.: the rent reserved to be payd in iron by 40 tonns p. month, wch cometh to 500ll every month; so in toto yearelye 4,000ll;" and a proviso that "The workes already buylt onlye granted, wth no power to remove them, but bound to mayntayne and leave them in good case and repayre, wth all stock of hammers, anvil's, and other necessarys received att the pattentees' entrye," as also that "libertye for myne and synders for supplying of the workes onlye, to be taken by delivery of the miners att the price agreed uppon."

In 1621 Messrs. Chaloner and Harris appear to have succeeded to the works under a rent of 2,000 pounds, and who, we may presume, cast the 610 guns ordered by the Crown on behalf of the States General of Holland in 1629.

The spot where they were made was, it would seem, ever after called "Guns Mills." It certainly was so called as early as the year 1680, an explanation of the term which is confirmed by the discovery there of an ancient piece of ordnance. "Guns Pill" was the place where they were afterwards shipped.

A curious inventory, dated 1635, of the buildings and machinery referred to in the forenamed "bargaynes," has been preserved amongst the Wyrrall Papers, and is inserted in the Appendix No. IV.

As to the length of time the works specified in Appendix No. IV.

continued in operation, the late Mr. Mushet, who knew the neighbourhood intimately, in his valuable "Papers on Iron," &c., considers that they were finally abandoned shortly after that date (1635), since, "with the exception of the slags, traces of the water mounds, and the faint lines of the watercourses, 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 quant.i.ty of slags I computed at from 8,000 to 10,000 tons. If it is a.s.sumed that this furnace made upon an average annually 200 tons of pig iron, and that the quant.i.ty of slag run from the furnace was equal to one half the quant.i.ty 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 a.s.signed 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. 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 iron with pit coal," it had been without success, and the same with the like operations of Cromwell, who was partner with 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.

In 1650 a Committee of the House of Commons ordered that all the iron-works in the Forest, formerly let on lease by the Crown, should be suppressed and demolished, partly perhaps with the view of checking the consumption of wood, and also to put a stop to the making of cannon and shot, lest when the occasion invited they should be seized by the adverse party and turned against them. The Royalists had already found here a valuable store of such things at the time they were defending Bristol against Fairfax.

How far the above mandate was obeyed does not appear, but ere the year 1674 a general decay seems to have fallen on the Forest works, as in that year the expediency of repairing them, and building an additional furnace and two forges, at the cost of 1,000 pounds, was suggested. The opposite course was, however, recommended, that is, of demolishing them all, lest they should ultimately cause the destruction of the wood and timber, a course which it seems was followed, since in the 4th order of the Mine Law Court, dated 27th April, 1680, they are stated to have been lately demolished. The same "Order" fixes the following prices as those at which twelve Winchester bushels of iron mine should be delivered at the following places:--St. Wonnarth's furnace 10s., Whitchurch 7s., Linton 9s., Bishopswood 9s., Longhope 9s., Flaxley 8s., Gunsmills (if rebuilt) 7s., Blakeney 6s., Lydney 6s.; at those in the Forest, if rebuilt, the same as in 1668--Redbrooke 4s. 6d., The Abbey (Tintern) 9s., Brockweare 6s. 6d., Redbrooke Pa.s.sage 5s. 6d., Gunpill 7s., or ore (intended for Ireland) shipped on the Severn 6s. 6d.

Most of these localities exhibit traces of former iron manufacture having been carried on at them up to the commencement of that century, as at Flaxley, Bishopswood, &c., charcoal being the fuel invariably used, and their situation such that water power was at command. The prices severally affixed to the places above named indicate a discontinuance of the mines on the north-east side of the Forest, those adjoining Newland and in Noxon Park being at this date the chief sources of supply, agreeably with the allusions to iron-pits existing there which occur in the proceedings of the Mine Law Court about that time. The mode then in use of operating upon the iron ore, as described in MS. by Dr. Parsons, will be found in Appendix No. V.

Andrew Yarranton, in his book of novel suggestions for the "Improvement of England by Sea and Land," printed in 1677, remarks as follows:--"And first, I will begin in Monmouthshire, and go through the Forest of Dean, and there take notice what infinite quant.i.ties 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 owners 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 quant.i.ties 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 ironstone, 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 quant.i.ties of these cinders; some in vast mounts above ground, some under ground, 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 ironstone, and 20 pounds will be given for it."

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 Suss.e.x. 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 coming by sea from Whitehaven. 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."

The year 1795 marks the period when the manufacture of iron was resumed in the Forest by means of pit coal c.o.kes 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 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 quant.i.ty produced not reaching twenty tons per week. The c.o.kes were brought from Broadmoor in boats, by a small ca.n.a.l, 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. It was during this interval that the name of David Mushet appears in connexion with the Forest. He made his first essay at White Cliff, near Coleford, in partnership with a Mr. Alford.

The result was the loss of the entire investment, and the dismantling of the works, except the sh.e.l.l of the building, as a monument over the grave of departed thousands. A large quant.i.ty of the castings were brought to Cinderford in 1827, and were connected with the blast apparatus attached to those works. The names of Birt and Teague now occasionally appeared, combined with attempts to retrieve the character of the locality for iron making; but all failed: and Mr. Mushet's famous declaration that physical difficulties would for ever prevent its success, in connexion with such repeated failures, seemed for several years to have sealed up the prospects of the Forest; but at length a glimmer of light broke through the darkness, and it was reserved for an individual of Forest birth to prove that the greatest theorists may arrive at wrong practical conclusions.

"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 at Dark Hill, in the cupola formerly used by Mr. Mushet, 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 const.i.tutional 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 arrangments 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 tinplate 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 embarra.s.sed 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 tinplate 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 quant.i.ties which had never been antic.i.p.ated. There are now four blast furnaces, three of which are always in blast, 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."

Adverting, in the next place, to the iron-works at Park End, the Reverend H. Poole kindly supplies the following facts, courteously communicated by the proprietors:--

"The year 1799 gives the date of the oldest iron furnace here, situated about half a mile below the original works, and carried on by a Mr. Perkins. They were afterwards sold to Mr. John Protheroe, who disposed of the same to his nephew, Edward Protheroe, Esq., formerly M.P. for Bristol, who had extensive grants of coal in the immediate neighbourhood. 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, &c., until in 1826 Messrs. William Montague of Gloucester, and John James, Esq., of Lydney, became the sole lessees. These parties, in 1827, erected another furnace, and also an immense waterwheel of 51 feet diameter and 6 feet wide, said to be nearly the largest in the kingdom, and formed extensive and suitable ponds and ca.n.a.ls for the supply of water. This water-wheel was but little used, in consequence of the general introduction and superior advantages of steam power, which was obtained by erecting an engine for creating the blast. It was considered insufficient, however, for supplying two furnaces on the blast principle, each of which was 45 feet high, 8 feet diameter at the top, 14 feet diameter at the boshes, and 4 feet 6 inches diameter at the hearth; hence another steam-engine of 80 horse power was erected in 1849, but in consequence of 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 purchased all his interest in the works, and became the sole lessee until the year 1854, when he purchased of Mr. Protheroe the fee of the property, together with all the liabilities of the lease. Since that time the two furnaces have been constantly worked together, under the superintendence of Mr.

Greenham, one of the proprietors, the firm still continuing as 'the Forest of Dean Iron Company.'"

"In the year 1851 extensive tinplate works were commenced at Park End, and 24 houses were built for the workmen, by Messrs. James and Greenham, at a considerable outlay. These works when completed were afterwards sold to Messrs. T. and W. Allaway, who enlarged and improved the same, and are now carried on with much spirit and success."

The tinworks at Lydney are also in the hands of the above-named firm, and comprise three forges, mills, and tin-house, producing 1200 boxes of tin plates a week, with the consumption of from 70 to 80 tons of Cinderford iron. The Lydney iron-works belonged in early times to the Talbot family.

At Lydbrook there are the "Upper" and "Lower" works. The latter, or those nearest the Wye, are said to have belonged originally to the Foleys, one of whom was elected a free miner in 1754. Mr. Partridge carried them on for many years in connexion with the furnaces at Bishopswood, but leased them in 1817 to Mr. Allaway, at which time they comprised three forges, rolling and bar mills, and tin-house complete, capable of producing 100 to 150 boxes of tin plates per week. Under the able management of Mr. Allaway's sons, the works now yield 600 boxes, sent off by the Wye, the iron used being that from Cinderford, as best suited for the purpose. The "Upper" works were once farmed for Lord Gage, but they now belong to Messrs. Russell, who make large quant.i.ties of wire for the electrical telegraph, as well as iron for smith's use.

The iron-works at Sowdley are all that remain to be noticed. Here, as early as 1565, iron wire is said to have been made, being drawn by strength of hand. In 1661 Mr. Paysted states that the factory pa.s.sed from Roynon Jones, Esq., of Hay Hill, into the hands of a party named Parnell and Co., who carried on the works until the year 1784, from which date to 1804 Dobbs and Taylor had them. From 1824 on to 1828 they were held by Browning, Heaven, and Tryer; but in the latter year Todd, Jeffries, and Spirrin undertook the business, converting a part of the premises into paint and bra.s.s works, which lasted for about four years.

Two blast furnaces were built on the spot in 1837 by Edward Protheroe, Esq., who worked them for four years. In 1857 they were purchased by Messrs. Gibbon, and are now in blast.

Eight blast furnaces were at work in the Forest in the year 1856, and produced upwards of 24,132 tons of iron of the best quality.

It only remains to state that twenty iron-mines were awarded by the Mining Commissioners in 1841, and these are since increased to upwards of fifty, several of them comprising very extensive workings, and are furnished with very powerful pumping engines; that at Shakemantle raises 198.25 gallons per stroke, and the one at Westbury Brook 24 gallons, from a depth of 186 yards.

The annual yield of iron mine from the four princ.i.p.al pits is:--

Buckshaft 14,574 Tons.

Old Sling Pit 13,263 ,, Westbury Brook 11,725 ,, Easter Iron Mine 10,782 ,,

The total yield from all the iron-mines in the Forest for 1856 was 109,268 tons.

CHAPTER XV.

_The Forest Coal Works_--The earliest allusion to them--The original method of mining for coal--Grants to the Earl of Pembroke in 1610, &c.--First attempt to char coal for the furnace--Prices for which coal was to be sold, as fixed by the "Orders" of the Court of Mine Law--Contents of the existing doc.u.ments belonging to that Court described--State of the coal-works at the end of the last century--Gradual improvements in the mode of working for coal--Mr.

Protheroe's collieries--The superior character of the most recent coal-works--Amount raised in 1856 from the ten largest collieries.

There is a difficulty in determining which is to be considered the earliest allusion to the working of coal in the Forest, since charcoal as well as sea or pit coal was thus indifferently designated: not that the latter was carried by sea, but only that it agreed in character with the coal usually so conveyed. The first notice seems, however, to be that supplied by the records of the Justice Seat held at Gloucester in 1282, where it is stated that sea coal was claimed by six of the ten bailiffs of the Forest of Dean.

The appellation of "Sea Coal Mine" as distinguished from "the Oare Mine,"

mentioned in the 29th section of "The Laws and Customs of the Miners in the Forest of Dean," compiled about the year 1300, likewise proves that sea-coal was known by name, and that a description of fuel closely resembling it was then dug in this neighbourhood, to an extent ent.i.tling it to be noticed "as free in all points" with the long celebrated iron ore; that is, const.i.tuting the collier a free miner.

The original methods of getting coal in the locality probably conformed to the modes then used for obtaining the iron mine, the veins of both minerals showing themselves on the surface much in the same manner. So that it is probable the old coal-workings, like those for iron, descended only to a moderate depth, and for the same reason were frequently carried on by driving levels, for which the position of several of the coal-seams was highly favourable.

In the year 1610 "liberty to dig for and take, within any part of the Forest or the precincts thereof, such and so much sea-coal as should be necessary for carrying on the iron-works," was granted to William, Earl of Pembroke, by James I. This is the earliest mention of coal being so used, agreeably to the efforts then making by Simon Sturtevant and John Ravenzon, Esqrs., to adapt it by baking for such a purpose. The same grant, in omitting to mention coal amongst certain other productions which "no person or persons were to take or carry out of the said Forest," leads to the supposition that coal was then exported or carried into the adjacent country, and that it was found desirable for this to continue. Coal was included in Charles I.'s sale of the Forest timber, iron, stone, &c., to Sir John Winter, who some years afterwards is described by Evelyn as interested in a project for "charring sea-coal,"

so as to render it fit for the iron furnace. A scheme somewhat similar was now tried in the Forest, Mr. Mushet tells us, by Captain Birch, Major Wildman, and others, "where they erected large air furnaces, into which they introduced large clay pots, resembling those used at gla.s.shouses, filled with various proportions of the necessary mixture of ores and charcoal. The furnaces were heated by the flame of pit-coal, and it was expected that, by tapping the pots below, the separated materials would flow out. This rude process was found entirely impracticable; the heat was inadequate to perfect separation, the pots cracked, and in a short time the process was abandoned altogether."

The important Act of 1668 confirmed to persons digging for coal in the Forest their lawful rights and privileges, as also to the Crown the liberty to lease the coal-mines for a period not exceeding thirty-one years. This latter provision was immediately acted upon, the coal-mines and quarries of grindstones being granted to Francis Tyrringham, Esq., for thirty-one years, at a rental of 30 pounds per annum, a price which, if it were fairly agreed upon, affords some intimation of the extent and value of the Forest coal-works at that time.

By the first "Order" of the Court of Mine Law, dated March 18th of the year last named (1668), it was fixed that a dozen bushels of lime-coal should be disposed of for 3s. at the Lime Slad; for 5s. 6d. at the top of the Little Doward; for 5s. 4d. at any other kilns thereon; for 5s. at the Buckstones; for 5s. 6d. at Monmouth; for 4s. at the Weare over Wye; for 4s. if on this side; for 3s. 6d. at Coldwall; for 3s. at Lydbrook; and for 4s. 4d. at Redbrook.

The second "Order" of the same Court, agreed to on the 9th of March, 1674, provides that "the servants of the Deputy Constable shall always be first served at the pitts." In the same year a pet.i.tion was presented to the Crown by several gentlemen and freeholders of the parish of Newland for leave to drain some coal-pits at Milkwall, stating that "the inhabitants of the adjacent country were supplied from the collieries of the Forest with coal for firing, and also for lime coal, without which there would be little tillage."

The next Mine Law Court, held on the 8th of September, 1678, determined that a barrel or three Winchester bushels should be the constant measure for coal, four-pence being the smallest price allowed to be taken for "a barrel" of fire coal. "And whereas the myners within this Forest are at a very great charge to make surffes for the dreyning of their pitts to get cole, wch when they have finished others sincke pitts so near them that they are deprived of the benefit of their labour and charge, to their very great loss and damage: To remedie whereof, it is now ordered that after a surffe is made, noe myner shall come to work within 100 yards of that surffe to the prejudice of the undertakers without their consents, and without being contributory to the making of the said surffe, upon payne of forfeiting 100 dozen of good fire coale, the one moiety to the King's Matie, and the other to the myner that shall sue for the same." The fourth "Order" of the same Court, issued on the 27th April, 1680, directs "that no fire cole, smith's cole, or lyme cole shall be delivered upon the bankes of the Wye between Monmouth Bridge and Huntsame Ferry for less than 8s. a dozen bushels for the two former sorts, and 4s. 6d. for lyme cole, or if between Huntsame Ferry and Wilton Bridge for less than 3s. 6d. a dozen."

On the 19th September, 1682, a fifth "Order" forbade "the transport of lime coal to Hereford and Monmouthshire at lower rates than heretofore have been set and agreed upon," and ordained that "whensoever any collyers have fully wrought out a cole pitt through wch the gout water must necessarily run for drayning of the worke, in such case the said collyers shall secure the said pitt, upon payne to forfeite 100 dozen of good fire cole." In the ensuing "Order," dated 1st December, 1685, the jury agreed that, in raising money for any public purpose, "one half of those who served should be cole myners, and the other half myners at iron oare," both cla.s.ses of operatives having at length become equally numerous, in consequence of the rapid increase of the coal-works. The next Court of the Mine, held on 5th April, 1687, decided that "all cole pitts and dangerous mine pitts which are not in working, or wch thereafter shall not be wrought in for one whole month together, shall be sufficiently secured by a wall of stone, or by railing the same with posts and railes placed above two feet distant from the mouth of such pitt by the proprietor thereof, and likewise all pitts left open for a grout way, upon paine of 10s. to be forfeited for every omission and neglect."

According to the eighth verdict of the miners' jury, declared on the 13th of January, 1692, the former s.p.a.ce of 100 yards, within which all colliers were prohibited from coming to work another pit, was now extended to 300 yards. The next "Order," being that of the 25th of April, 1694, directs that "the price of fire cole to the copper works (Redbrook) shal bee henceforth 8s. per dozen, and smith cole 6s. per dozen." That of the 10th of March, 1701, enacted that "every miner shall keepe a paire of scales at their severall colepitts to weigh theire cole wthall," that none should be sent away unweighed, and that the price of it should not exceed 5s. a ton to the inhabitants of the hundred of St.

Briavel's, or less than 6s. a ton to foreigners. The next "Order," that of the 1st of July, 1707, renewed the direction to fill or sufficiently secure any dangerous coal-pits, within some reasonable time, under a penalty of 20s. The "Order" dated 12th November, 1728, directs that the distance of 300 yards between any adjoining works be "augmented to 500 yards in all levels." The "Order" bearing date 2nd March, 1741, particularizes certain coal-works near Lydbrook called "Wyrrall Hill,"

another called "Dowler's Chambers," and likewise the coal-works called "Speedwell," at Serridge, besides "the Hill Works" near Ruerdean. It also forbade any coal to be sold in the city of Hereford under 13s. the ton, fixing a horse-load at 2.25 cwt., for 6d. a bushel at the pit, one cwt. of fire coal for 4d. a bushel, three bushels of smith's coal for 5d., and lime coal for 1d. a bushel, or 21 cwt. of fire coal for 7s. 6d.

"waid and delivered" at Lydney Pill or at Pyrton Pill, or at Gatcombe.

The same "Order" further directs that "the yearns belonging to the levels which are between Drybrooke and Cannop's Bridge, and between Seridge and Reuardean Town, shall get coal out of no more than two pitts at one time, belonging to one level, till the said two pitts are worked quite out, and those who keep two pitts in work on one level shall not sinke any other new pitt till the old ones are quite worked out."