CHAPTER I.—a.d. 1307–1612.

1

Origin of the name “Dean”?—The Buck Stone and other Druidical remains—“The Scowles,” &c., and other ancient iron-mines, worked in the time of the Romans—Symmond’s Yat, and other military earthworks—Domesday Book, and investment of this Forest in the Crown—William I., and probable date of Free Miners’ Franchise—Castle of St. Briavel’s first built; Giraldus—Flaxley Abbey founded—King John at Flaxley and St. Briavel’s—The constables of St. Briavel’s, and wardens of the Forest—Date of the ruins of St. Briavel’s Castle—Iron-forges licensed by Henry III.—Perambulation of 1282, and first “justice seat”—Seventy-two itinerant forges in the Forest—Date of miners’ laws and privileges—Perambulation of 1302—Edward I., grants in the Forest—Newland Church founded—Free miners summoned to the sieges of Berwick, &c.—Edward II., grants in the Forest—Edward III., ditto—Richard II., ditto—Henry IV., ditto—Henry V., ditto—Henry VI., ditto—Severn barges stopped by Foresters—Edward IV., and retreat hither of the Earl Rivers and Sir J. Woodville—Edward VI. farmed the Forest to Sir A. Kingston—Design of the Spaniards to destroy the Forest—Papers from Sir J. CÆsar’s collection, viz. Sir J. Winter’s negotiations relative to the ironworks, &c.—Blast furnaces erected

CHAPTER II.—a.d. 1612–1663.

24

Grants in the Forest to Earl of Pembroke—Mining restricted to the foresters—Iron cinders of old workings re-smelted in the new furnaces—Last justice seat held in 1635, extending the limits of the Forest to those of Edward I.—Grant to E. Terringham—Forest surveyed in 1635—Sale of the woods to Sir J. Winter—Disturbances of the Civil War at Coleford, Highmeadow, Ruardean—Adventures of Sir J. Winter at Westbury, Little Dean, Newnham, Lydney—Events on the north side of the Forest—Incidents of the Protectorate, riots and devastations of the Forest—Sir J. Winter’s patent restored—Effects of a great storm—Survey of the Forest in 1662—Mr. J. Pepys and Sir J. Winter on the Forest—The latter resumes his fellings—Inhabitants suggest replanting and enclosing the Forest—Act of 20 Charles II., c. 3—Sir J. Winter’s licence confirmed

CHAPTER III.—a.d. 1663–1692.

45

First “Order” of forty-eight free miners in Court—8,487 acres enclosed and planted—Speech-house begun—Second order of the Miners’ Court—The King’s iron-works suppressed—The six “walks” and lodges planned out—All mine-works forbidden in the enclosures—Third order of the Miners’ Court—Enclosures extended—Fourth order of the Miners’ Court—Speech-house finished—The Forest perambulated—Fifth order of the Miners’ Court—Proposal to resume the King’s iron-works rejected—Sixth and seventh orders of the Miners’ Court—Riots connected with the Revolution—Eighth order of the Miners’ Court—Dr. Parsons’s account of the Forest

CHAPTER IV.—a.d. 1692–1758.

58

Condition of the Forest described, and management examined—Depredations—Ninth and tenth orders of the Miners’ Court—Timber injured by the colliers—The Forest in its best state, 1712—Eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth orders of the Miners’ Court—Fourteenth order of the Miners’ Court—Swainmote Court discontinued—Extension of coal-works and injury of trees—Forest neglected—Fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth orders of the Miners’ Court—Grant of 9,200 feet of timber to the Gloucester Infirmary

CHAPTER V.—a.d. 1758–1800.

73

Mr. John Pitt suggested 2,000 acres to be planted—The Forest surveyed—Great devastations and encroachments—The roads—Act of 1786, appointing a Commission of Inquiry—New plantations recommended—Messrs. Drivers employed to report on the Forest—Corn riots—Mitcheldean market

CHAPTER VI.—a.d. 1800–1831.

87

Lord Nelson’s remarks on the Forest—Free miners endeavour to restore their Court of Mine Law—White Mead Park planted—Act of 1808, authorising the replanting of the Forest, six commissioners appointed for that purpose—Six enclosures formed in 1810—Mice—Inquiry as to the best mode of felling timber—Last of the enclosures formed 1816—First Forest church consecrated—High Meadow Woods purchased—General condition of the Forest—Unsuccessful efforts to restore the encroachments to the Crown—Plantations mended over—Ellwood and the Great Doward Estates purchased—The blight—Single trees planted out by the roads—Blight on the oaks

CHAPTER VII.—a.d. 1831–1841.

110

Riots—Sessions of the Dean Forest Commissioners relative to St. Briavel’s Court—Free miners’ claims—Foreigners’ petition—State of the woods—Perambulation—Rights of Commonage—Relief of the poor—Free miners’ petition—Parochial divisions—Fourth and Fifth Reports of the Dean Forest Commissioners—Acts of 1838 and 1842—Award of the coal and iron mines—Enclosures thrown open, and new ones formed—Provision for the poor—Mr. Machen’s memoranda

CHAPTER VIII—a.d. 1841–1858.

130

Messrs. Clutton’s, &c., Report on the Forest Timber—Viscount Duncan’s Committee—Supply of 1,000 loads of timber to the Pembroke Dockyard, resumed—Mr. Drummond’s Committee—Report of Mr. Brown—Messrs. Matthews’s Report

CHAPTER IX.
THE ORIGINAL OCCUPIERS OF THE FOREST.

143

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

CHAPTER X.

154

Churches and schools—Religious provisions before the Reformation—Rev. P. M. Procter, Vicar of Newland, lectures in Thomas Morgan’s cottage—The erection of a place for worship proposed—Rev. H. Berkin opens a Sunday-school—Mr. Procter uses his chapel school-room—Mr. Berkin lectures in the Foresters’ cottages—Builds Holy Trinity Church (1817)—His assiduous labours and death in 1847—Christ Church, Berry Hill—Mr. Procter’s death—His successors—Rev. H. Poole builds St. Paul’s, Park End, and schoolrooms—Rev. J. J. Ebsworth—St. John’s, Cinderford, consecrated 1844—Lydbrook Church consecrated 1851—Government aid to the churches and schools

CHAPTER XI.

176

The history of the Abbey of Flaxley, or St. Mary de Dene—Its foundation by Roger Earl of Hereford in 1140—Confirmed and enriched by Henry II. and III., and Richard II.—Suppressed in 1541—Existing remains—St. Anthony’s Well—The Abbey, &c., granted to Sir W. Kingston—His descendants—Mrs. C. Riches (Boevey), supposed to be Sir R. de Coverley’s “perverse widow;” her benevolent life, and death in 1726—Nature and cessation of the Flaxley iron-works—Erection of the present church in 1856

CHAPTER XII.

192

The Forest roads and railways—Vestiges of some very ancient roads, apparently Roman—The old “crooked, winding, and cross ways,” when no wheeled vehicles were allowed in the Forest—The original road across the Forest, from Gloucester to Monmouth—Roads, first improvement in 1761—Road Act of 1795 carried into effect—Mitcheldean a post town—Roads further improved in 1828 and 1841—their present state and extent—The tramroads and railways of the Forest

CHAPTER XIII.

199

The deer of the Forest, and its timber, plants, birds, ferns, and early allusions to the Forest deer—The Court of Swainmote, by which they were preserved—Act of 1668 regarding them—Reports of the Chief Forester in Fee and Bowbearer, and Verderers, in 1788, respecting the deer—Mr. Machen’s memoranda on the same subject—Their removal in 1849—The birds of the Forest—Unforestlike aspect of the Forest, now, compared with its former condition—Successive reductions of its timber—Its oldest existing trees described—Present appearance of the young woods—Table of the Timber Stock, from time to time, during the last 200 years—An account of the rarer plants and ferns

CHAPTER XIV.

212

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

CHAPTER XV.

230

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 documents 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

CHAPTER XVI.

243

The Geology of the Forest and its Minerals—Their character in general—Description of the beds of conglomerate, mountain limestone, iron veins, millstone grit, and lower coal measures—“The Coleford High Delf”—Elevation of the Forest range of hills—The middle coal veins—The upper veins—Mr. Mushet’s analysis of the Forest coal—Their fossils—The stone-quarries of the district

Appendix

255