The Forest of Dean: An Historical and Descriptive Account Part 4

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 9200 feet of timber to the Gloucester Infirmary.

Reverting to the general condition and management of the Forest, an important commission was issued this year, 1692, to the Crown officers and some of the neighbouring gentry, directing them to examine and inquire into the six following particulars:--I. The quant.i.ty of coppicewood fit for being cut from year to year for twenty-one years to come--II. The annual charge for the next twenty-one years of maintaining the enclosures--III. What the cost would be of disenclosing certain coal-pits, with which some of the plantations were enc.u.mbered--IV. What the salaries of the Crown officers of the Forest amounted to, and the cost of making such repairs as the buildings they occupied required--V.

As to the way in which the timber fellings of 1688 had been disposed of, with the state of the enclosures, if those who had charge of them had duly protected them from injury--and VI. How far trespa.s.s and pounding had been enforced, or unlawful building permitted.

These were all very important questions, and under the first head, as to wood fit to be cut for cording, &c., the commissioners report, that "there are great and valuable quant.i.ties of scrubbed beech and birch, with some holly, hazel, and orle, fit to be cut and disposed of, being 192,000 cords, worth at 4s. 10d., amounting to 46,488 pounds, of which 12,000 cords might be cut every year, worth 2,900 pounds. Or, as the total quant.i.ty of such wood was 615,500 cords, their worth at 4s. 10d.

was 148,745 pounds 16s. 8d., to which 60,000 pounds may safely be added for future clearings if a twenty-one years' lease be granted. 100 pounds a year would suffice to keep the enclosures in repair." The commissioners, in contemplating the expediency of making a grant adapted to the requirements of iron-making, supposing the King's furnaces to be restored, considered that it "would utterly destroy the Forest, now the best nursery for a navy in the world;" since the party obtaining such a lease would be sure to consider their own advantage rather than the preservation of the district. They also urged that a grant like that intimated was opposed to the intentions of the Act of 20th Charles II., as also to the previous decisions of 1662 and 1674, and would cause much dissatisfaction amongst the freeholders of the Forest, who were prepared to pet.i.tion against it. The commissioners recommended that "the making of the fellets, if put in execution, should certainly be intrusted to the present officers, who had given sufficient testimony of their care in such matters." Their report adds that "the Lea Bayly is now a spring of oak and beech of four, five, and six years' growth, but much cropped and spoiled by cattle, by reason the enclosures made for the preservation thereof have in the night been several times pulled down and destroyed by persons unknown." The other places mentioned in the Act of 1668, called "Cannop Fellet, Buckholt, Beachenhurst, and Moyey Stock," are described as "generally very well grown with oak and beech of fifty, forty, and thirty years' growth, and under, many thousand of them being forty foot and upwards, without a bough to hurt them." They further state, that some of the enclosure fences, especially those on the north-east side of the Forest, would cost 137 pounds 10s. to repair, and 30 pounds a year afterwards, perhaps, to keep them good, the other parts formerly enclosed not needing reparation, the trees being grown up past danger from deer or cattle, "unless in case of some accident, or pulling down by the rabble, as hath been sometimes done." Viewing the places where the last fellets for cordwood were made in 1690, the commissioners state that "a very great stock has been left upon the ground for timber, and all imaginable care taken by the officers employed in making the said fellets, and preserving all the stores and saplings, with the princ.i.p.al shoots of such beech as grow upon old stools well sheltered by other woods, for the improvement thereof." With reference to the expediency of throwing open such of the enclosures as contained coal-pits, we learn that no inconvenience was felt on that account, as "not more than six pits had ever been so situated, and now not one, those plantations having grown up, and their fences down." The sum total of salaries paid to the conservators and six keepers was 210 pounds per annum, arising from wood sales. Various repairs are stated to have been necessary. The Castle of St. Briavel's, it is said, "hath been a very great and ancient building, but the greatest part is ruined and fallen down, and only some part kept up for a place to hold the courts in for the King's manor and hundred thereof, and also for a prison for debtors attached by process out of the said courts, and for offenders and trespa.s.sers within the Forest. The same is very necessary to be repaired; and for mending the roof and tyling, and in glazing, plaistering, repairing the prison windows, and building a new pound, &c., will cost the sum of 10 pounds 14s. 2d. The cost of rebuilding Worcester and York Lodges, pulled down by the rioters in 1688, and repairing the Speech House, which was likewise much injured at that time, will be, they calculate, 219 pounds 10s."

As to injury done to the woods, the following presentments amongst many others made by the keepers were instanced:--"John Simons of Blackney, for cutting green orle wood. Edward Revoke and James Drew of Little Dean, for cutting and carrying away a young oak. The same Edward Revoke, for building some part of his house with wood out of the said Forest."

Respecting these depredations the commissioners recommend that, in consideration of the colliers having, time out of mind, had an allowance of wood, but not timber for the support of their pits, but which has been stopped for some time, it may be again allowed to them by order of the verderers, and taken by view of a woodward or keeper. The Attachment and Swainmote Courts are stated to have been "duly kept, although ineffectually to the preservation of the Forest, as they can only convict, but cannot punish; and that the trespa.s.s-money paid into the said courts in this reign does not exceed 5s., the only remedy being in having a justice seat held for the purpose once a year, for six or seven years." The report is signed by Wm. Cooke, Re Pynder, Wm. Boevey, J.

Viney, Jo. Kyrle, Phil. Ryley.

The _ninth_ Mine Law Court was held on the 25th of April, 1694, at Clearwell, before John Higford and George Bond, Esqrs.

It confirmed the punishment already awarded against "the abominable sin of perjury," to prevent which it directs that "no person shall be permitted to sweare in his own cause unless it be for a matter transacted underground, or where it was difficult to have any witnesses;" nor shall any bargain be binding unless it be proved by two witnesses.

All causes of debt or damage amounting to 40s. were to be heard on both sides as in other courts, the verdict being given by a jury of twelve miners; but in lesser causes by the Constable of the Court.

Provision was also made that "every defendant have twenty-four hours'

notice to provide for his defence," every witness being allowed 12p.

a-day, the fees of the Court remaining the same as before, all which, as well as the defendant's time, the plaintiff losing the cause, or being non-suited, had to pay. This "Order" also reduces the price of ore for Ireland from 8s. to 5s. a dozen bushels, pitched at Brockwere, or if at Wye's Green for 4s. ditto; fire-cole at 8s. a dozen bushels; smith's-cole, 6s., and charking at 8s., "without handing, thrusting, kicking, or knocking the same," under the usual penalty. Eighteen miners out of the jury of forty-eight signed their names themselves "to this Order," the remaining thirty only making their marks.

The earliest particular recorded in the next century bears date 1701, on the 27th January, in which year the _tenth_ Miners' Court of forty-eight sat at Clearwell, before Serjeant Powlett and George Bond, Esq., deputies to Charles Earl of Berkeley.

Its proceedings were as follows:--Certain temporary orders, dated the 12th March, 1699, and 11th November, 1700, regulating the loading of horses and carts, forbidding any coal to be sent off by the river Wye below Welch-Bicknor, authorizing the raising of money for paying the costs of the miners' debts in law, securing the Records of their Court, and making the present deputy constable of St. Briavel's Castle a free miner, were confirmed and made perpetual. Mention is also made for the first time of "the utmost seventy" being the greatest number ever comprised in the miners' jury. The order further directs that the Records of Mine-law, used at the hearing of the suit in the Exchequer, be recorded, and put into a chest, to be left in the custody of Francis Wyndham, Esq., whom the court had made a free miner, and that in paying any of the costs incurred in that cause a legal discharge be taken. Now the ton of 21 cwt. was fixed as a weight of coal, to be sold for 5s. to an inhabitant of the hundred, or for 6s. to foreigners; and every pit was to be provided with scales. Upwards of twenty of the forty-eight miners who formed the jury at this court put their names to the above verdict, the remainder being marksmen.

In the year 1705, Edward Wilc.o.x, Esq., Surveyor-General to the Royal Forests, having carefully examined the condition of the woods in the Forest of Dean, stated that he found them very full of young trees, of which two thirds were beech, overtopping the oaks, to their injury; and he recommended that one sixteenth part, or about 700 acres, should be annually cleared and fenced in, which would yield a profit to the Crown of 3,500 pounds a year, and leave the standard oaks and beech to grow to perfection. Lord Treasurer G.o.dolphin consented to this proposal, and granted a warrant for carrying it into execution; but it was pet.i.tioned against by those who claimed a right of common, whose free-pasturage would thereby be lessened; at the same time, however, others were desirous that it might take effect, as they would get a living by cutting the underwood, and preparing it for the furnaces. At length on the 4th of July, 1707, the Attorney-General, Sir Simon Harcourt, decided--that "no claim or right of common could prevent the enclosing, keeping in severalty, or improving, as her Majesty should direct, the 11,000 acres mentioned in the Act of 20 Charles II., and preserving the same as a nursery of wood and timber only."

Another event of this year was the holding a Court of Mine Law, on the 1st of July, at Mitcheldean, but afterwards by adjournment at Coleford, before George Bond and Roynon Jones, Esqrs., deputies.

It confirmed the directions of a former court of forty-eight, that the law-papers produced at the late suit in the Court of Exchequer, with all the other records of the Mine Law Court, be collected forthwith, and consigned to the care of Francis Wyndham, Esq.; and that the law debts then incurred be at length paid, out of a 1s. rate upon every miner and mine-horse. The 20s. penalty for leaving pits unfenced was also reimposed. This "Order" bears the genuine signatures of nineteen out of the forty-eight jurymen, the rest merely making their marks.

In the next year, A.D. 1708, Mr. Wilc.o.x, the Surveyor-General, represented to Lord G.o.dolphin that the inhabitants of the neighbourhood had been stripping some of the trees of their bark, whereupon those trees, with any others not likely to be of any use to the navy, were ordered to be cut down and used for gates, stiles, and fences, or sold for the benefit of the Crown. Three years later a similar charge was preferred against certain colliers for cutting trees and wood, but we do not find that it came to anything.

Sir Robert Atkyns, to whom this Forest was well known, describes its condition at this time, as "containing only six houses, which are the lodges for so many keepers. There had been many cottages erected, but they had been lately pulled down;" not that there were literally no other dwellings in it, for the ancient "a.s.sarted" lands were probably so occupied, but the mining population lived for the most part in the surrounding villages. Speaking of the different Forest courts, he says--"the Swainmote Court is to preserve the vert and venison, and is kept at the Speech-house, which is a large strong house, newly built in the middle of the Forest for that purpose. There is another court called the Miners' Court, which is directed by a steward appointed by the constable of the Forest, and by juries of miners, returned to judge between miner and miner, who have their particular laws and customs, to prevent their encroaching upon one another, and to encourage them to go on quietly in their labour in digging after coals and iron-ore, with which this Forest doth abound." The room in which most of these courts were held retains its original character, only it has been floored with wood, and is no longer divided by rails into compartments for the jury and the accused. Stains of human blood once marked the ceiling over the north-east corner of the apartment, said to have dropped down from the room above, where an unfortunate poacher, who had been much injured by a gun, was confined. It is a.s.serted that for many years no water could remove nor whitewash hide the unsightly marks.

[Picture: Court Room in "the Speech House."]

In the Commissioners' Report of 1788 it is said that about this time (1712) the Forest was probably in its best state, although its courts had not been so regularly held since the Revolution as before, yet that the greatest attention had been given to it by the different authorities under the Crown. And as the commissioners deplore the unfavourable change which had subsequently taken place, we may contrast the state into which the Forest had then fallen, with its present condition, so much more hopeful and lucrative than it had been at that the brightest period of its past history. There are no public doc.u.ments relating to this Forest to be met with for many years from this time; indeed it is hardly ever mentioned in the book of the Surveyor-General of the Crown lands, which only contained warrants for felling timber for the navy or for sale. The produce was for the most part directed to be applied to the repairing of lodges, roads, or fences, or the payment of salaries to officers, or fee-gifts from the Crown. The proceedings of the Court of the Miners, on the contrary, remain recorded, and serve to fill up the interval. They show that one was held at the Speech-house on the 7th of January, 1717, before Richard Machen and William James, Esqrs., deputies.

By it a 6d. levy was made on every miner, and on every working horse, towards meeting any law expenses which the Society of Miners might incur in defending their rights; and should more money be required, authorizing a jury of only twelve miners, with the consent of the two deputy-constables, to order the paying of the same. It further imposed a fine of upwards of 30 pounds on any miner who should sue another respecting any matter relating to the mine in any other court. It also const.i.tuted the Honourable Matthew Ducie Morton, Thomas Gage, John Wyndham, Richard Machen, William James, and Christopher Bond, Esqrs., free miners, "out of the due and great respect, honour, and esteem borne towards them." We need not call in question the truthfulness of such protestations; but doubtless, had these worthy miners perceived the inconsistency of such admissions, they would not have so readily dispensed with the ancient regulation which restricted the fellows.h.i.+p of the mine to those who had worked therein. They were well intended at the time, but long afterwards weakened in a legal point of view the free miners' rights. This "Order" exhibits only eleven original signatures, the thirty-seven other jurymen making their marks.

Only two years intervened between the holding of the Court just mentioned, and the one which followed it, held at the Speech House, on 10th November, 1719, before Richard Machen and William James, Esqrs., Deputies.

On this occasion certain previous orders were cancelled, and in their stead it was determined that no one living out of the Hundred of St.

Briavel's should convey any coal out of the Forest unless he belonged to the Forest division of the county, and carried for his own private use. A penalty of 5 pounds was imposed upon any person under twenty-one years of age carrying ore or coal. All traffic in coal, either up or down the Wye, was to stop at Welch Bicknor, between which and Monmouth Bridge no coal was to be pitched. At Monmouth, fire-coal was to be sold at 9s. the dozen bushels; smith's-coal at 8s.; and lime-coal at 5s. 6d. Above Lydbrook, on the Wye, fire-coal was to be sold at 8s. a ton, or the dozen barrels; smith's-coal at 6s.; and lime-coal at 3s. One free miner was not to sell any fire-coal to another under 5s. per ton of 21 cwt. Roynon Jones and Edmund Probyn, Esqrs., were made free miners. Lastly, any former orders in private hands, together with all writings relating to the Free-miners' Court, were to be delivered to William James, Esq., to be kept in the said miners' chest, at the Speech-house. Perhaps this direction was, with few exceptions, complied with, not, it would seem, in every case, as several of those alluded to in the existing orders of the forty-eight cannot be found. Nineteen signatures made by the parties themselves occur at the end of this Order; the rest are only marks.

Nine years pa.s.sed away before another full Mine Law Court is recorded.

This was on the 12th November, 1728, by adjournment, at the Speech House, before Maynard Colchester, Esq., and William James, Gent.

The following gentlemen were made free miners:--Thomas Wyndham, of Clearwell; Maynard Colchester, of Westbury; William Hall Gage, son and heir to Lord Viscount Gage; William Jones, of Na.s.s, Esqrs.; William Jones, of Soylewell, Gent.; Robert James, of the same place, Gent.; Thomas Wyndham the younger, of Clearwell, Gent.; Thomas Pyrke the younger, of Little Dean, Gent.; and William Lane, Deputy Clerk.

A forfeit of 10 pounds was laid upon any miner who had received a "forbidment" from another, if he persisted in carrying on his work in that place. The distance of 300 yards, which, by a former order, made in 1692, protected every pit from interruption, was now enlarged to 500 yards in all levels in all parts of the mines called "beneath the wood," under the same penalty; and further, the giving away of coals was forbidden under a fine of 5 pounds. Twenty-two original signatures appear at the foot of this Order; the other names are merely marked.

The extension of the Forest coal-works, in depth and underground operations, as indicated by the enlargement of the protective distance, effected a corresponding change in the kind of timber required for propping the mine. That is, as the pressure from above increased, owing to the workings being carried deeper, stronger stays and supports were necessary than cordwood or saplings supplied. Nothing less than the stems and main limbs of timber trees would suffice. How the colliers obtained these requisites, the particulars given in the following complaint, made in 1735 by the Surveyor-General, show:--"A practice has prevailed among the colliers of boring large holes in trees that they may become dotard and decayed, and, as such, may be delivered to them gratis for the use of their collieries." The only notice, it cannot be called a remedy, which this evil obtained, was that, for the future, directions were given that "such bored trees as appeared to be dead and spoiled shall be felled, taking care that none be cut down that may be of use to the navy."

It is, however, further stated, that the colliers frequently obtained from the keepers the best trees in the Forest, although their claims merely extended to pit-timber. The existence of so serious an evil proves that many things were going wrong, and we are prepared for the representations made the next year (1736) to the Treasury by Christopher Bond, Esq., Conservator and Supervisor of the Forest. He reported that "after the Act of the 20th Charles II., 11,000 acres had been enclosed; that the officers were duly elected, Forest courts held, and offenders prosecuted and punished, to the successful rearing of a fine crop of wood; but that within the last 30 years these elections had been neglected, the Courts discontinued, and offenders left unpunished; the Officers of Inheritance had grown remiss and negligent, so that some enclosures, and those of only a few acres of the 11,000, were kept up, and these not carefully repaired; a great number of cottages were erected upon the borders of the Forest, the inhabitants whereof lived by rapine and theft; that there were besides many other offences committed, such as intercommuning of foreigners, surcharges of commoners, trespa.s.ses in the fence month and winter haining, and in the enclosures; keeping hogs, sheep, goats, and geese, being uncommonable animals, in the Forest; cutting and burning the nether vert, furze, and fern; gathering and taking away the crabs, acorns, and mast; and other purprestures and offences; carrying away such timber trees as were covertly cut down in the night time; by which practices several hundred fine oaks were yearly destroyed, and the growth of others prevented; and that it was feared that some of the inferior officers of the Forest, finding offenders to go on with impunity, were not only grown negligent, but also connived at, if not partook in, the spoil daily committed."

To remedy this bad state of things, Mr. Bond proposed that a new law should be pa.s.sed, explanatory of the Act of 1668, by enforcing the Forest officers to do their duty, and by superseding the odious, because unlimited and arbitrary, proceedings of the former Chief Justices in Eyre by a jury, and convictions before the verderers at their Swainmote Court, with a power lodged in those officers to fine, under a certain sum, all offenders. The Surveyor-General of the Crown Woods had the above proposal submitted to his consideration, and was directed to attend the Attorney and Solicitor-General, Sir John Willis and Sir Dudley Ryder, to take their opinion thereon, which was, that "the offences were chiefly owing to the neglect of putting the Stat. 20th Charles II. in execution; and they recommended, therefore, that the several vacant offices of the Forest should be filled up, that the Forest Courts should be regularly held, and that the officers should be strictly enjoined to do their duty." It is disappointing to find no evidence that anything was done in consequence of this opinion.

About this time the _fifteenth_ of the series of "Orders" enacted by the Mine Law Court of forty-eight, informs us that it met by adjournment at the Speech House on the 6th of December, 1737, before William Jones, Esq., Deputy Constable of St. Briavel's Castle.

Owing to the injury which it was considered foreigners had done to the free miners by carrying coal out of the Forest for merchandise, it was decided that for the future no such carrying should be allowed except to certain persons named, under a penalty of 5 pounds, or property to that amount, or imprisonment in St. Briavel's Castle for a year, to the perpetrator or any cognizant thereof. From this it seems perfectly plain that the free miner regarded the carrying of coal as much a part of his profession as getting it, and therefore equally requiring protection. The "Order" proceeds to direct that in every suit before the Mine-Law Court the plaintiff and defendant were to pay 6d. to the Clerk for entering the same, which was to form his salary. The rights of free-miners.h.i.+p were conferred upon the Honourable Thomas Gage, Christopher Bond the younger, Esq., Thomas Crawley, Esq., James Rooke, Esq., Thomas James, Gent., Thomas Barron the younger, Gent., Thomas Marshall, Yeoman. John Wade was to be made "free" on his working a year and a day in the mine; and making it a rule that a foreigner's son, being born in the Hundred, and seeking to become a free miner, was to serve by indenture an apprentices.h.i.+p of seven years. The above "Order" has only twenty-three marks attached to it, more than half the jury signing their own names.

Proceeding to the date and objects of the next "Order" of the same Court, we find that it had been adjourned to the 2nd March, 1741, at the Speech House, before Edward Tomkins Machen, Esq., Deputy. It commences by explaining the terms "above" and "beneath the wood" to be two ancient divisions of the Forest, "beginning at the river Wye at Lydbrook, where the brooke there leading from the forges falls into the said river, and so up the said brooke or stream unto a place in the said Forest called Moyery Stock, and from thence along a Wayn-way at the bottom of a place called the Salley Vallett, and so along the same way between the two old enclosures that did belong to Ruardean and Little Dean Walks unto Cannop's Brooke, and down the said brooke to Cannop's Bridge; and from thence along the road or highway to the Speech-house, and from thence along the said highway to Foxe's Bridge, and from thence down Blackpool Brooke to Blakeney."

It is worthy of remark, that the same boundary line, with only a trifling difference, defines the two towns.h.i.+ps of East and West Dean, into which the Forest is now divided for the purposes of the Poor Law Amendment Act.

The connexion of this division with the Court of Mine Law consisted simply in this, that the attendance of a free miner on the jury was regulated by the position of his works and habitation in one or other of them.

A 5 pounds penalty was laid upon all miners who should send or carry any coals to Hereford or Monmouth by the Wye, except lime-coal at "the New Wears," at 4s. a dozen bushels. A similar fine was inflicted on any inhabitant of the Forest division of the county who should "presume" to carry coal otherwise than for their own use; so also no miner was to work more than two pits at one time; nor to carry coal for any person not a free miner; neither to sell fire-coal or stone-coal charks under 7s. a dozen bushels, or 5s. if smith's coal, at Redbrook, which, if refused there, a "forbid" shall be declared until the former coal should be accepted. This "Order"

further enacted that if coal was found in any bargeman's boat, and he refuse to say from whom he had it, a general "forbid" shall be declared that no miner serve him with any more. A free miner is briefly defined to be "such as have lawfully worked at coal a year and a day." A foreigner selling coal at Hereford for less than 13s.

per ton was to be summoned, or abide the consequences of a general "forbid." Should there be at any time more than a sufficiency of coal for the trade on the Wye, the barge-owners were to employ the services of the miners, or be fined according to their wages. A horse-load to the Wye was fixed at 2 cwt. and a quarter for 6d., ten such making a ton, to be weighed, if required, under a forfeit of 2s.

6d. Miners beneath the wood were bound to sell not less than a cwt.

of coal for 4d.; 3 bushels of smith's coal for 5d.; and 1 bushel of lime coal for 1d. at the pit. No team was to be served with less than 2 cwt. nor more than 21 cwt., to be weighed, if desired, or forfeit 5 pounds. This Order const.i.tuted Richard Clarke and Edward Tomkins Machen, Esqrs., free miners, and exhibits at the end the penmans.h.i.+p of only 18 of the jury, all the rest merely making their marks.

We now arrive at the _seventeenth_ or last "Order" issued by the Mine Law Court. It dates 22nd October, 1754, and sat at the Speech House, before Maynard Colchester and Thomas James, Esqrs.

It records the election to free-miners.h.i.+ps of the Right Honble.

George Augustus Lord Dursley, Charles Wyndham of Clearwell, Esq., Rev. Roynon Jones of Monmouth, John Probyn of Newland, Esq., his son Edmund, Maynard Colchester the younger, Esq., Roynon Jones the younger, of Na.s.s, Esq., Kedgwin Webley of London, Gentleman, Kedgwin Hoskins the elder, of Clearwell, Gent., William Probyn the younger, of Newland, Gent., Mr. Kedgwin Hoskins the younger, of Clearwell, Mr.

Edmund Probyn the younger, son of the said William Probyn, Mr. Thomas James the younger, Mr. Thomas Baron the younger, son of Mr. Thomas Baron of Coleford, Herbert Rudhall Westfaling, of Rudhall in Herefords.h.i.+re, Esq., John Clarke, of "The Hill," in Herefords.h.i.+re, Esq., Thomas Foley the elder, of "Stoke Eddy," in the said s.h.i.+re, Esq., Thomas Foley the younger, of the same, Esq., John Symons, of the Mine, in the same county, Esq., Ion Yate, of Arlingham, Esq., William Lane, of "King's Standley," and Barrow Lawrence, of Bruen's Lodge, Gent.

So full a list of persons of position and influence as this Order exhibits, lending their names to the Free Miners' Society, indicates the existence of considerable importance in that body; and yet this was the last Court having forty-eight free miners on the jury whose proceedings have been preserved, the fact being that they failed to agree in their verdicts, and then gentlemen refused to attend, owing, it is said, to the violent quarrels and disputes which arose between foreigners possessed of capital, who now began to be admitted to the works, and the free miners.

It is also reported that the decisions of the court were seldom observed, no Act of Parliament having pa.s.sed to render them valid. The former protective distance between one mine and another was increased from 500 to 1000 yards of any levels, and enforced by a 5 pounds penalty. The order concludes with directing that

"The water-wheel engine at the Orling Green, near Broadmoor, be taken to be a level to all intents and purposes." This machine was evidently the first of its kind erected in the Forest, as was also the steam-engine which superseded it, each manifesting the improvements going on in the method of working the mines. The signatures appended to this final "Order" show twenty-five marksmen, and twenty-three names written by their possessors.

The Benefaction-Boards of the Gloucester Infirmary record, in reference to this period, the following particular:--"A gracious benefaction from his Majesty King George II. of 9,200 feet of rough oak timber from the Forest of Deane."

CHAPTER V.

A.D. 1758-1800.

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.

Reverting to the state of the woods and timber in the Forest, it appears that ere this the old enclosures had been thrown open, the trees planted early in this century having attained to considerable size, and some parts so far cleared as to suggest the formation of new plantations. In 1758 John Pitt, Esq., then Surveyor-General of Woods, &c., proposed to the Treasury that 2,000 acres should be enclosed, which was ordered to be done accordingly; but probably it was executed in part only, since Mr.

Pitt was removed from his office five years afterwards, when a survey of the timber was made, and it was computed that there were 27,302 loads of timber fit for the navy, 16,851 loads of about sixty years' growth, and 20,066 loads dotard and decaying. To this period also belongs the first opening of the old Fire-engine colliery, or Orling Green coal-work, galed to "foreigners," but subsequently conveyed by them at different times in shares to various persons, including the gaveller, by whom the first fire-engine was put up about 1777, a date also memorable as being the one on which the Court of Free Miners wholly ceased to act.