Iron Making in the Olden Times Part 1

Iron Making in the Olden Times.

by H. G. Nicholls.

PREFACE.

The remarkable revival and development that has recently taken place in the Iron Works of the Forest of Dean, and the consequent improvement which has accrued to the district, proves conclusively that its condition and prospects are largely dependent upon such manufacture. Impressed with this fact, it has occurred to the Author that a more particular account of them than has been given in his former work on the Forest might prove interesting to the numerous individuals with whom they are connected.

For several years past this subject has been upon his mind, during which time he has fully availed himself of the contents of the Forestal Archives belonging to the Middle Ages, and appropriated all the information, as he believes, which the neighbourhood itself affords.

He respectfully submits the produce to the perusal of those gentlemen and friends who may favour these pages with their attention.

In coming before them for the third time, he cannot retire from so interesting a neighbourhood without requesting them to consider this as his final mark of appreciation and grat.i.tude for the invariable kindness they have so long shown him.

H. G. N.

_April_, 1866.

THE OLD "BLACK COUNTRY"

OF GLOUCESTERs.h.i.+RE; OR, AN HISTORICAL RELATION OF THE MINING AND MAKING OF IRON IN THE FOREST OF DEAN, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES.

If there be one circ.u.mstance more than another that has conferred celebrity on the Forest of Dean, it is _the remote origin_, _perpetuation_, _and invariably high repute of its iron works_. Uniting these characteristics in one, it probably surpa.s.ses every other spot in Great Britain.

In the author's former "historical account" of this neighbourhood, he gave all the information he had then collected relative to the mining and making of iron therein. Since that time, he has greatly extended his investigations, especially {1} amongst the records of the Court of Exchequer. The result is, that he believes he is now enabled to present to the public the most complete description that has yet appeared of the manufacture of iron during the Middle Ages, detailing, in the first place, all the particulars he has gathered of the operations of the primitive miner, or iron worker, and proceeding, in chronological order, to the present time.

In the year 1780, wrote Mr. Wyrrall, in his valuable MS. on the ancient iron works of the Forest:--

"There are, deep in the earth, vast caverns scooped out by men's hands, and large as the aisles of churches; and on its surface are extensive labyrinths worked among the rocks, and now long since overgrown with woods, which whosoever traces them must see with astonishment, and incline to think them to have been the work of armies rather than of private labourers. They certainly were the toil of many centuries, and this perhaps before they thought of searching in the bowels of the earth for their ore--whither, however, they at length naturally pursued the veins, as they found them to be exhausted near the surface."

Such were the remains, as they existed in his day, of the original iron mines of this locality; and, except where modern operations have obliterated them, such they continue to the present time.

The fact of their presenting no trace of engineering skill, or of the use of any kind of machinery, is conclusive of their remote antiquity. Nor are there any traces of gunpowder having been employed in them; but this, Mr. John Taylor says, was not resorted to for such purposes earlier than 1620, when some German miners, brought over by Prince Rupert, used it at Ecton, in Staffords.h.i.+re.

It is the unanimous opinion of the neighbourhood that these caves owe their origin to the predecessors of that peculiar order of operatives known as "the free miners of the Forest of Dean;" a view which the authentic history of the district confirms.

They have the appearance either of s.p.a.cious caves, as above Lydney and on the Doward Hill, or of deep stone quarries, as at the Scowles, near Bream. Or they consist of precipitous and irregularly shaped pa.s.sages, left by the removal of the ore or mineral earth wherever it was found, and which was followed down, in some instances, for many hundreds of yards.

[Picture: Ancient Mine Work near Bream]

Openings were made to the surface according as the course of the mine-ore permitted, being softer to work than the limestone rock that contained it, thus securing efficient ventilation. Hence, although they have been so long deserted, the air in them is perfectly good. They are also quite dry--owing, probably, to their being drained by the new workings adjacent to them, and descending to a far greater depth.

In the first place, they were excavated as far down, no doubt, as the water permitted; that is, to a vertical depth of about 100 yards, or, in dry seasons, even lower, as may be seen by the watermarks left in some of them. Of these deeper workings, one of the most extensive occurs on the Lining Wood Hill, above Mitcheldean, and is well worth exploring. They are met with, however, on most sides of the Forest--in fact, wherever the ore crops out, giving the name of "meand," or mine, to such places.

Generally speaking, those spots where the ore lay exposed to view, would be apt to secure the notice of the earlier miners, and become the site of their more ancient workings. Not until they were pretty nearly exhausted would the severer labour involved in the lower diggings be resorted to.

The shallower but more capacious mine holes appear with greater frequency on the south and west sides of the Forest, where, too, they were nearer to the water carriage of the Severn and the Wye. In most instances they are locally termed "scowles," a corruption, perhaps, of the British word "crowll," meaning cave. Occasionally they are found adorned with beautiful incrustations of the purest white, formed by springs of carbonate of lime, originating in the rocky walls of limestone around.

Sometimes, after proceeding for a considerable distance closely confined in height and width, they suddenly open out into s.p.a.cious vaults, fifteen feet each way, the site, probably, of some valuable "pocket" or "churn"

of ore; and then again, where the supply was less abundant, narrowing into a width hardly sufficient to admit the human body. Now and then, the pa.s.sage divides and unites again, or abruptly stops, turning off at a sharp angle, or, changing its level, shows rude steps cut in the rock, by which the old miners ascended or descended.

[Picture: Ancient Miners' Ladder]

In some of these places, ladders, made out of hewn oak planks, with holes chopped through them for the feet, have been discovered. Mattocks, such as masons use, have likewise been met with, as well as oak shovels for collecting the ore. Shoe prints, and even shoe-leathers have also been found, although the latter are supposed to have been seldom used, judging from the more frequent occurrence of naked foot marks. Long immersion in the chalybeate water of the mine has blackened the oak, and corroded the iron; nevertheless, these relics are surprisingly perfect. The new road over the Plump Hill exposed in its formation, in 1841, an ancient mine hole, in which was found a heap of half-consumed embers, and the skull of what appeared, from its tusks, to be that of a wild boar; the remains, perhaps, of a feast given by our Forest ancestors. Similar vestiges have been met with in other spots.

[Picture: Sole and Upper Leather of an old Shoe]

[Picture: Oaken Shovel]

[Picture: Iron Mattock head]

The earliest historical allusions to these underground works is made by Camden, who records that a gigantic skeleton was found in a cave on the Great Doward Hill, now called "King Arthur's Hall," being evidently the entrance to an ancient iron mine. The next refers to the period of the great rebellion, when the terrified inhabitants of the district are said to have fled to them for safety, when pursued by the troops with which the Forest was infested.

[Picture: King Arthur's Hall on the Great Doward]

But, whilst no previous mention of these caverns is to be found, nor dates anywhere inscribed on their rocky walls, a clue, as to when and by whom they were first wrought, is given in connection with their metallic products, that abound near them in the state of iron cinders. Thus it is recorded by Mr. Wyrrall, in his MS. description of this subject, that--

"Coins, fibulae, and other things, known to be in use with the Romans, have been frequently found in the beds of cinders at certain places. This has occurred particularly at the village of Whitchurch, between Ross and Monmouth, where large stacks of cinders have been found, some of them eight or ten feet under the surface, and demonstrating, without other proof, that they must have lain there for a great number of ages. The writer had opportunities of seeing many of these coins and fibulae, &c., which have been picked up by the workmen in getting the cinders, in his time; but especially one coin of Trajan, which he remembers was surprisingly perfect, considering the length of time it must have been in the ground.

Another instance occurs to his recollection of a little image of bra.s.s, about four inches long, which was then found in the cinders in the same place, being a very elegant female figure in a dancing att.i.tude, and evidently antique by the drapery."

Numerous other Roman vestiges, on every side of the Forest, may be adverted to. No great distance from Whitchurch, and immediately adjoining this neighbourhood on the north, is the site of Ariconium, marked by numerous traces of the hardware manufacture of that people.

Near Lydney and Tidenham, discoveries of Roman relics have been extensively made. At Lydbrook, and on the Coppet Wood Hill, at Perry Grove, and Crabtree Hill, all within or near the Forest--the last being situated in the middle of it--many coins of Philip, Gallienus, Victorinus, and of Claudius Gothicus, have been brought to light. We possess indisputable testimony, from Mr. Lower's researches in the old iron-making parts of Suss.e.x, that the Romans there carried on metallurgical operations at an early period, and we may claim a like antiquity for our Dean Forest workings. An examination of the cinder-heaps that still occur, especially in the precincts of the mines already described, reveals, beyond doubt, the antecedents of the mineral operations of the neighbourhood.

Considering the _extent_ of the excavations from whence these metallic relics were procured, it is not surprising that these mounds of slag continue to be constantly met with. Two hundred years ago, they were of course much more abundant, having formed since that period a large part of the supply to the iron furnaces of this district. They are yet numerous enough to catch the eye wherever the observer may direct his steps, either along the retired lane, or in the secluded valley. The fields and orchards, gardens and precincts of the Forest villages, are nearly sure to contain them. Two localities, viz. Cinderford and Cinderhill, no doubt derive their names from them. In some places they have proved so abundant as to have enhanced the value of the land containing them. They even occur on elevated spots, exposed to every wind, and remote from human habitations. Nor is their existence to be limited to the Forest, or even to the Gloucesters.h.i.+re side of the Wye, since the Rev. T. W. Webb states--

"In many parts of the district of Irchinfield, in Herefords.h.i.+re, cinders are found in the road, or dispersed in the fields; and in many places heaps of them have been discovered. I would particularly specify the parishes of Tretire with Michaelchurch, Peterstow, great heaps at St. Weonards, and Llangarren. In the last century, enormous heaps were found at considerable depth in 'the Brook End,' a street of Ross. Near Rudhall, the roads were repaired with them."

Their _character_ is peculiar, exhibiting by no means complete fusion, but rather semi-vitrifaction by roasting; the ore retaining, not unfrequently, a large measure of its original weight and form, explained, as Dr. Percy kindly informs me, by charcoal being the fuel employed, and not necessarily arising from want of skill in the operatives. They are said to vary in richness according as they belong to an earlier or later period--so much so, that some persons have ventured, on this data, to specify their respective ages; but other causes may have produced this difference. They exhibit, however, some slight variation of character, indicative, it may be--for so Mr. Wyrrall considered--of relative age, according as they are found to have left in them less or more of the metallic element.

It is impossible to mistake them for common cinders; nor do they resemble the slag of the modern smelting furnace. In fact, they are _sui generis_, and can only be met with where the manufacture of iron was anciently carried on.

Though the constant occurrence of wood embers with the old cinders is conclusive proof that charcoal was the fuel invariably used, yet how it was employed can hardly be determined with exactness, except from what is known of the elementary plans in early use amongst other people, the Egyptians, for instance, the natives of Central Africa, or the iron-workers of Madagascar. A strong draught must necessarily have been made to pa.s.s through the ignited fuel, either by placing the furnace so as to take the wind, or by forming it on the principle of the modern wind furnace. Or the required blast might have been created by means of wooden cylinders, or leathern bags, alternately compressed by the hands or feet. Water-power was rarely, if ever, resorted to at this remote date, since cinders are seldom found near brooks or streams.

In common with everything else relating to the manufactures of the kingdom, Domesday Book is silent respecting the mines, iron works, and miners of the Forest. Adverting, however, to this otherwise invaluable return, we learn from it that Edward the Confessor was accustomed to demand from the citizens of Gloucester, "thirty-six dicres of iron, and a hundred elongated iron rods for bolts for the king's s.h.i.+ps,"--(x.x.xvi.

dicras ferri & c. virgas ferreas ductiles ad clavos navium Regis). The nearest, and indeed, the only locality, within a distance of many miles, from whence the forgemen of Gloucester could have obtained their iron, was this neighbourhood. Hence the metal they used came from the Forest.

Less than a hundred years later, and all doubt on this point is removed by a notification in the Great Rolls of the Pipe, that 16s. worth of iron was sent, in 1158, to Wudestock (Woodstock) by the king's order, besides 8s. worth more for repairs at his palace. An observation of Geraldus, describing the tour he made through Wales in 1188, speaks of the "n.o.ble Forest of Dean, by which Gloucester was amply supplied with iron and venison." {11a}

The first charter granted to the Abbey of Flaxley, by Henry II., whilst Duke of Normandy, and therefore previous to 1154, in which year he came to the throne, specifies an iron work at Edlaud, now Elton, near Westbury, on the eastern side of the Forest. {11b} His second charter, when king, is more explicit, and describes "an iron forge, free and quit, with as free liberty to work as any of his forges in demesne," showing that he possessed several. The allowance of two oaks per week, wherewith the monks might feed their forge, although not mentioned until 42 Henry III. (1258), when they were commuted for the tract of land yet called the Abbot's Woods, were granted most likely at this period, and afford some data for determining the capacity of the Flaxley works.

At the commencement of his reign (1216), Henry III. commanded "John de Monmouth to cause Richard de Eston to have his forge working in the Forest of Dean, at Staunton, according to the Charter of Henry II." {12a}

In the same year, "the Constable of St. Briavell is ordered to remove, without delay, all forges from the Forest of Dean, except the King's demesne forges, which belong to the Castle of St. Briavell, and ought to be sustained with trunks and old trees wherever they are found in the demesnes in the Forest--excepting two forges belonging to Ralph Avenell, concerning which he has the charter of King John, and excepting four 'Blissahiis;' Will. de Dene, & Robert de Alba Mara, & Will. de Abbenhale, & Thomas de Blakencia, and excepting the forges of our servants of St.

Briavells, which ought to be sustained with dry and dead wood." {12b}

Under date 4 Henry III. (1220), "John de Monmouth is commanded not to permit any forge to work, either with green or dry wood, in the Forest of Dean, besides the demesne forges; and to let all those know who have had forges, and who claim to have them by charter or letters patent of our (the king's) ancestors, or our special precepts, that they are to come without delay before H. de Burg, our justiciary, and our counsel, with those letters and charters, that it may be known who may have forges and who may not." {13a}