54 



SOME ACCOUNT OF BRINGEWOOD FORGE AND 

 FURNACE. 



By Db. bull. 



t " Next add the sylvan shades and silent groves 



(Haunt of the Druids) whence the earth is fed 

 With copious fuel. .... 



Why should Chalybes or Bilboa boast 



Thoir harden'd iron, when our mines produce 



As perfect martial ore ?'' — Philips Cider. 



Book I. on flu Oaks of Herefordshire. 



There seems to be no record of the first establishment of Bringewood 

 Forge. It is known to have been in existence in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 

 and certainly it may have been much earher, Lnasmuch as the ii-on ore of the Clee 

 Hill had been known and Vforked for centuries, and doubless the fine slopes of 

 Bringewood Chase had been covered with' timber'from' time immemorial. 



The information about the Forge, now laid before you, has been'^obtained 

 from private sources and some little research. It may, perhaps, be best arranged 

 under its several dates. 



1584. — In this year a lease of Brindgewood forge''and farm was granted 

 by Lord Craven to Francis "Walker. It must therefore have been in existence 

 for some time before. 



1604. — Sir Robert Harley was made Forester of Brindgwood alias Bornig- 

 wood Forest and custodian of Prestwood Chase, and its general management 

 remained in the hands of the Harley family for many years. 



1C23. —The rent paid by Francis Walker to Lord Craven was'now £G6. ISs. 4d. 

 per annum for the forge, and £170. 19s. for the land. 



1G63. — Sir Edward Harley, K. B. , 'and.Samuel Baldwin, of .the Inner Temple, 

 Esq., agreed with "William, Lord Craven, for a lease for 21 years of the forge and 

 furnace of Bringwood, and of the several lands theretofore let to Francis Walker, 

 and they afterwards relinquished the agreement in favour of the said Francis 

 Walker, to whom a lease was granted, and who afterwards assigned the term to 

 his son Kichard Walker. 



1684. — Another lease was granted by Lord Craven to Jacob Walker, and 

 probably for the same period of twenty-one years. 



1090.— WUliam Earl of Craven granted a new lease (sixteen years of the 

 old one being unexpired) of all that ironwork, consisting of a forge and furnace, 

 and other things thereunto belonging, to Jacob Walker, of Wooton, and aU houses 

 anciently engaged with the ironworks before the inclosing of the Forest and Chase 



