55 



of Brindgewood, and also the liberty to get ironstone and limestone in the chase 

 of Bringewood, else Prestwood and Rushton hath anciently been used. Lease for 

 21 years, at the rent of £G0. From some cause or other this lease came to an end 

 in eight years. 



The ironstone alluded to in this lease most probably means the spherical 

 balls of ironstone found in the Shale at Burrington, the size of cannon-balls. Mr. 

 Kichard Knight at a later period smelted them, but it did not answer, the amount 

 of metal obtained was found to be too small to pay the expenses. 



1098. — In this year Richard Knight took a lease of the property from Lord 

 Craven for twenty-one years, and from this period the iron from the forge and 

 furnace of Bringewood rose rapidly in repute. Richard Knight was a man of great 

 energy and practical abiUty. He had been connected for many years with the 

 works atCoalbrooke Dale, Morton Corbet, and some others, and thoroughly under- 

 stood the manufacture of iron. He must, too, have possessed considerable skill 

 as an engineer, since he is said to have first suggested the air chimney for ven- 

 tilating the works at Coalbrooke Dale. "With experience well matured, for he was 

 forty years old when he took Bringewood Forge, he saw at a glance the great 

 advantage of such an abundant supply of fuel in such close vicinity of the ore, 

 and threw aU his energy into the works. He at once introduced aU the most 

 recent improvements, the roUing and splitting mill of Brindley, the blowing 

 cylinder, and iron helves. So little known then were these improvements, that 

 tradition gives him the credit of inventing them, and it is quite possible that he 

 may have adopted them with some special modifications of his own. 



1723. — In this year Mr. Richard Knight bought from Lord Craven the JIanor 



of Leintwardine, the Chase of Bringewood, and the Forest of Mochtree, a property 



consisting of several thousands of acres. 



In an old pamphlet showing the quantity of iron produced by all the Forges 



in England about 1714, Brindgewood is said to have formerly produced 350 tons 



yearly, but at that time only 300 tons. 



A private paper gives the charges of bringing charcoles to Biindgewood Forges 



and Furnaces from X-mas 1714 tiU Lady-day 1719 : Doz. sacks weighed 4,517, 



and cost £7,504. 14s. 4d. ; and another memorandum presents an inventory of 



stock taken at Brindgewood Forges, 1733 — 



£ 3. d. 



Stock of iron in pig castings 804 19 6 



Bar Iron 1452 19 6 



Charcole 792 9 9 



Iron stone 292 9 9 



Old stock, including hammer, beams, timber, Ac 216 7 10 



Old iron at £14 per ton 29 4 6 



Pd. wood cording and cutting . . . 210 9 4 



Do. on mining 354 1 



Iron carriers 36 1 6 



CoUiers and carriers 187 10 2 



Debts 3816 13 



£8,253 5 10 

 This inventory appears to have been made when Mr. Knight let the Bring- 

 wood Forge to his two sons Edward and Ralph. Edward at this time had also 



