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The ore shews from 15 to 60 per cent. of metallic iron in 
the form of a hydrated peroxide. It was deposited by infiltra- 
tion from above, and very often the excavation of the channel 
and the deposition of the ore went on concurrently—a view in 
which Mr Wethered and I concurred. To enable the ore 
nearest the surface to be raised, the overlying soil is removed, 
and as the deeper deposits become worked the surface subsides, 
or as the Foresters say ‘scowls in ”—hence the term Scowles, 
derived from a British word meaning a hollow. 
Within historic times the men who worked the ore were 
called the King’s miners. They seemed to have been liable to 
military service in part consideration for their tenure of the 
mines; and among other services they rendered they were 
_ employed by Edward III. at the siege and taking of Berwick. 
Mr Fryer suggested that they may have been the originals of 
_ our sappers and miners. Even now miners, born within the 
" hundred of St. Briavels, may qualify themselves to be registered 
_ as free miners by working a year and a day in the mines, which 
entitles them to a free grant of mineral ground from the 
Crown. 
The early history of the working is involved in obscurity, 
but it probably dates as far back as the Celts. 
Thence to St. Briavels Castle, the residence of Mr Hinton, 
by whose kind permission it was inspected. The Rev. W. 
 Tapnell Allen here became our guide. He said there is no 
romantic incident attached to the Castle, and historically its 
_ chief interest is rather connected with the people who have held 
it. There are no records to shew when it was erected, but the 
date is generally fixed at 1131; and Walter Fitz Milo, of 
Gloucester, is believed to have been the builder, and it was 
designed to check the inroads of the Welsh. In later years the 
Constable of the Castle was also Warden of the Forest of 
Dean, and amongst many eminent men who have held the 
: office were the Duke of Bedford, Regent of France, whose 
widow became the wife of Sir Richard Woodville, and the 
mother of the Queen of Edward IV., and Warwick, the King 
maker. In a room formerly used as a prison, and on the splay 
