J29 THE ANCIENT INDUSTRIES OF CANNOCK CHASE. 
an increasing demand for iron. The needs of the Army, the culti- 
vation of the land, the achievements in road-making, all these must 
have necessitated an increased consumption. Kent, Essex, and the 
Forest of Dean contributed to the supply of the ore, and there are 
traces of Roman iron mines in other parts of the country. The 
great expansion of England, however, did not take place until after 
the Anglo-Saxon, the Danish, and the Norman invasions. During such 
periods of disturbance and terror it was impossible for any great in- 
dustrial growth to take place. And so it was not until after the Nor- 
man invasion that the harassed country was able to settle down toa 
much-needed period of repose. Then it was that swamp and fen, forest 
and moor, were brought under cultivation and made to bring forth 
their harvest to support greater numbers of people, and at the same 
time came a greater demand for iron. The iron industry on Cannock 
Chase seems in early times to have centred in Rugeley—an ancient 
place mentioned in Doomsday Book, which speaks of it as a “‘ consider- 
able clearing in the Forest.” This “ clearing” amounted to about 300 
acres of ploughed land, supporting a population of probably 50 people. 
The reign of King Henry II]. was an eventful one for the place. 
A great and destructive storm wrought fearful havoc in all the 
forests of England in the year 1222, and the King had a careful 
valuation made of all the fallen timber and its worth accounted for, 
and in the list of forests appears that of Canoc. In the same reign 
(1259) Rugeley had increased sufficiently in size and importance for 
the King to grant a Charter for the holding of a weekly market and 
an annual fair. The first mention of the iron trade in Rugeley— 
it may have been and doubtless was in existence many years pre- 
viously —occurs in 1380. In that year a poll tax of ls. per head was 
levied on all persons over 15 years of age in England—the same tax 
which caused the disturbance in the Eastern and Southern Counties, 
known as the Wat Tyler insurrection. The names and occupations 
of all who paid that tax are still preserved, and it is very remarkable 
that of the 153 adults then living in the little town of Rugeley, no 
less than 12 are recorded as having been “Cut lers” or workers in 
