THE ANCIENT INDUSTRIES OF CANNOCK CHASE, 130 
iron. For many centuries the only fuel used for smelting the iron 
ore was charcoal, and so great was the demand for it that piece by 
piece most of the great forests in England were destroyed. The old 
records of the 12th and 13th centuries are full of allusions to iron 
smelting, forges, and charcoal burning in the Forests of Sussex, 
Sherwood, Pickering, and Duffield, and reference is made to charcoal 
burning in Needwood Forest in 1255. During the succeeding 
centuries many actions at law took place against people who cut 
down trees without permission, and the owners seem to have had a 
busy time in protecting their property. These illegal raids upon the 
Forest trees were not difficult to carry out, because the country was 
so thinly settled. It was easy to cut down large quantities of trees 
and convert them into charcoal before the owners were aware of the 
mischief that was going on. Up to 25 years ago the charcoal burners 
still carried on their trade in the neighbourhood of Rugeley. The men 
whose families had been employed in this indnstry for generations 
were called ‘‘colliers.” The remains or marks of the charcoal hearths 
may be seen in many of the valleys on the Chase, where on a level 
place, near the stacks of cordwood, the pile was built and burnt. To 
promote slow combustion and to exclude the air the pile was covered 
with turf. and the process of burning and admitting sufficient air 
towards the close required careful watching. Most of the charcoal 
went to the iron furnaces at Pelsall. A cord of wood measured 8 ft. 
by 4ft. by 4 ft., and the small limbs of trees were preferred, up to 
6in. in diameter. The value of a cord of wood averaged about 8s. 
The ancient method of smelting iron was by means of open hearths 
or ‘“bloomeries,” the blast being supplied by means of bellows 
worked by hand or foot; in this way a small lump of iron, perhaps 
a hundredweight, could be produced by a day’s smelting, leaving as 
much iron in the slag as was got out! There are still remaining on 
Cannock Chase many evidences of this industry, and they are 
not far to seek nor hard to find. Anyone walking from Rugeley 
up the little stream called ‘Rising Brook,’ may see in places 
on either bank great heaps of slag and cinders. So imperfect was 
