VOL. XVII. (2) EXCURSION— FOREST OF DEAN 173 



" The manufacture of tinplates in Great Britain was first started by 

 Major Hanbury, at Pontypool, in 1720, and a large number of works were 

 soon opened in Monmouthshire and the neighbouring counties." 



The Redbrook works are among the oldest tinplate works, and date 

 back to about 1824. Previous to that date they were copper works, but 

 on the introduction of steel, charcoal iron was displaced, and part of the 

 works was converted into tinplate mills. Tinplates and sheet iron are 

 produced ; but the chief feature of the works is the exceptionally thin class 

 of tin and black " taggers," which are largely used in Germany for making 

 buttons and tags for shoe-laces, as well as for air-tight tobacco and cigarette 

 tins. The raw material for these works consists of long flat steel bars. These 

 are cut by a machine into more or less square pieces, and then heated and 

 rolled out into large flat plates, and are dealt with in such a way that eventually 

 a great number of very thin plates are derived from what appears to be but 

 one. These are cut to the requisite size and polished by being put through 

 a bright steel roller. Such plates are put on the market as black " taggers." 

 To make a " tinplate " the black tagger is run through a bath of melted tin, and 

 re-emerges from between two closely set rollers a fully-coated tinplate. To 

 rub off any greasy matter that may be adhering, the tinplates are then thrust 

 by hand in and out of mealy material, being finally polished by rubbing 

 by hand. The steel required comes from South Wales, as does the coal ; 

 most of the tin is from Australia, although a little comes from Cornwall. 

 There is a large Tinplate Works at Lydney. 



Mr R. Beaumont Thomas, M.I.Mech.E., in a highly interesting paper 

 on " The Manufacture of Tinplates " (Proc. Inst. Mech. Engineers, Julv, 1906, 

 pp. 499-541) states (p. 501), " The chief use to which tinplates are put to-day 

 is that of casing petroleum, and it is estimated that out of the total exports 

 of 7,099,020 cwts, in 1905, 2,300,000 cwts. were used for this purpose. Other 

 uses to which they are put are the manufacture of dairy utensils and the 

 canning of food, such as beef in America, salmon in Canada and the United 

 States, oysters and lobsters on the American Continent, sardines and peas 

 and other vegetables in France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, pine-apples in 

 Mauritius and Singapore, milk in Switzerland, and many other articles. In 

 addition, it is well known that the introduction of stamping machinery has 

 led to tinplates being more largely used for an increasing variety of purposes, 

 such as the packing of biscuits, cakes, tobacco, sweets, etc. Terne plates 

 are largely used in America for roofing purposes, and in the Manchester 

 district for packing dry goods." 



From Redbrook the drive was continued to Newland, where the famous 

 oak was seen. Five feet from tlie ground it has a girth of 41 feet, and is thus 

 one of the largest trees in the Kingdom. Thence the party went to the little 

 town of Coleford and lunched at the Angel Hotel, after which they drove to 

 St. Briavels. On the way they looked at an old iron-working in the Millstone 

 Grit (a bed which uhderlies the Coal Measures), and also some quarries in 

 the Mountain Limestone, the bottom bed of the Carboniferous system. Here 

 Mr Richardson gave an outline of the geologj' of the district.' [L.R.] 



Reaching St. Briavels, some time was spent in an inspection of its ancient 

 castle, which is perched on the edge of a hill a short distance north of Tintern. 

 Its early history is closely interwoven with that of other fortresses in the 

 near neighbourhood, while its fate in later times differs from that of all its 

 neighbours. Goodrich to the north, and Raglan to the west, are majestic 

 in their ruin ; behind the latter are Grosmont, Skenfrith and Llantilio, forming 

 the celebrated " Trilateral " of Monmouthshire. Chepstow, a few miles 

 south, stands in solitary grandeur, as indeed it has always done ; for its 

 one purpose was to guard the passage of the Wye on the great road from 

 Gloucester to South Wales made by the engineers of the Second Roman 

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