24 History of the English Landed Interest. 



purpose of questioning the former decrees, Tlie case was next 

 referred to tlie decision of the Attorney Greneral, whose ruling 

 was on the whole confirmatory of the former decisions ; but the 

 miners continued to raise objections of a technical nature, such 

 as distinctions drawn between the tithing of cope dishes and 

 that of lot dishes. The struggle was one of giants, for no 

 less than 20,000 miners signed the petitions ; and it is doubtful 

 if their case, mainly based on the legal definition of titheable 

 products, was less strong than the proprietors', who evidenced 

 their claims by many ancient deeds, accounts, leases and other 

 records, extending through a period of history covered by the 

 reigns of Edward II., Edward III., Richard II., Henry VI., 

 Edward IV., Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Edward VI. At 

 length the matter was settled by some sort of a compromise, 

 whereby in 1778 Richard Tillard, vicar of "Wirksworth, agreed 

 to accept as tithe one-fortieth of all ore got within his parish, 

 and reserved to himself the tenth dish on every new freeing.^ 

 Mining rights in the primeval forest are also likely to show 

 Celtic idiosyncrasies, for in all probability their shady depths 

 would have offered another sanctuary for outlawed Britons. 

 Thus there seems to have been in the Forest of Dean somewhat 

 similar rights asserted by the free miners as those claimed in 

 Derbj^'shire and Cornwall. Here, too, the ground had been 

 disturbed at a prehistoric date, and the native iron extracted 

 from the " scowles " by Roman ironfounders. This forest in 

 Anglo-Saxon times eeems to have been one of those uncultivated 

 tracts of country belonging to the Folcland, but over which 

 the sovereign possessed magisterial rights. As we might expect 

 in a district which had already attained considerable import- 

 ance before the days of tribal unity were over, popular rights 

 were more accentuated than in other parts of England brought 



' The tithe due to the vicar in 1769 was £1,000 per annum ; so the 

 matter was worth fighting over. Tithe on the lead still survives, but 

 dwindled down to such small proportions as hardly worth either party's 

 while to become unneighbourly over it. 



This information was obtained from a MS, lent me by Mr. Isaac 

 Sliimwell, barmaster at Longstone, entitled Abstract of a Decree in High 

 Court of Chancery Concerning the Payment of Tithe of Lead Ore in the 

 County of Derby. 



