EOYAL CHASE OF SHIELOT. 43 



£2 65. Id. per annum; and a forge, described as 

 an lerne Smythee, or a smith's place, in Shirlot, 

 rented at £12 8s. Another forge produced £2 13.s. 4:d. 

 per annum ; and the produce of some other mineral, 

 probably coal, was £5 3s. lOd. These large rents 

 for those days show the advance made in turning to 

 account the mineral wealth of the district, and the 

 superior yalue of mines compared with trees, or 

 mere surface produce. 



Wherever powerful streams came down preci- 

 pitous channels, little forges with clanging hammers 

 were heard reverberating through the woods as 

 early as the reigns of the Tudors. Their sites 

 now are — 



" Downy banks damask'd with flowers : " 



but they, reveal the havoc made of the timber by 

 cutting and burning it for charcoal down to the 

 reign of Elizabeth, when an act was passed to 

 restrict the use for such purposes. 



These iron-making and mining operations caused 

 the forest to be intersected by roads and tramways, 

 as old maps and reports of the forest shew us ; so 

 that few beasts, except those passing between their 

 more secluded haunts, were to be found there ; and, 



