A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



is made of another forge l held by the Constable of 

 the Castle of St. Briavel at that place ' which is 

 supported by the wood felled for the forge of the 

 said John [de Malemort] and from other per- 

 quisites.' Details are also available as to the forges 

 then existing in the vills of the foresters. At Bick- 

 nor there were sometimes four and sometimes a 

 lesser number. From each of these the Constable 

 of St. Briavel's as warden of the forest received 

 js. rent if they were at work all the year through 

 (si sunt arrantes continue per annum), while the for- 

 ester-in-fee or lord of the vill received 3^. a week 

 from each forge. The charcoal for the support of 

 the Bicknor forges was derived in part from Wales 

 and in part from ' perquisita in foresta,' which 

 may refer to the ' top and lop ' and divers windfalls 

 sold by the foresters. In Ruardean there were 

 five forges and the conditions of tenure and work- 

 ing seem to have been similar to those prevailing 

 in Bicknor. The eight forges of Great Dean 

 paid similar dues, but it is distinctly stated that 

 the charcoal with which they were fed was pro- 

 cured outside the forest. Little Dean returned 

 four forges and the conditions under which they 

 worked were similar to those in Bicknor and 

 Ruardean. Besides these, Nigel of Lydney and 

 Walter of Ewias had each a forge in Lydney, for 

 which they each paid js. a year to the Constable 

 of St. Briavel's Castle. By 1270 3 the forges in 

 the forest were at least forty-three in number, and 

 by 1482' had increased to more than sixty, and 

 this in spite of strenuous protests made by the 

 forest officials as to the damage done to the 

 vert by their activity. The earlier account 4 of 

 James Fressel for the Forest of Dean preserved 

 on the Pipe Roll, 40 Hen. Ill, is interesting 

 in this connexion as it shows that the ' great 

 forge of the king' was then let on lease for 

 ^22 ids., while the issues of foreign forges 

 amounted to jC8 41. 6d., and ^4 95. 3^. was 

 returned from forges lately raised (de nova levatai) 

 by ' the said James.' 



The early smelting-hearths or bloomeries 

 were no doubt of a very simple type, fed with 

 charcoal, the fuel and mineral being placed in 

 alternate layers. Yarranton in the seventeenth 

 century contrasted the great bellows of his own 

 time, driven by water-power, with the ancient 

 foot blast. Improvements in detail were, how- 

 ever, doubtless made even in the mediaeval period 

 as the ' cinders ' of still earlier workers were al- 

 ready in request by the smelters of the day who 

 were able to extract more metal. 



During the reign of Henry III, and in fact 

 right on into the fourteenth century Gloucester- 

 shire would seem in the south of England at 



1 The word translated ' forge ' throughout this 

 document is in the original ' fabrica.' In the regard 

 of 1282 however 'forgia' is employed. 



' Forest Proc. Tr. of Rec. No. 29. 



* Ibid. No. 30. They varied much from year to 

 year. Rudder quotes the number as 72 from a record 

 about this time. 4 m. 4. 



least to have continued to hold its place of pride 

 as the chief seat of the iron industry. Two 

 instances may alone be cited here in illustration. 

 In a letter 6 of Simon de Seinliz to Ralf Neville, 

 bishop of Chichester, written sometime between 

 1224 and 1226, mention is made often marks,'' 

 worth ' de minuto ferro ' if it can be got, or if 

 not five marks' worth of this kind and five ' de 

 grosso ferro' to be obtained in Gloucestershire, 

 and thence carried to Winchester to the bishop's 

 house 6 there. One Henry de Kynard had sug- 

 gested that the iron should be carted (cartatum) to 

 Bristol in the first instance and not to Gloucester, 

 but the writer preferred Gloucester since it could 

 be conveyed thence to Winchester more easily 

 and without greater expense. And farther afield 

 even at Westminster Abbey Gloucester iron was 

 appreciated and used, as the fabric rolls bear 

 witness. 7 



Until the thirteenth century it is difficult to 

 find direct and specific mention of Gloucester- 

 shire mines on private or public record, though 

 indirect references are, as we have seen, very fre- 

 quent indeed. One of the earliest detailed notices 

 of both sea-coal and iron mines in Dean is found 

 in the ' Verdict of the three foreign hundreds " 

 already cited, which is, however, most unfortun- 

 ately mutilated. From this it appears that about 

 1250 or earlier coal was worked in Blakeney, 

 Staunton, and Abinghall. In Blakeney the Con- 

 stable of St. Briavel's Castle and the forester-in- 

 fee in charge of the bailiwick seem to have 

 shared certain dues paid by the miners, and the 

 same was the case at Staunton. In Abinghall on 

 the other hand the Constable got nothing, but 

 the forester-in-fee took a penny on each horse- 

 load of coal. That mineral coal was ever used 

 for the smelting-hearths at this time in Dean there 

 is no evidence whatever, but there did exist 

 some export trade 8 across the Severn. Mineral 

 coal when first employed for burning seems to 

 have been essentially the fuel of the less wealthy 

 classes, and often restricted to special trades ; the 

 rich and noble 9 preferred the more aromatic fires, 

 of wood. 



In 1282 10 the regarders asserted that the king 

 took any sea-coal found in Bearse, Ruardean, and 

 Great and Little Dean. At the same time Ralf 

 de Abbenhale held a coal-pit (fossatum carbonis 

 marint] in the bailiwick of Abinghall and thence 

 took coal, but the king got nothing. The same- 

 claims were set up by Cecily de Michegros in, 



6 Royal and Hist. Letters, Hen. III. (Rolls Ser.), i r 

 278-9. 



6 The text reads ' hospitis ' corruptly for ' hospitii.*' 



' Lethaby, Westminster Abbey and the King's Crafts- 

 men, 141. 



8 Forest Proc. Exch. K.R. bdle. i, No. 26. 



"In 1257 Queen Eleanor left Nottingham for 

 Tutbury ' quia . . . propter fumum carbonum mari* 

 nullo modo potuit demorari.' Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.),. 

 iii, 203. 

 10 Forest Proc. Exch. Tr. of Rec. No. 31. 



2l8 



