A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



siders, moreover, the miners must not underbid 

 one another. In all cases they were subject to 

 bargains made by ' bargainers ' appointed by the 

 mine law court. 1 Lastly, the persistent anta- 

 gonism of the miners to large enterprises, and 

 their opposition of interests to the consumers of 

 their products, is shown by the custom by which 

 no miner might become the owner of a smithy 

 without loss of his privileges. 8 



These restrictions, which cramped the pro- 

 ductions of coal and iron, and deadened indi- 

 vidual initiative, could not stand the test of time. 

 Throughout the Middle Ages, indeed, they seem 

 to have been maintained, but with the sixteenth 

 and seventeenth centuries their maintenance be- 

 came increasingly more difficult. Probably at 

 an early date various irregularities had crept into 

 the working of the rules. It had grown to be 

 not unusual for outsiders, gentlemen of rank and 

 influence, to be made free miners by a vote of 

 the inhabitants of the forest, 3 while probably 

 already the custom had been connived at 4 of the 

 miners staking out claims and then leasing them 

 to outsiders.' The great value of the iron de- 

 posits of Dean, as well as its timber, which the 

 working of the mines and smelting houses en- 

 dangered, at last led to a series of efforts on the 

 part of the Crown and others to wrest the 

 control from the miners. 



From this somewhat lengthy digression as to 

 the status and claims of the free miners, it is 

 necessary to return to the general history of the 

 imines which we have traced with some par- 

 ticularity to the reign of Edward I. From this 

 point onward there is very little to add, in the 

 mere outline that can be given here, to the 

 valuable facts collected by Mr. Nicholls. 6 He 

 /points out that apparently there had been some 

 diminution of the number of forges at work on 

 -.the west side of the forest during the reign of 

 Edward II, if a list of that date can be regarded 

 .-.as complete. But even if this is the case the 

 ; amount of iron produced from the mines during 

 ithe reign of Edward III must have been very 

 considerable, 7 and it is necessary to bear in mind 

 that they supplied not only the forges of the 

 forest, but those of Caerleon, Newport, Berkeley, 

 Monmouth, and Trelleck, 8 while iron implements 



1 Award of Dean Forest Commrs. 14 ; Nicholl?, 

 forest of Dean, 45. 



* Houghton, Compleat Miner, pt. ii, art. 33. 

 ;> Award of Dean Forest Commrs. \ 3. 



* Since this gave employment to many poor men. 



4 Fourth Rep. Dean Forest Commrs. 2 ; Award of 

 Dean Forest Commrs. 21. 



6 Iron-making in the Forest of Dean (1866), and other 

 works. 



7 A return of about the year 1341, printed by 

 ^Nicholls, Personalities of the Forest of Dean, 2 I , gives 

 4he yearly profit of the mines and forges as 34, 

 vrhich certainly shows some decline since the days of 

 Edw. I. 



8 Nicholls, Iron-making in the Forest of Dean, 72, 73. 



of all kinds long formed a particular speciality 

 of the great fair at Gloucester. 



It seems, however, that toward the end of the 

 fourteenth century, if not before, a decline in 

 the production of iron had taken place, possibly 

 through the gradual exhaustion of the most 

 accessible superficial deposits, although already 

 recourse was being had to the re-smelting of the 

 older ' cinders,' while the export trade to the 

 south and east of England had diminished, 

 partly through the increased import of iron from 

 abroad, aided at a later period by the energetic 

 exploitation of the ores of the Sussex Weald. 



But while the amount of iron may have 

 declined, there is some reason for supposing that 

 the output of coal was gradually increasing, as 

 was certainly the case in Kingswood, between 

 the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. As 

 regards the methods of mining there is no reason 

 to suppose that much advance occurred during 

 this period, and about 1568 on the records 9 of 

 one of the minor forest courts we meet with 

 frequent presentments 'pro puteis non impletis,' 

 which under the special circumstances of this 

 forest may well refer to abandoned mine-pits. 



With respect to the forges, however, the late 

 sixteenth or early seventeenth century undoubt- 

 edly saw an advance : the old bloomeries were 

 gradually passing and cast iron was being made in 

 enlarged furnaces provided with a more powerful 

 blast, advantage being taken of water-power when 

 available. This introduction of a vastly more 

 expensive and elaborate process necessitated the 

 intervention of the capitalist and the syndicate. 

 On 14 June we hear 10 of a ' bargayne ' between 

 the crown and Giles Brudges and others by 

 which the adventurers were to have 



libertye to erect all manner of workes, iron or 

 other, by lande or by water, excepting wyer workes, 

 and the same to pull downe, remove and alter att 

 pleasure 



and also ' libertye to take myne oare and 

 synders, either to be used att the workes or 

 otherwise.' The exception of wire-works is of 

 great interest, and is doubtless due to the fact 

 that a company n which included Sir Francis 

 Bacon had already works of this description at 

 Tintern and Whitebrook. 



The important lease to William earl of Pem- 

 broke in 161 1 of the castle of St. Briavel and of 

 the Forest of Dean, and the lands, mines, and 

 quarries belonging thereto, as well as a further 

 grant of wood for his iron-works, has already 

 been mentioned in the article on ' Forestry ' in 

 the present volume. This and some later leases 

 resulted in serious trouble with the free miners, 

 who saw their liberties threatened and who were 

 possibly supported by iron-masters already settled in 



9 For. Proc. Exch. K.R. bdle. i, No. 30. 

 10 Lansd. MSS. 166, fol. 365 (B.M.) 



S.P. Dom. Jas. I, Ixiii, 76. 



224 



