More as a satisfaction to the Government before making the new plantations, than as a guide to the commissioners, most of whom knew the Forest intimately, Messrs. Driver were now directed to examine the condition and situation of the woods and woodlands, and to report thereon. They began by numbering the timber trees in succession, and had reached 1,000, when the proceedings were put a stop to, on account of the consumption of time and money which such an elaborate plan was found to involve, and they briefly reported that the Forest seemed to contain 22,882 loads of oak timber, that only one third of the existing enclosures were fully stocked, and that encroachments were rapidly spreading.
On the 15th of September in the ensuing year, 1809, the first meeting of the above-named commissioners was held at Newnham, when 2,000 acres in various parts of the Forest were selected for planting, and such directions given that the 240 acres of White Mead Park were actually planted this season, just in time to afford Mr. Fordyce the satisfaction of living to know that the good work of renewing the Forest with oak, in accordance with his recommendation made twenty years before, was in fact begun, for at this date his useful life was brought to a close.
Referring to the list of licences granted by the Crown this year, 1809, it appears that the first effort was now made to prepare the slag and cinders from the iron furnaces for the use of the Bristol bottle-glass manufacture, by reducing them to powder in a stamping mill, one of which was erected at Park End by Messrs. Kear, under a licence dated 23rd of September. To this year also is to be referred the introduction of tramways by two companies, designated “The Severn and Wye Railway Company,” and “The Bullo Pill Company.” The road belonging to the former of them traverses the western valley of the Forest from Lydney to Lydbrook, a distance of fourteen miles, and the latter the eastern, but both communicating with the Severn, although at points six miles apart. The licence for the line ascending from Bullo Pill describes it as designed to extend up to the Churchway engine, seven miles off. It was constructed under a private Act obtained by Sir James Jelf and his partners.
In the course of the next year, i.e. 1810, the Enclosure Commissioners authorized the construction of the following five plantations:—
|
A. |
R. |
P. |
||
|
Barn Hill, containing |
353 |
2 |
3 |
near Coleford. |
|
Serridge „ |
387 |
3 |
24 |
„ Lydbrook. |
|
Beechen Hurst „ |
308 |
2 |
36 |
„ Serridge. |
|
Haywood „ |
407 |
1 |
34 |
„ Abbenhall. |
|
Holly Hill „ |
41 |
0 |
38 |
„ Cinderford. |
|
---- |
-- |
-- |
||
|
1498 |
3 |
15 |
The planting of them was intrusted to Mr. Driver, upon his own plan, which was to dig holes four feet apart every way, or 2,722 in an acre, and to plant an acorn in every hole but the tenth, in it substituting an oak-tree of five years old. The holes for the acorns were dug fifteen inches square and nine inches deep; but those for the young trees were made eighteen inches square and twelve inches deep. The acorns cost 8s. per 1,000, and the trees 70s. per 1,000. One tree out of every 100 was a five years old Spanish chesnut. So that planting the enclosures in this way cost about £3 15s. per acre, and the seedlings about £4 5s., which Mr. Driver was to mend over, and to keep the plants good for three years. The fences were to consist of a bank five feet high, with a row of French furze at the top and bottom, or where impracticable a dry wall instead. The most flourishing timber in the Forest at this period appears to have been that growing on Church Hill, averaging 73 trees to the acre, each tree containing 58 feet of timber. The Severn and Wye Tramway, commenced last year, was extended in this, with the addition of a line from Monmouth up to Howler’s Slade.
In 1811 only one plantation, viz. “Crab-tree Hill,” comprising 372 acres 2 roods 34 poles, was formed, and planted similarly to the last; but the Enclosure Commissioners set out a considerable extent of land to be taken in and planted. On the 28th of November steam engines were licensed to be erected at Birches Well, Ivy Moorhead, “the Independent,” Upper Bilson, two at “the Old Engine,” and two at “No Fold.” In the next year also two steam engines were licensed to be put up at Churchway Colliery, and a third at “Strip-and-at-it” Colliery. The following enclosures were made in 1812, viz.—
|
A. |
R. |
P. |
||
|
Shute Castle |
158 |
3 |
35 |
near Bream. |
|
Bromley |
258 |
3 |
13 |
„ Park End. |
|
Chesnuts |
163 |
2 |
13 |
„ Flaxley. |
|
Sallow Vallets |
397 |
2 |
33 |
„ Lydbrook. |
|
Ruerdean Hill |
313 |
3 |
19 |
„ Ruerdean. |
|
Additional to Buckholt |
14 |
3 |
29 |
„ Coleford. |
|
---- |
-- |
-- |
||
|
1307 |
3 |
22 |
These enclosures were not planted, however, like the former ones; since, from the exuberance of weeds, and the ravages of mice, &c., that method had failed, three-fourths of the acorns never appearing, and many of those that did come up were too weak to make their way through the other more luxuriant growth that overwhelmed and choked them. But these enclosures, according to a second agreement made with Mr. Driver, as likewise all the future ones, were planted with seedling oaks instead of acorns, care being taken to clear the holes once or twice, and only the tenth trees were introduced as before. The Buckholt was planted with three years old oaks, from the woodmen’s nurseries.
The first general report of the Commissioners of Woods, &c., appointed under the Acts of 34th George III., c. 75, and 50th George III., c. 65, was made on the 4th of June, 1812, and was signed “Glenbervie, W. D. Adams, Henry Dawkins.”
It says little respecting this Forest, merely alluding to it in common with the other royal forests, as fitted to take its place in supplying timber to the navy, which required 88,659 loads annually, a quantity so large as to be equivalent to 1,000 acres of oak a century old. In their present state the Royal Forests could not supply a tenth part of this amount, and would always be deficient unless 1,000 acres were planted every year for the next 100 years, by which time the above quantity might be annually felled. Ere this year ended, the Enclosure Commissioners concluded their labours of setting out the rest of the 11,000 acres in Dean Forest.
The plantations made the ensuing year of 1813 were—
|
A. |
R. |
P. |
||
|
Oaken Hill |
477 |
2 |
11 |
near Park End. |
|
Park Hill |
141 |
0 |
26 |
„ Park End. |
|
Blakeney Hill |
816 |
1 |
0 |
„ Blakeney. |
|
---- |
-- |
-- |
||
|
1434 |
3 |
37 |
Permission was also given to the Severn and Wye Tramroad Company to construct a branch to the colliery at the Ivy Moore Head, as well as to Messrs. Protheroe to erect a steam engine at “Catch Can.” The area of the encroachments in the Forest in 1813, and which had at that time been taken in more than twenty years, amounted to 1,610 acres 2 roods 18 poles, divided into 2,239 patches, on which were 785 houses, occupied by 1,111 persons.
In 1814 the three following extensive enclosures were made:—
|
A. |
R. |
P. |
||
|
Stapledge |
943 |
2 |
17 |
near Cinderford. |
|
Nag’s Head Hill |
809 |
2 |
4 |
„ Coleford. |
|
Russell’s |
990 |
0 |
16 |
„ Park End. |
The last of them, being the largest in the Forest, was not regularly planted, but left for the most part to natural growth.
It was during this year especially, but to a certain degree also in the preceding and succeeding ones, that this Forest and the New Forest were visited with an enormous number of mice. They appeared in all parts, but particularly in Haywood enclosure, destroying a very large proportion of the young trees, so much so that only four or five plants to an acre were found uninjured by them. The roots of five years old oaks and chesnuts were generally eaten through just below the surface of the ground, or wherever their runs proceeded. Sometimes they were found to have barked the young hollies round the bottom, or were seen feeding on the bark of the upper branches. These mice were of two kinds, the common long-tailed field mouse, and the short-tailed. There were about fifty of these latter sort to one of the former. The long-tailed mice had all white breasts, and the tail was about the same length as the body. [95] These were chiefly caught on the wet greens in the Forest, and the short-tailed were caught both on the wet and dry grounds.
A variety of means were resorted to for their destruction, such as cats, poisons, and traps, but with little success. A Mr. Broad, who had been employed by the Admiralty, and had been successful, in killing the rats and mice in the fleet, was sent down, and tried several plans, all of which failed. At last, a miner living on Edge Hills, named Simmons, came forward, and said that he had often, when sinking wells or pits, found mice fallen in, and dead, in consequence of their endeavours to extricate themselves, and he had little doubt that the same plan would succeed in the Forest. It was tried, and holes were dug over the enclosures about two feet deep, and the same size across, and rather hollowed out at the bottom, and at the distance of about twenty yards apart, into which the mice fell, and were unable to get out again. Simmons and others were employed, and paid by the numbers of tails which they brought in, which amounted in the whole to more than 100,000. In addition to this it may be mentioned that polecats, kites, hawks, and owls visited the holes regularly, and preyed upon the mice caught in them; and a small owl, called by Pennant, Strix passerina, never known in the Forest before or since, appeared at that time, and was particularly active in their destruction. The mice in the holes also ate each other.
Four more steam engines were allowed to be erected about the close of this year at Palmer’s Flat and at Hopewell.
Proceeding to the following year, we find that in 1815 the number of plantations was increased by the addition of—
|
A. |
R. |
P. |
||
|
Leonard’s Hill, containing |
66 |
0 |
32 |
near Cinderford. |
|
Edge Hills |
494 |
1 |
36 |
„ Little Dean. |
|
Cock Shot |
598 |
0 |
22 |
„ Blakeney. |
|
Yew-tree Brake |
183 |
0 |
0 |
„ Cinderford. |
|
---- |
-- |
-- |
||
|
1341 |
3 |
10 |
Two years before this time the Admiralty had called the attention of the Commissioners of Woods, &c., to the most proper means of improving the durability of oak timber, which had always been supposed to be best secured by its being felled in winter, although, owing to its involving the loss of the bark, the practice had not become general. To avoid such loss it was determined, on the 15th of March this year, that the bark should be stripped in the spring from the trees standing, leaving them to be felled in the ensuing or some subsequent spring, five shillings per load being allowed for the additional trouble occasioned thereby. But this determination was not formed without careful investigation and experiment. Thus in the previous year (1814) thirty trees were marked and set apart in each of the Royal Forests, “which were divided into five classes: three of the classes were stripped standing, but with some variety in method, and left to be felled in winter; the second class was felled, but left with the bark on; and the third felled, and then immediately afterwards stripped in the usual way.” But the results of these different methods are not stated.
Licences to erect machinery were granted in the preceding year to Messrs. Kear for a waterwheel at Park End in connexion with a mill for pounding slag from the iron furnaces, and to Mr. Mushet for a steam engine at Deepfield, and to Mr. John Protheroe for an engine at Whitelay Colliery; and in the present year two steam engines were licensed at Upper Bilson by Mr. Thomas Bennett, and one at Smith’s Folly by Mr. Glover.
In the course of the succeeding year (1816) the last of the enclosures, as set out by the commissioners appointed under the Act of 1808, were completed, viz.—
|
A. |
R. |
P. |
||
|
Perch, containing |
386 |
1 |
15 |
near Coleford. |
|
Aston Bridge |
475 |
0 |
4 |
„ Lydbrook. |
|
Kinsley Ridge |
376 |
1 |
27 |
„ the Speech House. |
|
---- |
-- |
-- |
||
|
Total |
1237 |
3 |
6 |
The second report of the Commissioners of Woods, dated the 18th of May, and signed by Wm. Huskisson, Wm. Dacres Adams, Henry Dawkins, states “that 9,389 acres of this Forest had been enclosed and planted, the remaining 1,611 acres, making up the 11,000, being partly fenced, and would be shut in the next year, viz. 1816, making the total number of enclosures upwards of thirty. Besides which 240 acres of Whitemead Park had been appropriated (1809) to the growth of timber, as also 120 acres adjoining the different lodges, as well as 120 acres of the open Forest, where trees twenty-five or thirty feet high had been planted, and were doing very well. The cost of these operations, since 1808, was £59,172 5s. 10d.”
To this period belongs the interesting circumstance of the then Bishop of Gloucester, the excellent Dr. Ryder, paying his first official visit to the Forest, for the purpose of consecrating Christ Church at Berry Hill. The building was commenced, in 1812, as a chapel schoolroom, by the Rev. P. M. Procter, the Vicar of Newland, assisted by the Duke of Beaufort, the Lord Bishop, and Mr. Ryder his secretary, aided by £100 from the National Society, being the first grant made by it. But the structure was enlarged to twice the original size previous to its consecration.
The next year (1817) the Bishop had the satisfaction of being called upon in the month of April to repeat his visit to the Forest, for the purpose of dedicating the Church of the Holy Trinity, on Quarry Hill, to divine worship, for which it was first used on the previous 5th of February, having been commenced the summer before. Its erection was principally accomplished by the exertions of the Rev. H. Berkin, assisted by contributions from the Earl of Liverpool, the Right Hon. N. Vansittart, the Duke of Beaufort, Lord Kenyon, Lord Calthorpe, W. Wilberforce, Esq., M.P., and other benevolent persons. The site, comprising five acres, was given by the Crown.
On the 15th of May this year the purchase of Lord Viscount Gage’s estate, adjoining the Forest and the Wye, was concluded, as stated in the Commissioners’ Report, which appeared on the 18th of June. It contained 2,229 acres of wood, which, “if preserved, would (they said) very soon be stocked with a succession of trees of the first quality, as they were of the most thriving description, the oldest being from sixty to eighty years old.” The whole property contained 4,257 acres 15 poles, and, including all the timber and underwood, with certain forges, mills, limekilns, iron and tin works, was valued by the referees at £155,863 3s. 2d., the timber being prised at £61,624 4s. This agreement was confirmed by Act of Parliament, 57 George III., c. 97, which authorized the raising of the money by sales of Crown property to the amount of £101,945 6s. 3d., with the view of enabling the purchase money to be paid by five equal yearly instalments. A corn-mill, two forge-houses with appendages, the tolls of the Coleford Market-house, and about 423 acres of arable or meadow land, were sold for the most part at higher prices than were given for them, leaving 2,925 acres for the growth of timber.
Norman Capital in Staunton Church
On tracing the history of this property as far back as existing records permit, it appears that “the High Meadow Estate,” although naturally included in the district constituting the Crown property of the Forest, had been at remote period detached from it as appears by the perambulations of 28 Edward I., with which the bounds of the shires of Gloucester and Monmouth here coincide. Its ancient village church, partly of Norman architecture, and its still more antique font, apparently Saxon, sufficiently attest the early location of inhabitants on the spot. This estate constituted one of the ten bailiwicks of the Forest as early as 10 Edward I. (1282), when it was held by John Walden, called John de Staunton, by the service, as the Rev. T. Fosbroke has ascertained, “of carrying the King’s bow before him when he came to hunt in the bailiwick, and by homageward and marchat,” and “he had for his custody housbote, heybote, of every kind of tree given or delivered by the King; all broken oaks, and all trees of every sort thrown down by the wind.” After passing through the families of the Baynhams, Brains, Winters, and Halls, who purchased the manor of English Bicknor early in the 17th century, it became by marriage the property of Sir Thomas Gage, created Viscount Gage of Castle Island, in the county of Kerry, and Baron Gage of Castlebar, in the county of Mayo, September 14th, 1720. It must also be noticed, that licences were issued this year for the erection of steam-engines at “No Coal” and at “Churchway Coal” Mines.
Ancient Font in Staunton Church
The following minute and interesting account of the state of the several plantations in the year 1818 is by permission abstracted from Mr. Machen’s private papers.
Speaking of the Buckholt (one of the older enclosures), he observes—
“The large timber in it has been cut, and parts of it planted with young oaks, obtained from places where they had sprung up spontaneously, but it is still imperfectly stocked. Stapledge (another of the earlier plantations) has been filled up by transplanting from the thick parts, and is tolerably well stocked on the whole. Birchwood (the third of the previous enclosures) has been planted in the vacant parts, and is fully stocked and very flourishing. From the Acorn Patch (the last of the old plantations) a large quantity of young oaks have been transplanted into the open parts of the Forest and the upper part of Russell’s Enclosure. The trees drawn out are thriving, and many of them grow faster than the trees remaining in the Acorn Patch. There is a great quantity of holly and other underwood scattered on the parts where the trees are planted, and which serves for shelter and protection, and the soil is very good. The trees, though never transplanted before, came up with bunches of fibrous roots; and though of so large a size, being from 10 to 25 ft. high, scarcely any of them failed. Several experiments were tried as to pruning closely, pruning a little, and not at all; and it appears that those pruned sufficiently to prevent the wind from loosening the roots answer best, although many of those which were reduced to bare poles, and had their heads cut off, are now sending up vigorous leading shoots, and have every appearance of becoming fine timber: those unpruned did not succeed at all.” Alluding to the earthen banks, with which the plantations were mostly surrounded, Mr. Machen observes that “In most parts they appear to succeed very well, and the furze on the top of them grows very luxuriantly; but in some places, and those where the bank of mould has accumulated by being washed there in floods, the banks are mouldering, and in the last two years hawthorn-quick has been planted in those parts, and now looks very flourishing. There has not been a good year of acorns, that is, where a quantity have ripened in the Forest, since the commencement of the plantations until the present, and the trees are now loaded, and with every prospect of ripening. The young trees in all the new enclosures are looking remarkably well this year, and some of them have made shoots so long that they more resemble willows than oaks. The six first-named enclosures, in addition to the acorns and five years old oaks, have had the same quantity of five years old oaks planted in addition, in lieu of the mending over, viz. 270 on an acre; but there are parts of all these, and almost the whole of Crab-tree Hill and Haywood, which suffered not only from the failure of the acorns, but from the ravages made by the mice, that will require to be filled up as soon as there is a stock of plants sufficient for the purpose. Russell’s Enclosure is left to nature: only 10,000 Spanish chesnuts have been planted in it, and some young oaks from the Acorn Patch at the north end. There is a good deal of large timber over the whole, particularly the south and centre parts, and a vast quantity of natural young oaks sprung up in the neighbourhood of the large trees. The fern has been cut to relieve and encourage them for the last three years. The Lea Bailey Copse (north) consists of young copsewood well stored with oaks, growing on their own butts. The Lea Bailey Copse (south) has more large timber in it: this has not been regularly planted, but some trees have been transplanted from the thick parts of the north copse, and from the woodmen’s nurseries. The lower Lea Bailey Enclosure has a considerable quantity of growing timber in it, and a large quantity of young oaks springing up. No planting has been done here. The fencing round these consists of a large ditch and bank, and a dead hedge at top, with hawthorn-quick planted within. The hedge having stood three years is decayed, and another will be required this year, which it is expected will last until the quick becomes a fence. The addition to the Buckholt of about fifteen acres was planted with 3 years old oaks from the woodmen’s nurseries, and looks very thriving. All the other enclosures were planted with seedlings and tenth trees, according to the second agreement with Mr. Driver, in 1812, 13, 14, and 15, and are this year looking very well. Parts of all the enclosures will require mending over, but I should think more than half are sufficiently stocked with oaks well established, and that will require no further attention until they want thinning. On the high land of Haywood, Edge Hills, and Ruerdean Hill, firs and a mixture of other trees have been planted, and are thriving and growing fast, particularly on Ruerdean Hill, where the Scotch and larch take the lead. Firs, &c., have also been planted in the wet and bad parts of most of the other enclosures, and succeed. The nurseries we have in cultivation are the Bourts, 161 acres; Yew-tree Brake, about 5 acres; Ell Wood, 11 acres; and about 26 in the Vallets, or middle, and Sallow Vallets Nurseries, previously occupied by Mr. Driver. In these there are now about four millions of young oaks, three, two, and one year old, and about 600,000 firs and other trees of different sorts. The plants in Whitemead Park are thriving very well in all parts which are situated at a distance from the brook, but near to it they are very thin, stunted, and unhealthy, and are constantly killed down by spring frosts. Ash and fir trees have been planted amongst them, but with little success at present. The principal part of the large timber now in the Forest is about Park End, on Church Hill, Ivy More Head, Russell’s Enclosure, Park End Lodge Hill, and at the Lea Bailey. That at the Bailey appears younger, and some of it shook by frost, and rather drawn up by standing too thick. The timber about Park End is very fine, and I should suppose from 150 to 200 years old. There is a considerable quantity of young oak, from 15 to 40 years old, about Tanner’s Hill, &c., near Gun’s Mills, on the outside of Edge Hill Enclosure, and some within it in the lower part. Chesnuts Enclosure is covered with hazel, that was cut down when the oak was planted, and is now growing up with the young oaks and chesnuts, both of which are more rapidly growing in this enclosure than in any other; a double quantity of chesnuts are planted in this enclosure. There are scarcely any natural trees in the Forest but oak and beech; birch springs up spontaneously in every enclosure, and overruns the whole Forest. The few ash trees look scrubbed and unthrifty. Since the year 1809, 14,260 oak trees containing 14,546 loads of timber have been felled, viz. 11,322 trees for the navy, and 2,938 sold by auction. About 50 trees, containing about 50 loads, have been blown down or stolen.”
This year, 1818, Mr. Trotter obtained the permission of the Crown to erect steam engines at Vallets Level and Howler’s Slade, and in the following year the first corn mill was constructed at Cinderford, by Mr. Brace, out of an old water-wheel, and the adjoining buildings. In the year 1819 also, through the exertions of the Rev. H. Poole, the small chapel at Coleford, erected there in the reign of Queen Anne, was taken down, and a building more equal to the religious wants of the place was erected, and duly set apart for Christian worship, by Bishop Ryder, on the 18th of January, 1821.
The Third Triennial Report of the Commissioners of Woods was issued on the 18th of June, 1819. It states that three portions of land had been granted in trust for church purposes to the Lord Bishop of Gloucester, Lord Calthorpe, and the Right Honourable Nicolas Vansittart, one piece being attached to Christ Church, Berry Hill, a second to Holy Trinity Church, and the third for a proposed church at Cinderford. It also affirms that the whole of the 11,000 acres specified in the Acts for enclosing the Forest had been taken in and planted, and that the plantations were generally in a very flourishing state, comprising with the recent purchases 14,335 acres, the whole of which lands were, from the nature of the soil and the conveniences of water-carriage, probably better adapted for that purpose than any other tract of land in the kingdom lying together and of equal extent. The report concludes by alluding to the efforts which the commissioners had been making to induce such parties as occupied encroachments on the Forest to accept leases for thirty-one years, at an almost nominal rent, with the view of effecting the ultimate restoration of these lands to the Crown, but regrets that so liberal a proposal had been refused by nearly all; nevertheless further steps were about being taken in the matter.
The following particulars relating to this period are abstracted from Mr. Machen’s Memoranda:—“29th May, 1819. The frost was so severe that the verdure around White Mead, and throughout all the low parts of the Forest, was entirely destroyed. There was not a green leaf left on any oak or beech, large or small, and all the shoots of the year were altogether withered. The spruce and silver firs were all injured: in short all trees but Scotch fir and poplar suffered severely.—August 10th. The plantations had recovered from the effects of the frost—the oak more effectually than the beech, and had made more vigorous and thriving shoots than I ever saw. We measured several shoots in Serridge and Birchwood more than five feet long, and one in the Bailey Copse seven feet. We measured an oak planted in Whitemead Park near to the W. hedge, and in the second field planted below the house, seventeen feet six inches high: Lord Glenbervie was present. Shutcastle in the upper part, and the eastern part of Serridge, were looking best of all the new plantations, though all appear in a very thriving state this year.” From the same source we learn that Ellwood, purchased from Colonel Probyn, and containing 110 acres, was planted this year. The holes were dug four feet apart in rows, and five feet between the rows. The trees planted were 30,000 Scotch firs, 1,600 pineasters, 3,600 larch, 6,000 Spanish chesnuts, 120,000 oaks of three and four years old, and 4,500 seedling oaks planted by way of experiment in one corner of the large field on the south side of Ellwood, and with no large plants amongst them. A few of the enclosures had oaks planted in them also, viz.-
|
Ruerdean Hill |
35,000 |
|
Beechen Hurst |
52,000 |
|
Bromley |
35,000 |
|
Sallow Vallets |
12,000 |
|
Park Hill |
30,000 |
and some more, from each of the woodmen’s nurseries in their respective enclosures.
In the spring of 1820, 15,000 Scotch firs were planted in Ellwood, in the place of those that died. During the autumn and the following spring, about two million trees, which had been raised in the different Forest nurseries, were also planted out to mend over the different enclosures, viz.—
|
Oaks. |
Firs. |
|
|
In Whitemead Park |
51,000 |
50,000 |
|
Shutcastle Enclosure |
25,500 |
|
|
Ellwood |
8,000 |
16,000 |
|
Bromeley |
80,000 |
3,500 |
|
Nagshead |
460,000 |
5,000 |
|
Aston Bridge |
81,000 |
|
|
Ruerdean Hill |
120,000 |
63,000 |
|
Haywood |
240,000 |
|
|
Edge Hills |
10,000 |
70,000 |
|
Crab-tree Hill |
115,000 |
|
|
Russells |
25,000 |
|
|
Kensley Ridge |
210,000 |
80,000 |
|
Yew-tree Brake |
125,000 |
35,000 |
|
Blakeney Hill |
100,000 |
13,000 |
|
--------- |
--------- |
|
|
1,625,500 |
360,500 |
Under the usual official permission, the Howler Slade Colliery was connected, by a tramway 350 yards in length, with the Severn and Wye Railways at Cannop, and Mr. J. Scott was permitted to lay down 102 yards of tramway to his coal-works at the Moorwood, and Mr. Thomas Phillips to put up a steam engine at the Union Colliery, in Oaken Hill Enclosure. There was also another tramway extension by the Bullo Pill Company to the Folly and Whimsey Collieries at the head of the Dam Pool. A junction was effected in 1823 between the Severn and Wye, and the Bullo Pill Tramway, by means of the Churchway Summit, parallel to Serridge, thus connecting the eastern and western lines of traffic.
In the year 1822 the consecration of the third of the Forest Churches, St. Paul’s, for which a site had been given by the Crown on Mason’s Tump, at Park End, took place on the 25th of April, Bishop Ryder attending.
The Fourth Triennial Report of the Commissioners of Woods, dated 1823, intimates disappointment at the little growth made by the new plantations, now eight or nine years old; but, on the other hand, it was observed that “they were doing well, and that slowness of growth was inseparable from their nature, particularly at that age.” We learn from Mr. Machen’s Notes that at this time, and again in the two succeeding years, very severe frosts, in one instance as late as the 23rd of June, greatly injured the young trees, more especially such as grew in low, moist situations, although in some degree it also touched those on higher lands.
The property known as “the Great Doward Estate” was purchased by the Crown, in 1824, from the Miss Griffins, for £15,000. Although separated by the river Wye, and situated in Herefordshire, and never before included within the limits of the Forest, it certainly groups with the High Meadow Woods, clothing the same valley; and it moreover forms a definite part of the geological basin of the district.
In March, 1825, the well-known and prosperous Nelson Colliery was commenced by Messrs. Bennett and Meek. A branch line of tramway was also made up to Mr. Mushet’s Mine, near the Shute Castle Hill Enclosure, from the Severn and Wye line at Park End.
In each of the seasons of 1824–25 and 1825–26, Mr. Machen states that about 500 acres of the High Meadow property was planted with oak, Scotch fir, and larch, in proportions varying with the nature of the soil and openness of the situation. In the parts where shelter was most requisite, two-thirds of fir and one-third of oak were planted, in others half of each, and in sheltered situations oak alone. A great many of these plants perished in the spring and summer of 1825 from heat and drought, and still more in 1826, which was the driest spring and summer ever remembered. In some high and shallow parts nearly every tree died; a great many also were eaten off and destroyed by the hares and rabbits. There were now 3,000 acres of wood on the High Meadow estate, viz. 2,000 acres of old woods, and 1,000 acres lately planted. In the year last mentioned the Fifth Triennial Report of the Commissioners of Woods, &c., was issued, signed by Charles Arbuthnot, Wm. Dacres Adams, and Henry Dawkins.
By the spring of 1827 Mr. Edward Protheroe effected the opening of collieries at Ivy Moore Head, Park End Main, Park End Royal Pits, and at Birch Well, at most of which pumping and winding engines were put up, a tramway 1,500 yards in length connecting them with the main road of the Severn and Wye Company. The same year saw a reduction of the landed property of the Crown by the sale of its rights in the Fence Woods, Mawkins Hazels, and Hudnalls, comprising a total of 1,273 acres 3 roods 9 poles, for £925. The Crown’s right in Hudnalls, although it contained 1,200 acres, was of little value, as the inhabitants of St. Briavel’s had the right of cutting wood on it.
Passing over the next year, the earliest circumstance in order of time is the opening of the important colliery at Crump Meadow, and the construction of 1,200 yards of tramway, uniting it with the main line of the Bullo Pill Company above Cinderford, all which was executed by Mr. Protheroe.
We next find, under the date of March 16th, 1829, Mr. Machen observing—“Although the Scotch firs have succeeded so well as nurses for the oaks, and have brought them forward, making them healthy and thriving on land that without shelter would only have produced them stunted and unthrifty, yet I am inclined on the whole to prefer larch. They are a shelter available for the purpose, although not so complete; but by that means the oaks are not kept too warm and brought too forward, and the larch is more valuable in itself. In some of our cold valleys, however, the larch will not grow, the spring frosts cutting them off.” He also remarks—“We are now planting the oaks by the side of the road from ‘Jack of the Yat’ to Coleford Lane End, those at the White Oak, and opposite the Buckholt, and those leading to Eastbatch, having been planted in 1827 and 1828. The space of road left is about fifty feet. Most of the trees are brought from the Vallets Enclosure, and do not cost more than four pence each to replant them. They are twelve to fifteen feet high, and a man can carry about two of them at a time. We are also planting the Lodge Hill about York Lodge, at the rate of 300 to an acre, leaving them without any fence.”
Upon the 6th of June this same year the sixth and last of the “Triennial Reports of the Commissioners of Woods,” &c., came out, signed Lowther, Wm. Dacres Adams, Henry Dawkins.
With reference to 1830, Mr. Machen’s note-book supplies the following memoranda:—“2nd March, planted trees on each side the road to Breem, also on the side of the Coleford Road below Bromley Enclosure, and about Catchcan Coal-works, continuing the avenue down the Long Hill, planting also the delves between Serridge and Sallow Vallets, at a cost of about four pence per tree, no fences being put round them. We planted also in the Greens of Russell’s Enclosure. Some pineasters and larch were likewise planted on the old Quarry Mounts, by the sides of the road leading from Park End to Coleford, as likely, if successful, to produce a good effect.
“(March, 1831, all died; renewed March, 1834—these mostly alive and flourishing.)”
“May 28th.—The most extraordinary blight is now upon the trees that I believe ever was known: it is confined entirely to the oak, and chiefly to the large trees, although in some parts it is extending to the young plantations. The whole of the High Meadow woods and great part of the Forest, particularly Russell’s Enclosure, and where the timber is thick, are entirely stripped of their leaves, and look as if fire had passed through them. Where a beech stands amongst them, it is perfectly green, and the oaks all around quite brown. The grubs and their webs are so thick, that it is disagreeable to ride amongst the trees, and like going into a net.”
On the 8th June, 1830, the First Annual Report of the Commissioners under the 10th Geo. IV., c. 50, was issued. It was signed by Lord Lowther, Wm. Dacres Adams, and Henry Dawkins. Mr. Machen states in his Memoranda, that “this winter single trees were planted on Breem Eaves; triple rows on Clearwell Meend, by the roads on Coverham, on the Delves. We mended over the spots that have failed in Oaken Hill, Stapledge, Acorn Patch, Crab-tree Hill, Sallow Vallets (chiefly by drawing out where the trees are too thick). Most of the enclosures are now quite filled up.” And under date Nov. 1831, he gives the following statement of the several plantations:—
|
Acres. |
|
|
Land now under plantation in Dean Forest, enclosed by Act of Parliament |
11,000 |
|
Whitemead Park |
240 |
|
Ellwood |
90 |
|
Old Keeper’s Land (3) |
90 |
|
------ |
|
|
11,420 |
|
|
High Meadow and Doward |
3,288 |
|
Planted with single trees |
1,114 |
|
Young trees of natural growth |
150 |
|
Old timber |
528 |
|
------ |
|
|
Total |
16,500 |
Riots—Sessions of the Dean Forest Commissioners relative to St. Briavel’s Court—Free miners’ claims—Foreigners’ petition—State of the woods—Perambulation—Rights of Commonage—Relief of the poor—Free miners’ petition—Parochial divisions—Fourth and Fifth Reports of the Dean Forest Commissioners—Acts of 1838 and 1842—Award of the coal and iron mines—Enclosures thrown open, and new ones formed—Provision for the poor—Mr. Machen’s memoranda.
The year 1831 is chiefly remarkable for the riotous destruction committed on the fences and banks of the enclosures, recorded by Mr. Machen as follows:—“In May, 1831, several of the single trees planted near Parkend, and on Breem’s Eaves, were wilfully cut off in the night, and no discovery was made of the offenders. In the end of May a part of the wall of Oaken Hill Enclosure was thrown down in the night. When the workmen were rebuilding it, some of the colliers passing by threw out hints that it would not stand long, and in one or two instances horses and cattle were turned into the enclosures, and the woodmen were told that they had been shut up long enough, and they ought to be thrown open. The gates of several plantations had been broken in the night. On Sunday the 5th of June I saw Henry and Richard Dobbes pull away the bushes out of a gateway, and turn their cow into Cockshoots Enclosure, and when I went and expostulated with them they said they had been deprived of their rights long enough. Warren James had for some time been urging others to join him in the recovery of their rights, which they considered to be usurped by foreigners, in whose hands the principal coal-works of the Forest are, by purchase or lease from free miners; and on the 3rd June he had a hand-bill printed, calling upon all persons to meet and clear the Forest on Wednesday June 8th. I spoke to him on the 5th, and told him in the presence of numbers the folly and danger of his proceedings; but he paid no attention, and said the Forest was given up to them in Parliament the year before; that he had a charter, which he would bring and show me. I published a notice, warning all persons not to join an unlawful assembly, and on Tuesday the 7th Mr. Ducarel and I issued a warrant to apprehend him; but it could not be executed. We swore in a number of special constables, and with the woodmen mustered about forty at the scene of action where they were to begin; but the rioters mustered nearly 200, with axes, &c., and began their work of destruction about 7 o’clock, and we found it useless to attempt to stop them. They were soon joined by others, and supplied with cider, and continued their work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, in which time they destroyed nearly one-third of the fences in the Forest, the reparation of which cost about £1,500. On Sunday military arrived, and they all dispersed. Warren James was apprehended and sentenced to transportation for life, and seven or eight others to different periods of imprisonment from one month to two years. [111] Those who escaped suffered by lying in the woods and concealed where they could, and I believe all now repent and see the folly of their conduct. I suppose altogether nearly 2,000, including children, were employed in the work of devastation. None of the trees in the enclosures were injured, and where the cattle and sheep that were let in had eaten the grass in the drives and open places, they went back into the unenclosed Forest, and would not remain amongst the trees. In 1838 a pardon was sent out to Warren James, but he is not yet come home (June, 1839), and he has not written to any one. (1848: nothing heard of or from Warren James.”)
The above disturbance shows that an unsettled state of feeling existed in the minds of the foresters with regard to certain supposed rights of free-common, and which prevailed also on other points, such as the nature and extent of the coal-gales, and the fact that the various works were fast passing from the hands of the native free miners into those of the foreigners; all which grievances a mischievous periodical called ‘The Forester,’ published at Newnham, set forth in an exaggerated and exciting manner. Under such circumstances the Act of 1831 (1 and 2 Gul. IV., c. 12), authorizing the appointment of Commissioners to investigate such complaints, was well timed. The Commissioners were instructed to ascertain the boundaries of the Forest and the encroachments thereon; to inquire into the rights and privileges claimed by free miners of the hundred of St. Briavel’s, the constitution, powers, jurisdiction, and practice of the court held there, as well as respecting a court called “the Mine Law Court,” and to report on the expediency of parochializing the Forest.
It appears from the annual Report of the Commissioners of Woods, &c., dated the 8th August, 1831, and signed by Lord Duncannon, Wm. Dacres Adams, and Henry Dawkins, that no new works were commenced this year, except the erection of a water-mill for grinding ochre, near Sowdley, arising probably from the unsettled condition of the district. It states, however, that the Crown had created an endowment of £30 per annum towards keeping the three existing churches of the Forest in repair, the congregations using them being considered too poor to do so.
On the 21st January, 1832, the following gentlemen were appointed to act as Commissioners of Inquiry under the late Act:—
Robert Gordon, Esq., M.P., Kemble.
Ebenezer Ludlow, Esq., Serjeant at Law.
Charles Bathurst, Esq., Lydney Park.
Edward Machen, Esq., Whitemead Park.
Henry Clifford, Esq., Over Ross, Herefordshire.
Clerk, Thomas Graham, Esq., Mitre Court, Temple.
Surveyor, Mr. John Hosmer.
They held most of their sittings at the Bear Inn, in Newnham, although they also sat occasionally at Coleford, the Speech House, St. Briavel’s, and Westbury. They were thus occupied most of the days in the months of February, March, April, and September, in hearing evidence “as to St. Briavel’s Court and Prison,” or “as to making the Forest parochial,” or “as to the rights and privileges claimed by free miners,” and “as to the rights to open or work quarries.”
Of all these sections of inquiry, the only one which the Commissioners found they could at this time bring to a close was that having reference to St. Briavel’s Court, respecting which it appeared in evidence that out of the 402 suits brought into it during the last twelve months, all but five were for debts mostly under £5, to recover which a charge of £6 or £7 might be incurred.
The prison attached to the Court is thus described:—“There is only one window, which is 1 foot wide, and in a recess. It does not open. The size of the room is 16½ feet by 17½ feet; 13 feet high; three corners cut off. In one corner is the doorway, 2½ feet broad, but no door, leading into the passage about 6 feet long, out of which the privy opens. There is a door at the outer end of the passage, and in it a hole which is considered necessary for air. The floor and ceiling are of wood, and in the former are several crevices and holes. There is a space between the ceiling of the parlour beneath and the floor of the prison-room above, which is so filled with fleas and dust that in summer time it cannot be got rid of by any cleanliness. The privy is a dark winding recess, about 6 feet from front to back, taken out of the solid castle walls. It leads to a hole going down to the bottom of the building, which is always inaccessible for cleaning, but which till six years ago had a drain from it into the moat; the air draws up through it into the passage and room. There is no water within the prisoners’ liberty, and they are therefore obliged to get some person to fetch it for them. The Courtroom is in a bad state.”
Interior of the Debtors’ Prison in St. Briavel’s Castle
In consideration of these facts, the Commissioners in their Report upon it, which was published 7th July, very properly declared that the said Court was an evil, and required remodelling altogether, and they suggested its conversion into a Court of Requests, in which the strict forms of law might be dispensed with, parties appearing and being examined in person, without the intervention of professional agents. Its Commissioners might comprise the Constable of the Castle of St. Briavel’s, the verderers of the Forest, the magistrates of the neighbourhood, and about thirty other persons, any two of whom, under the presidency of one of the former, should form a Court, and decide cases of debt from 10s. to £10, with power to direct payment of the debt by instalments, or levies upon goods on failure of payment, there being no imprisonment of the person except for fraud, which should then take place in the county gaol at Little Dean, where, or at Coleford, the Court should meet the first Monday in every month. Such was the purport of the Report the Commissioners made to Parliament on the 7th July in this year.
Court Room in St. Briavel’s Castle
The Fourth Annual Report of the Commissioners of Woods, &c., dated the 28th of August, 1832, states that Messrs. Hill had obtained the permission of the Crown, under a lease for thirty-one years, and a rental of £25, to remove all that they could find of the slag, cinders, and refuse of the ancient ironworks; thus resuming an occupation which had been discontinued for many years. The new Fancy Pits were now furnished with two engines and we also find that for a time timber ceased to be supplied from this Forest to the Royal Dockyards.
The Dean Forest Commissioners resumed their sittings the next year (1833) on the 12th of April at Newnham, and proceeded to hear further evidence “as to the rights and privileges claimed by free miners;” but the only important occurrence which ensued was the presentation of a “Memorial,” by Mr. Mushet, on behalf of parties not free miners, specifying the claims which such proprietors and occupiers of coal and iron mines in the Forest had to the support of Government in maintaining their position in the district. The Memorial states that “foreigners” had possessed coal and iron mines time out of mind, as appeared by the case of several gentlemen and freeholders of the parish of Newland, who, as long since as the year 1675, claimed the right to open certain works without any objection being made by the free miners, a liberty which, whenever it was acted upon, seems always to have benefited the public; that none of the documents of the Mine Law Court appear to exclude foreigners from working the mines; on the contrary, the Resolutions of that Court, passed 1775, establish such a right, allowing the free miner to sell or bequeath his property in the mines to any persons he may think proper; that the old gale-books contain the names of many persons not free miners, which, with similar testimony from Messrs. Tovey, James, &c., showed such to have been the uniform practice for sixty years; that the foreigners have always carried on their works with the full knowledge and authority of the Crown; that the free miners do not possess the necessary capital for carrying on the works, in which the foreigners have invested £700,000; and, lastly, that the Crown has gained several thousand pounds per annum in consequence. Twenty-one persons signed this Memorial, as also the representatives of the Forest of Dean and the Cinderford Iron Companies.
Another Memorial was likewise presented by a dozen of the inhabitants of the Forest, showing that, instead of their cottages and gardens tending to throw a burden on the adjoining parishes, the very contrary was the case, as many were therefore enabled to support themselves without applying to those parishes. The petitioners also prayed that no further part of the Forest might be enclosed for the supposed benefit of the adjacent parishes, as thereby many persons would be deprived of grazing-land for their cattle, and in consequence be necessitated to apply to the next parishes for assistance.
Alluding to the state of the woods at this time (1833), Mr. Machen’s Notes, under the date of the 29th of May, state:—“This is now the fourth year in which the blight has been so prevailing upon the oak and in the Forest. I think this year it is worse than ever, and now the young plantations suffer most, the large timber being comparatively free. Park Hill, Oaken Hill, Nag’s Head, Barn Hill, Stapledge, &c., and especially all the higher parts of them, are leafless, except where a beech or a chesnut shows its green foliage amidst the brown oaks. I saw a few rooks in Russell’s to-day, and last year I noticed great numbers. They seem to be drawn to the Forest to feed on the grubs, for they are not generally here, and I only hope they will increase. The woodmen complain that in some situations the running of the bark has been checked; but considering it has now been four years, it seems wonderful that more injury is not done to the trees: they put out new leaves at the midsummer shoot, and appear to recover. June 4th: found the grubs changed into a chrysalis, enclosed in a leaf, with a kind of web round it. June 18th: the moths appeared in vast numbers. The rooks are still about in Park Hill.”
The usual Report to Government, being the fifth annual one, was issued on the 28th August, 1833, signed “Duncannon, W. D. Adams, B. C. Stephenson.” Licence was granted to construct 600 yards of tramway from the Severn and Wye line up to the Church Hill Colliery at Park End, and the Dean Forest Commissioners appointed under the Act of Parliament (1 & 2 Gul. IV. c. 12) had their commission extended.
In the autumn of 1833 the Dean Forest Commissioners directed their attention to the important object of settling the limits of the Forest, in doing which they wisely determined to be governed by the Messrs. Driver’s maps of 1787, according to which the Forest boundaries had for a length of time been regarded as practically settled, comprising the soil, timber, and herbage actually belonging to the Crown. Its boundaries as thus defined were perambulated in due ancient form, commencing on the 10th of September. [118] The cavalcade included Commissioners Robert Gordon, Esq.; Mr. Serjeant Ludlow; Charles Bathurst, Esq.; and Edward Machen, Esq., the Deputy-Surveyor; with Mr. Graham, their Clerk; and Mr. Hosmer, their Surveyor; followed by the keepers and woodmen. “We began” (writes Mr. Machen) “on Tuesday at Little Dean, and ended at Breem; Wednesday we ended at Hoarthorns, Thursday at Drybrook, Friday at the Stenders, and Saturday at Little Dean. We were occupied eight or nine hours each day, accomplishing about nine miles daily by the map, but the actual distance must have been nearly double.”
The year 1834 is marked by the Dean Forest Commissioners issuing their second Report, dated 1st of May, in which, after briefly explaining the data on which the late perambulation had been conducted, they proceed to state that, as respects the various encroachments, 1,510 acres 2 roods 32 poles were taken in before 1787. Since that date, and up to the year 1812, further encroachments to the extent of 573 acres 10½ poles had been made, and again from 1812 to the present time 24 acres 2 roods 9½ poles had been taken in. In consideration of the Crown never having reclaimed the old encroachments, the Commissioners recommended that all such lands “should be declared to be freehold of inheritance,” provided no additional dwelling-houses were erected on them without the licence of the Crown. They advised that the next oldest encroachments “should be granted to their present possessors for three lives, not renewable except at the pleasure of the Crown, and paying rents varying from one shilling to two shillings per acre.” As to the latest encroachments, they gave their opinion that “their possessors should have terms varying from fourteen to twenty-one years, paying rents varying from four to eight shillings per acre; the condition as to building dwelling-houses to apply to these classes also.” The following table, showing the acreage of the encroachments, classed as stated above, with the number of houses situate in the six “Walks” of the Forest, serves to exhibit the localities of the population of the district for the last hundred years.
|
Name of “Walk.” |
Houses. |
Previous to 1787. |
Between 1787 and 1812. |
Since 1812. |
||||||
|
A. |
R. |
P. |
A. |
R. |
P. |
A. |
R. |
P. |
||
|
Worcester |
404 |
324 |
1 |
38 |
160 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
19 |
|
Park End |
304 |
473 |
0 |
18 |
43 |
3 |
34 |
14 |
2 |
6 |
|
Blakeney |
249 |
180 |
2 |
25 |
62 |
0 |
35½ |
2 |
0 |
9½ |
|
Little Dean |
196 |
174 |
1 |
6 |
104 |
0 |
33 |
4 |
3 |
26 |
|
Speech House |
0 |
2 |
7 |
|||||||
|
Ruerdean |
290 |
353 |
0 |
26 |
199 |
3 |
36 |
2 |
1 |
11 |
|
Hillier’s Lane |
17 |
5 |
3 |
39 |
1 |
2 |
22 |
|||
|
Yorkley Lane |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
18 |
|||
|
--- |
----- |
----- |
--- |
---- |
---- |
--- |
---- |
---- |
---- |
|
|
1462 |
1510 |
2 |
32 |
573 |
0 |
10½ |
24 |
2 |
9½ |
During the greater part of September this year the Dean Forest Commissioners were engaged either at Newnham, Westbury, or the Speech-house hearing evidence “as to forming the Forest into a Parish,” and respecting “Rights of Common.” With the design of eliciting the opinions of the neighbourhood on the first head, for civil purposes only, “a circular was drawn up on the subject of enclosing lands on the outward boundaries of the Forest, with a view of relieving the conterminous parishes from the support of the Forest poor.” It was sent to the parishes bordering on the Forest, requesting the attendance of the clergymen, overseers, and landowners, for the purpose of discussing such a plan. This courteous invitation was responded to by the parish authorities of Westbury, Flaxley, Little Dean, Mitcheldean, Awre, Staunton, Ruerdean, the Lea hamlet, Bicknor, and St. Briavel’s, the Rev. H. Berkin attending on the part of the Forest clergy, when the scheme of the Commissioners was unanimously approved. By the evidence taken under the second head, it appears that the parishes or tithings of Westbury, Little Dean, Awre, Ruerdean, Bicknor, Lea hamlet, Breem, Clearwell, Newland, Lydney, St. Briavel’s, Newnham, Woolaston, and Purton, claimed the right of Common of Pasture.
In the same month “the Free Miners of the Forest” presented to the Commissioners an able memorial of their rights, in reply to that preferred the year before by persons not free miners, but who were proprietors and occupiers of coal and iron mines in the Forest; its object being to prove that “foreigners possessing and working mines therein was in direct violation of the rights and privileges of the free miners, contrary to their customs and franchises, and are acts of injustice and usurpation.” They affirmed that the present usage of foreigners possessing mines was not of long standing,—that it dated from the discontinuance of the Mine Law Court in 1777, by which all such intrusions were strictly checked and prevented; that this Court had been in full operation upwards of 500 years, as they verily believed, and so continued until the last 60 years, meeting periodically under the presidency of the Constable appointed by the King, and attended by his deputies and by the King’s Gaveller; and that, if this Court were re-established, and their rights and privileges restored to them, there would be no difficulty in finding capital for the proper working of the mines. The memorial was signed by 1,036 persons, professedly free miners. But, as to this being the fact, a further memorial was presented to the Commissioners on the 23rd of December, urging “that no person should be considered a free miner whose birth from parents free miners cannot be proved, in addition to their having been born in the Forest, and worked in the mines a year and a day.” According to such rule, the original number of 1,036 would be reduced to 798. On the 24th of December this year (1834) another memorial, coming from free miners in the occupation of stone-quarries within the Forest, was laid before the Commissioners, pleading in few words for similar rights and customs in respect of stone-quarries as were claimed in regard of mines. The names of thirteen quarrymen were attached thereto.