On the 31st of March in this year the Hon. James Kenneth Howard was appointed one of the Chief Commissioners to administer the affairs of the Royal Forests, the Hon. Charles Gore having for some time, after Mr. Kennedy's retirement, been the sole Commissioner.

Three additional coal-mines, called Richard White's Colliery, Hollow Meadow ditto, and Ruardean ditto, besides an iron-mine, called Maxwell and Brooklyn Mine, were now granted, besides six stone-quarries and another brickyard. Licence was also granted to Messrs. Crawshay to connect their extensive colliery at Light Moore with the main line of railway near Cinderford, on the broad gauge principle, besides four other licences to connect various other works with the chief lines of traffic by short lengths of tramway.

It may be here remarked, that two years previously an inspector was appointed to view the timber intended to be felled for the navy before its being cut, and the following table exhibits the proportion of timber received at the Dockyard before and since the adoption of such a plan, showing its great utility:—

DEAN FOREST. HIGH MEADOW. 1851 48 per cent. 1851 22 per cent. 1852 44 ,, 1852 31 ,, 1853 30 ,, 1853 no fall. 1854 no fall 1854 ,, 1855 65 per cent. 1855 92 per cent.

On Tuesday, the 22nd of January, 1856, an important meeting took place at the Speech-house, Sir J. Campbell taking the chair, assisted by the Rev. H. W. Bellairs, Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, with the object of attempting to raise the standard of teaching in the schools of the district, eighteen in number, the Crown contributing to the support of each of them. The meeting was largely attended, especially by the neighbouring clergy, and resulted in a period of five years being allowed to the managers of such schools to secure the services of certificated or registered teachers, and to adopt a scale of payments by the children, graduated according to the rental or rateable value of the tenements occupied by their parents. The formation of a central school, adapted for educating youths for filling responsible situations in the iron and coal works of the Forest, was likewise recommended, and is obviously desirable. Changes were also now made, with a view to economy, in the staff of woodmen and labourers on the Forest, whereby an annual saving, both immediate and prospective, would be obtained.

With the exception of a few decayed timber trees being felled in the course of the following year (1857), there is nothing requiring further notice, and I therefore here close the historical account of the Forest, and shall proceed in the following chapters with the other objects of inquiry which have been indicated.



CHAPTER IX. THE ORIGINAL OCCUPIERS OF THE FOREST.

The inhabitants of the Forest—Its Aborigines—Celtic indications in the names of persons and places—The forty-eight free miners' names appended to their book of "Dennis," contrasted with the present roll of free miners—Traces of Saxon and Norman influence—Early civilization indicated in the methodical character of their mine laws, and in miners being summoned to several sieges, qualified by their acts of plunder—Successive notices of the inhabitants during the last 150 years, with their present improved condition—Kitty Drew, the Forest poetess—Mining usages described—Order for pit timber—Miners' Court and Jury—Richard Morse's poem—Intelligence of the present race—Their superstitions, self-importance, defects of character—Occupations—Domestic animals—Beverage—Dress—Dwellings—Diversions—Dialect—Christian names—Former distribution of population—Present numbers.

The heading of this chapter refers to one of the most interesting circumstances connected with the Forest of Dean, namely, the origin, character, customs, and early condition of its people.

The original occupiers of this part of the kingdom, according to Richard of Cirencester, a writer of the 14th century, were the Silures, an offshoot of the immense Celtic family by which the middle and western parts of Europe were overspread. The numerous remains left in the district by the Romans indicate that there had been considerable intercourse between them and the inhabitants; but the chief influences of which any traces are left appear to have descended from the Welsh, with whom the foresters of the present day still seem closely to assimilate. Hence their somewhat impulsive temperament, and the occurrence of Celtic or Silurian names, such as the following, indicative of the character of the places they designate:—

Dean i.e. Woodland. Lidney ,, Broadwater. Awre ,, yellowish. Bicknor ,, above the river. Lydbrook ,, a river's shore. Penyard ,, the hill-top, &c.

There are also many families bearing the Welsh names of Williams, Morgan, Pritchard, Watkins, Roberts, Gwilliam, Hughes, Jenkins, Griffiths, Lewellyn, &c. The list of the forty-eight free miners constituting the jury who signed the Book of Mine Laws some 400 years ago, containing so few of those which are now most common in the neighbourhood, indicates a considerable change as having taken place in the population; they may be thus classed:

Not now to be found on the roll of free miners—Garone, Clarke, Wytt, Nortone, Mitchell, Lumbart, Ocle, Barton, Heynes, Arminger, Rogers, Hathen, Miller, Croudfell, Dull, Loofe, Forthey, Walker, Tinker, Witch, Delewger, Doles, Hinde, Tellow, Backstar, Lawrence, Dolet, Caloe, Holt; in place of which names the following now occur—Baldwin, Cook, Dobbs, Hale, Jenkins, Kear, Morgan, Philipps, Harper, Davis, Meek, Brain, Jones, Jordan, Robins, Rudge, James, Milnes, Marfell, Chivers, &c. The names of Hathway, Skin, Baker, Holder, and Warr still appear in the Forest, although they no longer occur on the rolls of free miners.

Yet to be found on the rolls—Preeste, Smith, Addis, Burt, Hopkine, Tyler, Roberts, Parsons.

Similar traces of Saxon or Norman influence appear in the words Staunton, Newnham, Newland, Ayleford, Coleford, &c.; those of a Norman stamp being apparent in St. Briavel's, Ruerdean (i.e. riviere Dean), Lea, Coverham (Covert), &c., or in the family names of Baldwin, Waldwin, Chivers, &c. To which may be added the circumstance that in most of the ancient churches adjoining the Forest there are portions of Early Norman, viz., Newnham, Staunton, English Bicknor, Ruerdean, Woolaston, St. Briavel's, &c.

Assuming that "the customs and franchises" of the miners of the Forest were first granted to the inhabitants by William I., they certainly show, for that early period, a highly creditable appreciation of justice, order, and right feeling. Their skill in the use of the bow, and in excavating the soil, is proved by the attendance demanded of them at various sieges during the first half of the 14th century; but their outrageous interruption of vessels navigating the Severn in the reign of Henry VI., and in one instance even so late as in that of George III., illustrates the common truth that "every field has its tares." Probably the troubles of the Great Rebellion would have little affected them, had they been left to themselves, their warmth of feeling being chiefly manifested when they apprehended danger to their "customs and franchises:"—hence Dr. Parsons's character of them:—"The inhabitants are some of them a sort of robustic wild people, that must be civilized by good discipline and government." Such was no doubt their state and condition 150 years ago. In 1808 they were described as "not very orderly;" in 1810 as being in a condition "nearly as wretched as anything now existing in Ireland," and as "exceedingly excitable," prone to make unlimited demands in opening and carrying on their works, destroying the timber for such purposes, so as ultimately to leave hardly a tithe for the supply of the Royal dockyards, perpetually at strife amongst themselves, so jealous of any "foreigners" coming into the Forest as to deter most persons, and highly suspicious of any efforts to improve the property of the Crown, even when intended for their personal good, repeatedly destroying the new plantations, and terrifying the adjoining districts by forming riotous mobs. Yet the Chartists from Newport and places adjacent, in 1840, met with no sympathy from the Foresters, who drove their delegates away.

Happily for all parties these evils have almost entirely disappeared, through the good success which Providence has vouchsafed to the late judicious laws for regulating the mines, settling the relief of the poor, and establishing churches and schools in every part of the Forest. The former state of things was in fact the effect of the exclusive and protective rights, with corresponding usages, of which the well-meaning but short-sighted inhabitants thought so much; and hence their Magna Charta, as they were wont to call their book of "Dennis," was rather a mischief than a benefit. Their general feelings are characteristically described in the following lines from the pen of worthy Kitty Drew, the self-taught Forest poetess, in her poem on the Forest of Dean, dated 1835:—

"In days of old 'twas here and there a cot, Of architecture they'd little knowledge got; None but a few free miners then lived here, Who thought no harm to catch a good fat deer, Or steal an oak—it was their chief delight. Old foresters, I'm told, did think 'twas right To steal an oak, and bear it clean away; But caught, the jail a twelvemonth and a day It was their doom, or else must pay a fine, The which to do they did not much incline.

* * * * *

"But noble miners there have been, I ken, By their old works, stout, able-bodied men; They'd not the knowledge then that now they've got, To work by steam—hand-labour was their lot. But I am told that many ages back A foreign army did our land invade, And blood and carnage then was all the trade; They pitched their tents, and then without delay They waited anxious for the bloody fray; But our bold miners underneath did get, And many a ton of powder there did set; So up they blew the unsuspecting foe, Their shattered limbs came rattling down below. Our land thus cleared, our liberty thus saved, Our noble miners dug the caitiffs' grave. The King with honour did them so regard, Made them free miners as a just reward; The Forest Charter to them granted was, And firm and sure were made the Forest laws. In former times they gloried in the name, But now the foreigners have got the game.

* * * * *

"The Forest now is numerous got of late, Since moneyed men come here to speculate Where once a little turfen hut did stand, You'll see a noble house and piece of land. Deeper the pits than any here before, The lowest vein of coal for to explore. They were but shallow pits in days of old, They'd not the knowledge then, as I am told; But though there was not then great learning's store, It was much better for the labouring poor; Men loved their masters—masters loved their men, But those good times we ne'er shall see again."

A mining population is generally found to have peculiar customs and privileges of its own, and such is more especially the case with the free miners of the Forest of Dean, who have had hitherto their own Court of Justice, with the exclusive occupation of the district, and the sole control of its mineral wealth. Their claims are thus specified by the Dean Forest Commissioners:—"Every free miner duly qualified by birth from a free father in the hundred of St. Briavel's and abiding therein, having worked in the mines a year and a day, claims the right to demand of the King's gaveller a 'gale,' that is a spot of ground chosen by himself for sinking a mine, and this, provided it does not interfere with the works of any other mine, the gaveller considers himself obliged to give, receiving a fee of five shillings, and inserting the name of the free miner in the gale-book. The gaveller goes to the spot selected with the free miner making the application, and gives him possession with the following ceremonies:—The gaveller cuts a stick, and, asking the party how many verns or partners he has, cuts a notch for every partner, and one for the King. A turf is then cut, and the stick forked down by two other sticks, the turf put over it, and the party galing the work is then considered to be put in full possession. The free miner, having thus obtained possession, is compelled to proceed with the work by working one day in the following year and day, and a day in each subsequent year and day (forfeiting the gale if he fails so to work), and to pay an annual sum of two guineas to the gaveller for each vein of coal he intends to work, till he gets at the coal, after which he agrees with him for the amount of the composition to be paid to the King in lieu of his fifth, which, in case of their not agreeing, must be taken in kind by the King's putting in a fifth man. The right to the gale is considered by the free miner to carry with it that of timber for the use of the works; this seems to extend no farther than to the offal and soft wood; and the mode of obtaining it is for the miner to apply to the keeper of the walk in which his mine is situated for an order, which he takes to the clerk of the Swainmote Court, who, on receiving a fee of one shilling, as a matter of course gives him another order directed to the keeper of the walk in which there is timber fit for the purpose," in the following form:—

Copy of a Warrant or Order for the Delivery of Timber to a Coal Miner in Dean Forest.

"[Forest of Dean.] At the Court of Attachments, holden at the Speech House, the 25th day of Sep. 1784, came Phil. Hatton, and demanded Timber for himself and Verns, for the Use of their Coal Works called Young Colliers, in Ruerdean Walk, within the said Forest.

"JNO. MATTHEWS, Steward.

"To Mr. John Bradley, Keeper of the said Walk. (by Certificate.)

"Some Timber to be delivered fit for sinking. Indorsed '4 Oaks.'

"The miner cuts the timber when assigned, and until within about the last ten years paid a fee of two shillings to the keeper, there being no limit to the amount of timber if applied for the use of the works. If the gale-ground was situated within the hundred of St. Briavel's, but belonged to private parties, the free miner still claimed his right to open the ground, the proprietor being let in as a partner, making a sixth, the only exception being churchyards, gardens, orchards, and Crown plantations."

A jury of twelve, twenty-four, forty-eight, or seventy free miners, under the auspices of the Constable of St. Briavel's Castle, or his deputy, enacted such mine laws as the interests of the body seemed to require, administering them without any appeal, or permission to resort to another court of law. The witnesses in giving evidence wore their caps to show that they were free miners, and took the usual oath, touching the Book of the Four Gospels with a stick of holly, {149a} so as not to soil the Sacred Volume with their miry hands. These singular usages explain the observation of the Rev. H. Berkin that "the inhabitants are completely sui generis," and "their exact situation can scarcely be understood except by those on the spot," as likewise the sentiment which the Rev. H. C. H. Hawkins expresses—"by altering the character of the Foresters, a curious relic of antiquity might be destroyed, to my regret I must own, as I feel desirous to preserve so singular a specimen in all its purity."

In the year 1832 the Rev. C. Crawley stated, "I think the moral character of the inhabitants has been much improved by the building of churches; heinous offences are very rare in the Forest:" and in 1849 Mr. Machen said, "A great change has been wrought in them; there is a very great difference in their habits now, certainly." {149b}

The Forest miners of the present day are well acquainted with the geological structure of their neighbourhood, more especially with the out-crop, succession, and dip of the mineral veins. In short, their natural endowments are fully equal to the general standard, and only require cultivation, as frequently appears from the quickness with which they detect the bearings of any pecuniary transaction, and their proneness to litigation. Many superstitions, however, still linger amongst them, such as the use of charms and incantations, a belief in witchcraft and an evil eye, a resort to "wise men," and even to the minister of the parish as being a "Master of Arts," or for some of the offertory money, out of which to have a charm-ring made. They are likewise inclined to give credence to tales of apparitions, and to regard sickness and accident as fated and inevitable. From their having been for so many generations an isolated and peculiar people, most of them are ignorant of the rest of the world, and have of course a correspondingly exaggerated idea of their own importance. It is pleasing to observe the sympathy they manifest towards the sick amongst them, or such as have been accidentally injured; and although most independent in their notions, and impatient of control, they seem always thankful for real kindness. What they chiefly lack is more generosity and candour towards strangers, and a clearer understanding of their duties as protectors of the national property, in respect of the crops of timber which grow around them. {151} In most mining districts the moral habits of the people are more or less in a low state, and they are certainly not worse here than elsewhere. One source of evil arises from the large ablutions which their working underground necessitates. The process of washing on their return from the pit is not performed as privately as it might be, and the effect of this upon the moral perceptions of the people, huddled together in their small cottages, is very injurious. It is a pity some arrangement is not made for having washhouses at the pits, where a supply of hot water from the boilers might be easily obtained for the purpose.

One half of the Forest population is understood to be employed at the coal-works, a fourth part at those of iron, whose red dresses make them easily known, and the remaining portion are employed in the quarries and woods, &c.

Horses of a bad breed, donkeys, mules, cattle, sheep, pigs, and geese abound, owing to the free pasture afforded by the open Forest, the three former having been used for many generations in carrying iron-mine, coal, charcoal, &c. Farming operations are necessarily very limited. Cider obtained from the styre apple used to be a common beverage; but that fruit has long been extinct, and malt-liquor is now mostly preferred. Gardening is little attended to, the colliers generally feeling indisposed to further exertion after returning from the pit. In few instances only are bees kept. Formerly much of the wearing apparel was made from home-spun wool, woven or knitted in the neighbourhood; but this is not now the practice.

The turf-covered cabin, resting on four dry walls, without windows, and pierced only by a low door, with a very rude fireplace and chimney in "the pine end," and partially paved with rough stones, once the habitation of the Forest "cabiner," is now almost entirely superseded by two-floored cottages, often containing not less than four apartments. In bygone days a few neighbours, taking advantage of a moonlight night, accomplished the erection of a cabin ere the morning dawned, in which case it was supposed that the keepers had no power to pull it down. To show the eagerness with which poor families sought to establish themselves in the Forest, it may be mentioned that they took possession of the ancient mine-caves, walling up the back and front, leaving a vent for the smoke in the former, and in the latter a gap as an entrance.

Their pastimes used to be dancing and foot-ball, to the great delight of people of all ages: indeed there are several spots yet called from the above circumstance "the dancing green." Wakes were likewise very popular, and also the game of fives, so that at Ruerdean one side of the church tower was whitewashed for the purpose, and resorted to even on Sundays. Some of the provincialisms of the district occur in the following words—"yat" (gate), "tump" (hillock), "teart" (sharp), "spract" (lively), "twich" (touch), "near a anoust" (near the same), "anunt" (opposite).

Peculiarities also occur in the selection of Christian names, including these—Benedicta, Abia, Winifred, Kezia, Barzillai, Sibylla, Eve, Saba, Sabina, Beata, Tryphena, Belinda, Myra, Terzah, Nimrod, River, Milson, Miles, &c. {152}

On account of the dense woods with which the Forest was anciently covered, added to the fact that except at Newland, and perhaps at Park End, no churches were built within it, we may conclude that at an early period its population was small, the persons engaged in the iron and coal works then living, as many of the working people do now, in the adjoining parishes. Our earliest information as to the number of inhabitants residing within its present limits relates to the time of the Commonwealth, when "400 cabins of beggarly people living upon the waste, and destroying the wood and timber, were thrown down." In 1712 Sir R. Atkins states that "there had been many cottages in it, but that they had been lately pulled down, leaving only the six keepers' houses." He gives 6,090 as the total population of the outlying parishes, thus distributed:—

Mitcheldean 600 Little Dean 620 Newnham 400 Blakeney 250 Lydney 700 Newland 800 Clearwell 600 Coleford 600 Bream 300 Le Bailey 200 Staunton 220 Ruerdean 500 Bicknor 300 ——- Total 6,090

At the close of the century, the Forest, as now bounded, comprised 589 houses, which in 1803 had increased to 696, the number of free miners being then 662. Since that time the inhabitants of the Forest have gone on increasing as follows:—

In 1821 they were 5,525 In 1831 ,, 7,014 In 1841 ,, 10,674 In 1851 ,, 13,252

of whom about 1,789 have the right of voting for Members of Parliament. The annual value of property existing in the Forest, not belonging to the Crown, was estimated in 1849 at 13,603 pounds 14s. 2d., and in 1856 at 18,492 pounds 17s. 7d.



CHAPTER X.

Churches and schools—Religious provisions before the Reformation—Rev. P. M. Procter, Vicar of Newland, lectures in Thomas Morgan's cottage—The erection of a place for worship proposed—Rev. H. Berkin opens a Sunday-school—Mr. Procter uses his chapel schoolroom—Mr. Berkin lectures in the Foresters' cottages—Builds Holy Trinity Church (1817)—His assiduous labours and death in 1847—Christ Church, Berry Hill—Mr. Procter's death—His successors—Rev. H. Poole builds St. Paul's, Park End, and schoolrooms—Rev. J. J. Ebsworth—St. John's, Cinderford, consecrated 1844—Lydbrook Church consecrated 1851—Government aid to the churches and schools.

Previous to the Reformation, care seems to have been taken to provide the population of the Forest with the means of religious worship. The border churches of Mitcheldean and Newland were far larger than the people residing in their immediate neighbourhood required; and there were others, of which the memorials only remain in the names of "Chapel Hill" and "Church Hill," the former in the parish of English Bicknor, and the latter at Park End. This last was connected apparently with Ruerdean, if we may judge from the "Churchway" which ran in that direction and gave the name to an adjacent colliery. The "Laws and Customes" of the free miners, dating as far back certainly as the year 1300, show that the services of the Church were then generally known—the King's Gaveller being therein directed to visit the mine "between Mattens and Masse," and the miner was to "swear by his faith." For 200 years after the Reformation no further provision was made, indeed none was apparently required, as the Forest had been more than once nearly depopulated during that period, and was said to be almost without inhabitants in 1712.

In common with many other mineral districts, especially those in the West, the Rev. John Wesley established a connection with our Forest miners. He visited Coleford as early as 1756, and did so again in 1763; and his Journal thus records these visits:—"Monday, 15th March, 1756.—We reached Coleford before seven, and found a plain loving people, who received the word of God with all gladness. Tuesday, 16th.—Examining the little society, I found them grievously harassed by disputations. Anabaptists were on one side, and Quakers on the other; and hereby five or six persons have been confused. But the rest cleave so much the closer together. Nor does it appear that there is now one trifler, much less a disorderly walker, among them." Wednesday, 17th (August, 1763).—"Hence we rode to Coleford. The wind being high, I consented to preach in their new room; but large as it was, it would not contain the people, who appeared to be not a little affected, of which they gave a sufficient proof by filling the room at five in the morning."

It appears, also, as stated in the interesting MS. of worthy Mr. Horlich, an Independent Minister, that in the year 1783 "one Mr. Stiff occasionally, on the Lord's Day, went to some sequestered spot in the Forest, where himself and some of his family took their station under the extended branches of one of the trees, for the purpose of reading the Word of God."

But no sustained effort to impart religious instruction to the inhabitants of the Forest was made until 1803, when the Rev. P. M. Procter became Vicar of Newland, to which parish the Foresters were always considered to belong. "At this time," he says, in his 'Brief and Authentic Statement,' published in 1819, "I saw nothing of them on the Sabbath-day. The church was only used by them as a matter of course and necessity: indeed, a general opinion prevailed that they had no right to accommodation, and a Forester was seldom seen in the aisle. The first impression I received respecting the inhabitants was of the most unfavourable kind. For some months no other intercourse took place than what the visiting of the sick and the baptizing of the children occasioned. By these means, however, I came to the knowledge of their condition, their lives and conversation, of which the latter were the most deplorable—habitual profanation of the Sabbath-day, drunkenness, rioting, immodest dancing, revellings, fightings, an improper state of females on their marriage, and an absence and ignorance of the Holy Scriptures."

Mr. Procter then goes on to relate how he was brought to attempt their improvement.—"After a few months' residence I was invited to take the afternoon duty of the chapel at Coleford. Curiosity brought some of the colliers to hear, and the report they carried home with them induced others to come and judge for themselves. We passed on very quietly for a little time, when a collier, named Thomas Morgan, sent to request that I would call upon him. I did so. After the accustomed salutations were passed, he assigned certain impressive reasons for wishing to see me, and, in stating them, his eyes, his voice, and humble gesture strongly marked the agitated feelings of his soul. After an interesting conversation of two hours, I promised, at his request, to call upon him again the following week. On taking my leave he said, 'I hope your honour will not be offended, but some of my relations and neighbours are in the same ignorant state as myself; they would be happy to hear your conversation, and with permission I will ask one or two to come.' Under the impression of a private conversation with six or eight people, I went to the cottage at the time appointed. Upon laying my hand on the latch of the door, the opening of it was prevented—the resistance proceeded from the number of people collected within. A profound silence prevailed. The collier smiled and looked for a pardon. Astonished at this unexpected scene, not being accustomed and perfectly unprepared to address such an assemblage, I felt for some moments at a loss how to proceed. But there was no time for hesitation; taking the Bible, the 61st of Isaiah was the chapter read and commented upon. The attention with which the poor heard, the very humble manner in which they returned thanks, and the earnest hope they expressed that I would come again, made a deep impression in their favour. Under these circumstances I was led, as it were, unintentionally to the commencement of those lectures which continue to the present time (1819). The first effects of these lectures were seen in the observance of the sacred duties of the Sabbath-day; our congregations at Newland increased, and the aisles of the church became occupied, in which the Foresters were now seen. Year after year passed away, the Thursday evening lectures continued to be well attended, the moral habits of the people improved, and a knowledge of the Scriptures obtained. Religion had evidently taken root; much was effected, but infinitely more remained to be done. The means only were wanting—the opportunity was present. Could we raise a building to contain about 200 people? Such were our limited views at that time."

In 1807 a memorial was drawn up and signed by some hundreds of miners and colliers, praying the officers of the Crown to grant a portion of land on which to erect a lecture-room, and also timber for building it. Dr. Huntingford, the Bishop of Gloucester, presented the petition to Government; but the law officers of the Crown, Sir S. Romilly and Sir A. Piggott, found that it could not be carried into effect without an Act of the Legislature. Under Mr. Perceval's administration, Mr. Procter renewed the attempt by a personal interview with that minister, who, whilst expressing his deep regret that he could not officially assist, suggested an appeal to the public, to which he would give his name and support, as well as an application to the National Society about to be formed. To him, in fact, is due the insertion at this juncture of the clause in the Act of 52nd George III., chap. 161, sec. 27, to enable the Commissioners of the Treasury to appropriate small portions of land, not exceeding five acres, for ecclesiastical purposes, and which has facilitated the erection of the Forest churches.

Closely resembling the above efforts were those made on the north-east side of the Forest by the Rev. H. Berkin, which he commenced about the year 1809, when curate of Mitcheldean. He writes—"Finding the miners and colliers of the Forest, adjoining that parish, too generally living in the neglect of moral and religious duties, I considered it a duty to attempt their improvement." In January, 1812, he opened a school-room in Mitcheldean, which he had built mainly at his own expense, although he was afterwards assisted by his private friends, and in particular by a liberal donation from the Duke of Beaufort, and eventually by a grant of 50 pounds from the National Society, 100 pounds being given at the same time to Mr. Procter's building-fund—these were the very first donations to country schools made by that estimable institution. Mr. Berkin's school was at once attended by 140 scholars, and ultimately 350 came. In the first Report of the National Society it is stated that "many of the parents expressed their acknowledgments to Mr. Berkin with the tears in their eyes, exerting themselves to the utmost to enable their children to be constant in their attendance, in spite of the numerous difficulties with which they had to struggle—such as the distance of the schools, the wretched state of the roads in bad weather, and the extreme poverty of the people, which makes it a hard matter for them to clothe their children properly, and to furnish them with a slice of bread for their dinner."

Returning to Mr. Procter's exertions to erect a building for the two-fold purpose of divine service and juvenile instruction, he found consolation for former disappointments in the following pleasing offer of Thomas Morgan, the poor cottager already mentioned:—"Take my field," said he. "With that I give you five guineas, to which my neighbours have added 15 pounds. We ask of you only to begin and build until the money is expended; in another year we will again add our mites; only lay the foundation and begin." Accordingly, in the month of June, 1812, the building was commenced, and (aided by the subscriptions which were received, especially from the Duke of Beaufort, the Lord Bishop of Gloucester, and his secretary, Mr. Ryder) was so constructed as to admit of its being hereafter enlarged and consecrated. "On the Epiphany, 6th January, 1813, the public service of the Established Church was, for the first time, read within its walls, under the authority of an episcopal licence; but on the commencement of Sunday duty a painful circumstance presented itself which had not been anticipated, viz. an astonishing inattention to the prayers of the Church: all appeared a blank—no interest, no spiritual concern. The cause was evident in the want of prayer-books, soon however supplied by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and one of the bishops of the Church. A schoolmaster, Mr. Edward Hawkins, previously sent to the National School in Baldwin's Gardens, immediately commenced the education of the children—300 being entered the first week. On every Thursday evening throughout the year the scholars were examined in the presence of a congregation assembled for public worship—a mode of instruction which gave a laudable excitement to the children, by means of which they acquired a firmness of mind, a clear, distinct pronunciation, and an accuracy in their delivery, which was very gratifying to the hearers, whilst it gave to the parents and relations an opportunity of observing their progress by the system of education. Through this medium, also, many a truth has been taught, many an impression made, where preaching had not succeeded." "By this time," proceeds the same excellent man, "the principles and motives of my exertions being made apparent, all the little prejudices were softened down, if not into approval, at least into a passive silence, particularly as another clergyman, the Rev. H. Berkin, was zealously pursuing the same line of conduct on the other side of the Forest, who began this year (1812) to lecture in the cottages there, as his next attempt to benefit the parents and children connected with his school." He says—"Finding that few, by comparison, attended public worship, I visited them in their cottages to read and explain the Bible; and I was led to adopt this plan from the particular situation of the Foresters, destitute of churches or ministers whom they could properly call their own. In these pastoral visits, made on different evenings in different places, and in which I have usually spent two hours in reading and practically explaining the Holy Scriptures, I have sometimes had 200 persons present at one time, and calculate on the whole that 800 at different times have thus come under instruction. Many instances might be produced, certainly not less than 20 families, of reformation in both sexes, which had evinced itself in their desire to possess the Bible and Common Prayer Book, and by a total change in their moral character."

At the commencement of his career Mr. Berkin was repeatedly remonstrated with by respectable gentlemen who knew the locality better than himself, upon his venturing amongst the Foresters alone, assuring him that it was not safe, since, a very short time before he came to Mitcheldean, two Wesleyan ministers attempted open-air preaching in the Forest, but were violently attacked and driven away. He thus proceeds to describe the circumstances which led to the erection of Holy Trinity Church:—"At one of the places which I am accustomed to visit, where the heat and crowd have at times been almost insufferable, the colliers, aided by two or three neighbouring farmers, offered to build a large room for the better accommodation of greater numbers. This, for obvious reasons, was declined; but it led me earnestly to wish that the Foresters might be more immediately brought within the pale of the Established Church, and, by regular attendance on a church appropriated to themselves, be made habitually acquainted with that admirable Liturgy to which too many of them are now utter strangers." Acting upon these earnest feelings, Mr. Berkin, with the concurrence of the esteemed Dr. Ryder, the Bishop of Gloucester, laid a memorial and plan before Government, with an offer, on his part, that, "if the needful fund for building a church and parsonage-house could be provided, he would give up his present curacy and serve the new church without any further emolument than the endowment necessary for its consecration." In the concluding terms of an admirable address to the public, dated the 30th April, 1816, which he circulated with the design of obtaining contributions to the work, he stated—"My wishes are, that the kind contributors will feel rewarded in the reflection that thousands yet unborn may have cause to bless them for thus providing for their spiritual wants, and giving them the knowledge of those principles which alone can make them worthy members of society here, or lead them to provide well for their eternal welfare hereafter."

The Crown granted five acres of land for the purpose on Harry Hill, being a spot situated within a reasonable distance of from 250 to 300 cottages. To the estimated cost of 2,500 pounds, contributions, amounting in some cases to 30 pounds each, were given by the Earl of Liverpool, Right Hon. N. Vansittart, the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, Sir Thomas Baring, Lord Calthorpe, Joshua Watson, Esq., Rev. H. H. Norris, W. Wilberforce, Esq., M.P., Rev. J. Pratt, &c. The building of the church (the design of which comprised a chancel 15 feet square, a tower about 60 feet high, and a body or nave 40 feet by 60 feet, calculated to hold from 400 to 500 adults, and a large children's gallery, for whom a school-room 30 feet by 50 feet was also to be built close adjoining) was begun on the 4th of June, 1816, and was used for the first time upon the 2nd of February following, on which occasion the sermon was preached by the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, from St. Matt. iv. 16. It was consecrated, as the Church of the Holy Trinity, by Bishop Ryder, on the 26th June, 1817, who preached a sermon, not yet forgotten, upon 1 Kings viii. 30; and the whole property of the living was vested in the Lord Bishop of Gloucester, Lord Calthorpe, and the Right Hon. Nicholas Vansittart, Rev. J. Kempthorne and Rev. Charles Bryan, as trustees.

Although Mr. Berkin had thus accomplished the important object of providing the inhabitants of the north-east portion of the Forest with "a church which they could call their own," he felt that it yet remained for him to make the building really useful to the people by imparting to them more and more just views of the Christian life. Accordingly he laboured if possible more abundantly than ever amongst them, visiting their houses at short intervals, collecting neighbours together, and expounding the Holy Scripture to them under their own roofs, or else opening the church so as to draw them off from the corrupting pastimes which were common at certain times of the year, and bestowing much pains on his Sunday school.

[Picture: Holy Trinity Church and Schools, Harry Hill]

Sometimes, when necessitated to take relaxation, and to go from home for a few weeks, he improved the time by acting as a deputation for the Church Missionary or Bible Societies, and even now his name is remembered in distant parishes. The Missionary Association for which he acted as secretary, and which was called the North-east Forest of Dean Branch, sometimes contributed 220 pounds a year to the cause, or a total of 3,300 pounds. The appliances, now so generally known, for interesting the young were even then in actual operation in his own school, and effected their purpose well. His monitors and sub-teachers were carefully guided by him; and no doubt with the design of duly impressing its importance upon his scholars, holy baptism in accordance with the rubric was always administered during divine service, after the second lesson, and this took place most Sundays, as the register shows.

Few clergymen took more pains than Mr. Berkin with the communicants of the church, who were always visited before the communion day, and who generally presented themselves to the number of about seventy. On two occasions valuable livings were offered to him; but, said he, "since my ministerial work began in this neighbourhood, here it shall end," as it accordingly did, after forty years of labour, on the 11th October, 1847. He was buried in his own churchyard, being followed to the grave by his sorrowing people, and worthily committed to the tomb by the Rev. James Davies, of Abbenhall. His funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. H. Poole, who took for his text 2 Tim. iv. 6-8. {163}

A rapidly increasing population, and unfortunately not a concentrating one, compelled Mr. Berkin's successor (the writer of this work) to meet its wants by erecting chapel school-rooms, for the accommodation of sixty scholars each, in the hamlets of Woodside and the Hawthorns, the former having been in use since 15th September, 1850, and the latter since 31st December, 1851, to the lasting benefit, he trusts, of many of the rising generation through the Divine blessing on the conscientious efforts of their respective teachers. It was by such a method that Mr. Berkin acted, when, in the year 1822, he caused a chapel school-room to be built at Lydbrook, judging that place to be sufficiently populous and distant from the nearest church to justify such an erection, not as being a full provision for it, but hoping that eventually a church might be built there, which has now been satisfactorily accomplished.

The following clergymen have successively officiated in the district of Holy Trinity:—

Incumbents.—H. Berkin, 1817; H. G. Nicholls, 1847.

Curates.—J. Morse, 1820; J. Bridgeman, 1821; J. Herbert, 1822; W. Marshall, 1822; W. Burkitt, 1824; J. Chell, 1827; R. T. Budd, 1840; W. C. Badger, 1844; J. G. Croker, 1846; G. Tatam, 1848; H. Algar, 1851; W. Nickisson; W. Duckett; J. Ashton; H. W. Thornton; W. A. Whitestone. Most of these gentlemen served at Lydbrook, although occasionally at Holy Trinity Church; they likewise attended the Chapel Schoolroom on Little Dean Hill.

The annual number of christenings at Holy Trinity Church is 80; of weddings, 15; and of funerals, 40. The morning congregation on Sunday comprises about 100; that in the afternoon, 350; and the two evening school-room services, 120. About 250 scholars attend school weekdays and Sundays.

Having thus related the progressive efforts made for the welfare of the people occupying the north-east portion of the Forest, it is necessary that we return to the date of 1813, being the year in which the Rev. Mr. Procter opened his chapel school-room on the west. He tells us that "in the course of this year the Bishop of Gloucester was pleased to call my attention to the clause introduced by Mr. Perceval into the Act of 52 George III., cap. 161. I went up to town, and had the honour of an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Right Honourable N. Vansittart, who was pleased to advise with the Earl of Liverpool on the subject, which resulted in a grant of five acres of land, a donation of 100 pounds to the building fund, and an endowment of 20 pounds per annum to the school." He proceeds to remark that "the crowded state of the chapel became a matter of astonishment to the Foresters themselves, and painfully inconvenient to the congregation, as well as dangerous to the health of the officiating minister, from the intense heat, besides excluding the children, all showing the necessity of an enlargement; so that, after a probationary period of three years, another appeal for aid came before the public, whereby the building was increased to twice the size, provided with a children's gallery, and, excepting two pews, kept perfectly free and open to all. It now became my duty," observes Mr. Procter, "to secure to the Foresters in perpetuity these extraordinary blessings which Divine Providence was progressively granting to them. This could only be done by consecration, and to authorize such an act, an endowment being considered necessary, another public appeal was made in June, 1813, for assistance to place amongst these poor people a clergyman who would not only publicly preach, but reside, privately visit their cottages, disseminate the Scriptures, and assist the master of the National School in impressing upon the minds of the children the principles of the Christian religion," as, "without a resident clergyman, an experience of fourteen years convinced him that all efforts would prove abortive. It had likewise become necessary to discontinue using the chapel as a school-room, since the doing so had been found to lessen the reverence due to the sanctuary in the minds both of the parents and children. A new schoolroom was therefore immediately built of the best stone, with two fireplaces, and a partition in the middle; over the door is the following inscription,—'The Forest Day School, for Boys and Girls, on the National plan, established 1812, supported by voluntary subscriptions.'" The cost of erection was almost 300 pounds, and the expenses of conducting the school averaged about 70 pounds per annum, for two-thirds of which Mr. Procter was himself answerable, and only dependent on annual donations.

With the view of forming such an endowment for the church as would make it eligible for consecration, a freehold estate near at hand was purchased in the month of November, 1816, although the price of it exceeded the sum subscribed by 200 pounds, but which amount it was expected the Parliamentary Commissioners would repay. Thomas Morgan's house, garden, buildings, and lands adjoining the chapel were also purchased for nearly 400 pounds, the former being partly preserved in the back part of the present parsonage-house. Thus the property appropriated to the new church consisted at this time of the five acres of Crown land, the purchased freehold, and Thomas Morgan's property, on which, as an ecclesiastical endowment, the consecration of the church, under the name of Christ Church, took place, on Wednesday, 7th July, 1816, by Bishop Ryder, and was duly conveyed to the following gentlemen as trustees, viz., the Right Honourable N. Vansittart, Lord Calthorpe, James Jenkins, George Baring, T. T. Biddulph, Esqrs.; Reverends J. Hensman and E. Mansfield.

[Picture: Christ Church, Berry Hill]

The body of the building forms a parallelogram 50 feet by 42 feet; the tower, upwards of 60 feet high, was built some years afterwards, at a cost of 1,000 pounds. Unfortunately, serious inconvenience ensued to Mr. Procter by his having caused the whole of the above-named endowment property to be conveyed to the church previous to its consecration, since, on presenting the memorial to the Board for the payment of the accustomed Parliamentary grant, the case was pronounced "irregular," rendering Mr. Procter liable to a debt of 950 pounds, although 500 pounds of the amount was eventually paid by Pyncombe's Charity and Queen Anne's Board. The sum of 2,000 pounds was granted, however, by the Parliamentary Board to be laid out in the purchase of land, yielding in the mean time an interest of 4 pounds per cent., and raising the total income of the living to 118 pounds 10s. 6d., or thereabouts. Mr. Procter died on the 8th May, 1822, aged 52, worn out by excessive devotion to his pastoral duties, and was succeeded by the Rev. T. R. Garnsey, who, after a life of similar usefulness, expired in March, 1847. His funeral sermon was preached on Sunday, the 14th of March, by the Rev. H. Poole, from Hebrews xii. 2. The church was densely crowded, many could not obtain an entrance, and all appeared deeply to feel the loss they had sustained.

In the mean time, under the Act of 1842, an addition of 31 pounds 9s. 6d. was made to the salary of the incumbent, by the purchase of an equivalent amount of 3 per cent. Reduced Bank Annuities, raising its annual income to 150 pounds, the nomination to the incumbency being transferred to the Queen and her successors. The Rev. J. Banks succeeded to the living in 1847, who, previous to his relinquishing it in 1852, effected several improvements in the interior of the church. The Rev. W. H. Taylor followed him, and still remains the minister. The adjoining school premises have been made much more complete and capacious by him, so as amply to accommodate 150 children, and a teacher's house has been erected. A permanent redemption of the land-tax charged on the living, at the cost of 150 pounds, has also been presented by Thomas Graham, Esq. There are three tablets on the north side or oldest part of the church, to the memories of Edward Hawkins, the first teacher in the school, the Rev. P. M. Procter, and the Rev. T. R. Garnsey, and a flat paved stone records the grave of Thomas Morgan. About ten marriages, forty-three baptisms, and thirty-five funerals take place yearly. The church is well attended on Sunday, especially in the afternoon, when 300 or 400 persons are usually present.

Whilst the Rev. P. M. Procter and the Rev. H. Berkin were engaged in effecting the improvements described on the west and north-east sides of the Forest, the Rev. H. Poole was labouring to accomplish similar results on the south-east. The appeal for public aid towards "the erection of a church and school-house," which he issued on the 6th July, 1819, thus forcibly describes the necessities of the case:—"The Forest is an extensive tract of land, having a circumference of about twenty-five miles, and containing at present nearly 5,000 souls. This population, with some exceptions, may be considered as divided into three settlements, detached from each other by a space of several miles, of which settlements two are now provided with churches; but the other colony, situated on the south-east side, is still destitute of the means of religious knowledge. It is therefore proposed, under the sanction of the Lord Bishop of the diocese, to erect a third church and school-house in this still neglected spot. From a recent accurate survey, it appears that within little more than two miles of the site of the proposed church there are at least 400 inhabitants, distant from the other Forest churches about six miles, and from any parish church nearly three miles. The chapel of Bream, the nearest episcopal place of worship, is too small to accommodate even one-third of the population of its own tithing. Being thus unprovided with a place of worship and the means of public instruction, and following the corrupt dictates of their untutored minds, the natural consequences are gross ignorance of the Scriptures, a shameful profanation of the Sabbath, and a total neglect of all the duties of religion, accompanied with a general prevalence of disorderly and immoral conduct." This application met with a generous response from Bishop Ryder, Edward Protheroe, Esq., the Earl of Liverpool, the Right Hon. N. Vansittart, Edward Machen, Esq., Lord Calthorpe, Lady Olivia Sparrow, Mrs. H. More, &c.

The site chosen for the new church, as being most convenient of access for the largest number of persons, was "Mason's Tump," situated immediately to the east of Whitemead, Park End. In the two previous instances of church-building at Berry Hill and Holy Trinity, little had been attempted in the way of appropriate design; but in this case Mr. Poole's practical knowledge and good taste enabled more to be accomplished. At a total cost of 2,731 pounds, including the churchyard boundary wall and gates, a cruciform edifice, enlarged into an octagon forty-six feet in diameter at the intersection, having a total length of sixty-six feet, so as to accommodate 500 people, was erected in the Decorated style of architecture; attached to which there was also raised a well-proportioned tower, eighty feet in height, and intended to contain a small peal of eight bells, Edward Machen, Esq., presenting the treble, as well as a good clock with three dials.

[Picture: St. Paul's Church, Park End]

The church now possesses a good finger organ, removed from Ross church, and said to have been used originally in Salisbury Cathedral. There is also a rich reredos under the east window. At eleven o'clock on the morning of the 2nd of May, 1822, Dr. Ryder, the Lord Bishop of Gloucester, attended by thirteen clergymen and many of the magistrates and gentry of the neighbourhood, proceeded to the spot for the purpose of dedicating the fabric to the service of God as the Church of St. Paul. The Bishop entered the edifice by the west door, followed by his clergy, repeating alternately the 24th Psalm. Every seat was immediately filled, and soon no spot was left unoccupied. Many could not gain admission, and were seen clinging to the bars of the windows on the outside. A large company of professional and amateur singers attended, so that the whole musical part of the service was well executed. His Lordship delivered an impressive discourse from the 8th, 9th, and 10th verses of the 132nd Psalm. The congregation was very attentive, and, after contributing at the door nearly 30 pounds towards the completion of the work, dispersed, fully 1,000 persons being observed to leave the church. The perpetual advowson of the living was assigned to the Bishop of the diocese, and endowed with 75 pounds 6s. 6d. per annum, together with the remainder of the five acres of land granted by the Crown as glebe, on which a picturesque parsonage, and also commodious schools for a population supposed to number 1,500, were erected. By the Act of 1842 the income of the incumbency was augmented to 150 pounds a year, and the presentation confirmed to the Bishop of the diocese, with an ecclesiastical district annexed to it of 7,741 acres, with 3,681 inhabitants. This population has since increased to 6,500, to meet which growth pleasing and substantial schools have been built, at a total outlay of 750 pounds, on the Viney Hill and in the Blakeney Valley, the former opened in 1850, and the latter in 1851. Divine service is held in each of them under episcopal licence. The three schools are attended by 200 children daily. The Sunday congregations comprise 150 people in the morning, and 400 in the afternoon. About fifty come to the Lord's Table. The yearly average of christenings is forty-six, of weddings twenty-six, and of funerals forty-five. The following is a list of

Incumbents.—Henry Poole; J. J. Ebsworth, M.A.

Curates.—David Jones, M.A., Oxon.; —- Dixon, B.A., Oxon.; —- Revel, M.A., Camb.; —- Stewart, M.A., Camb.; —- Mountfort, M.A., Oxon.; —- Malpas, M.A.; —- Cardew, B.A.; —- Ponton, B.A.

[Picture: St. John's Church and Schools, Cinderford]

The next effort made to meet the spiritual wants of the increasing population of the Forest was commenced by Edward Protheroe, Esq., M.P., who erected and opened, July 1, 1840, "on Cinderford Tump, where the old holly grew," large and substantial school-buildings, for the benefit of the families connected with his adjacent collieries, and consigned them to the care of Mr. Zachariah Jolly as their master, an office which he ably filled for several years. The attendance was large, sometimes exceeding 280 children of both sexes. In the first seventeen years, to July, 1857, nearly 1,400 young persons were admitted into the schools, at ages ranging from four to twenty-two years. There was also an evening school for adults, some winters numbering ninety, patronized by the South Wales Railway Company, who subscribed liberally to it. By the Act of July, 1842, dividing the Forest into ecclesiastical districts, its south-east section was constituted one of them, and a stipend of 150 pounds per annum provided for the minister, so soon as the church intended for it should be built and consecrated. Aided by large donations from the Crown, Charles Bathurst, Esq., the Rev. Dr. Warneford, and others, the new church, erected on the hill above Cinderford Bridge, at a cost of 3,109 pounds, in the Early Pointed style of Gothic architecture, on the plan of a Latin cross, with a belfry turret, and capable of seating 800 persons, was consecrated under the name of St. John the Apostle, by Bishop Monk, on the 22nd of October, 1844. There was a large attendance of clergy, and upwards of 1,100 persons were present, many others being unable to obtain admission into the church. The Rev. R. Davies preached from St. Matt. xii. 34. The Rev. T. G. Smythies, who had been residing for some time in the district, became the first incumbent. This appointment he continues to hold, and by the aid of the Crown, the late Bishop Monk, Dr. Warneford, and the Gally Knight Fund, has built an excellent parsonage conveniently adjoining the church.

Following the course of ecclesiastical and educational progress in the Forest, it only remains to record the most recent step taken, namely, that at Lydbrook. The erection of a church there, although contemplated for several years previously, was deferred for some time, until the assiduous exertions of the Rev. J. Burdon, and the munificent donation of 2,000 pounds from Mr. Machen and his relatives, secured its accomplishment. {172} The cost of the building, including the site, which lies on the north-east slope of the Lydbrook Valley, close to the original school-room, was 3,500 pounds, to which the following public bodies thus contributed:

Her Majesty's Commissioners of 250 pounds Woods, &c. ,, Church Building 100 Commissioners Incorporated Society 230 Diocesan ditto 200 —— 780 pounds

The rest was given by private persons, the principal being Messrs. Allaway and Partridge, who contributed 250 pounds.

[Picture: Lydbrook Church and Schools]

The church was designed by H. Woodyer, Esq., in the Geometrical style of Decorated architecture, and comprises a nave and aisles 60 feet long and 50 feet in width, a handsome chancel, a south porch, and tower 80 feet high. It is built in the ornamented parts and internally of Bath stone, the exterior being the gritstone of the neighbourhood. The foundation stone was laid on Monday, the 12th of August, 1850, and the church, called that of "The Holy Jesus," was consecrated on the 4th December, 1851, by Dr. Ollivant, Bishop of Llandaff, the Bishop of the diocese being too unwell to attend. Considering the season of the year, the day was very fine, nearly fifty clergymen were present, and upwards of one thousand people crowded into the edifice. The Rev. E. Machen, Rector of Mitcheldean, preached the sermon on Isaiah lvi. 7. A stipend of about 120 pounds was secured to the incumbent of the church by annexing to it 30 pounds from the tithes of English Bicknor, with an additional 90 pounds from the Crown, which consequently presents to the living, alternately with Queen's College, Oxford. The first incumbent was the Rev. W. Deering, who was succeeded in 1853 by the Rev. T. H. Chase, by whom it is still held, and who has been enabled to erect a suitable parsonage house. About thirty baptisms, fifteen funerals, with a proportionate number of weddings, take place at this church annually. Nearly 150 persons attend on the Sunday morning, and 250 in the afternoon, amongst whom there are forty communicants, the total population of the parish being 2,500.

In addition to the five churches named above, my knowledge of the district enables me to state that the rapid increase of population calls for the erection of at least three more, on the east, south, and west sides of the Forest, all of which should, if possible, be provided without delay.

Besides the efforts of the Church, directed as now described, for the benefit of the population of the Forest, its inhabitants have of late years become an object of religious regard to the different bodies of Congregationalists, most of whom are represented amongst the Foresters. The wealthier coal and iron masters manifest a benevolent interest in the welfare of their workmen, and in one instance have established a large day-school, and built a place of worship for their use. The Commissioners of the Crown have always attended to applications for help in furtherance of these objects, and have at different times granted sums to the amount of 10,347 pounds towards endowing the Forest churches, and in some years have devoted as much as 800 pounds to the maintenance of schools, which they annually aid by the following donations:

pounds s. d. St. Paul's 70 0 0 District (Park End, 30 pounds, Oldcroft 20 pounds, and Blakeney Woodside 20 pounds) Christ Church 30 0 0 District Holy Trinity 70 0 0 District (Trinity 30 pounds, Ruardean Woodside 20 pounds, Hawthorns 20 pounds) Cinderford 30 0 0 Lydbrook 30 0 0 Bream 15 0 0 St. Briavel's 5 5 0 Mitcheldean 5 5 0 Blakeney 15 0 0 Staunton 10 0 0 Dixton 5 0 0 Coleford 5 0 0 English Bicknor 2 2 0 Whitchurch 5 0 0 —— —- —- 297 12 0

To the above must be added the handsome donation of 500 pounds from Thomas Graham, Esq., formerly clerk to the Dean Forest Commissioners.



CHAPTER XI.

The history of the Abbey of Flaxley, or St. Mary de Dene—Its foundation by Roger Earl of Hereford in 1140—Confirmed and enriched by Henry II. and III., and Richard II.—Suppressed in 1541—Existing remains—St. Anthony's Well—The Abbey, &c., granted to Sir W. Kingston—His descendants—Mrs. C. Riches (Boevey), supposed to be Sir R. de Coverley's "perverse widow;" her benevolent life, and death in 1726—Nature and cessation of the Flaxley iron-works—Erection of the present church in 1856.

The link which connects the Abbey of Flaxley with the Forest of Dean is chiefly of an antiquarian nature; for instead of being included as formerly within the limits of the Forest, it is merely approached on one side by a promontory of Crown land, called "Pope's Hill." The incident which led to the foundation of the abbey, as related by Leland, who visited it a short time before it was suppressed, shows the Forest character of its precincts. He tells us—"ther was a brother of Rogerus Earl of Hereforde that was kylled wythe an arowe in huntinge in the very place where the abbay syns was made. There was a table of the matter hanggid up in the abbay church." The date of its institution is assigned to the year 1140, or the reign of Stephen, its chief founder being the aforesaid Roger, aided by a Bishop of Hereford "that holped much to the buildinge," and who was probably Robert de Betune, by whom the north-west transept of that cathedral is said to have been erected. They designated it "the Abbey of St. Mary de Dene, or Dene Abbey," and devoted it to the use of the White Monks of the Cistertian order. Tintern, the other abbey of that order, established near the western border of the Forest, was founded nine years before. The dress of the monks was a white cassock, with a narrow scapulary; and from this doubtless comes the name of "St. White's," on Little Dean Hill, in the parish of Flaxley, as well as of another spot called Whitecross.

The institution of the abbey was confirmed, and its endowment augmented, by two charters, granted by Henry II., to the following purport:—"Know ye that I have granted and confirmed to God and St. Mary, and to the monks of the Cistertian order, a certain place in the valley of Castiard called Flaxley, to build an abbey there; and all that land called Wastdean, and one iron forge free and quit, and with as free liberty to work as any of my forges in demesne; and all the land under the Old Castle of Dene, with liberty to plough it up, to wit 100 acres, which remains to be assarted, and that which is already assarted; and a certain fishery at Redley called Newerre, and a meadow of Reidley called Pulmeade, containing four acres; and all easements in the Forest of Dean, to wit, common of pasture for their young cattle and hogs and for all other beasts, and wood and timber to repair their houses and buildings, and for other necessaries, without committing waste in the Forest; and I have given them tithes of chesnuts out of the same Forest, and all my demesnes at Dymmock; and five yard lands and a half, besides the demesnes and half my wood at Dymmock, and half my nets which I have in my hands, for the conveniences of my men, because I would have my monks enjoy that part of the wood peaceably and quietly, without any interfering with any other persons; and I straightly command that no person offer to disturb them upon this account; and the lands belonging to Walfric; but so that if Uhred the clerk continues in the abbey with the lands he exchanged, to wit, two yard lands, that then he shall give no account of it to any body but the abbot; and all the land of Jeoffry, son of the aforesaid Walfric, which the Earl of Hereford did release, and all the land which Leffric de Staura gave to them in alms, and the farm which I gave them at Wallemere, out of my new ploughed ground containing 200 acres with the meadows and pastures, and all other easements; and four acres of Northwood. I further give to them my new ploughed grounds under Castiard, called Vincent Lands;" added to which, there was a grant of two oaks out of the Forest every seven days, for supplying their iron-forge with fuel.

Few of the properties here named can now be traced. Castiard is unknown, but perhaps the "old Castle of Dene" is identical with a circular ditch and bank, about fifty yards in diameter, on Camp Hill, between Flaxley and Little Dean. It may also be observed that the present Chesnuts Enclosure is probably the site of the chesnut groves referred to in the above grants. A century later (42 Henry III.) the two oaks weekly were commuted for a tract of woodland in the Forest, containing 872 acres, reserving, however, the herbage for the King's deer and wild beasts, and all mines and quarries, and a power to the grantee to enclose one-tenth part thereof, and to hold the same enclosed against all animals except the King's deer and wild beasts, leaving nine tenth parts always open; all which peculiarities of tenure are connected with a tract of land yet identified by the name of "the Abbot's Woods." Between the years 1206 and 1215 King John paid several visits to Flaxley. In the terms of a Papal taxation levied in 1291 by Pope Nicholas, the property of this abbey was thus valued:—

pounds s. d. In the diocese 14 0 1 of Hereford, at ,, Bath and 11 0 0 Wells ,, Worcester 7 5 0 — - - Total 32 5 1

Ere long it acquired the dignity of a mitred abbey, though never of a peeral one, its abbot being summoned to Parliament 21st Edward III. During the reign of Richard II. these additional grants were made to it:—"Certain tenements in Leye, Bosteley, and Rodley; the manor and impropriate church of Flaxley; the manors of Blaisdon, Newnham, and Ruerdean; distinct manors in the parishes of Dean Parva, Dymock, and Arlingham, with a house in Abbenhall." A document in the Chapter-house at Westminster, dated 10th Edward II., has the abbot's seal attached, representing an abbot standing erect with his crosier under a canopy slightly ornamented, with the legend S . ABBATIS . DE . FLAXLE. The counter seal is a hand with a crosier, and other ornaments, viz., a fleur-de-lis, &c., surrounded by the words CONTRA SIGILLUM ABBATIS DE FLAXLE. The names and dates of the following abbots have been preserved:—

Elected. 1288 Nicholas. 1314 William de Rya. 1372 Richard Peyta. 1509 John —-. 1528 William Beawdley. 1532 Thomas Ware.

The last of these, Thomas Ware, survived the suppression of the house and the dispersion of its brethren, of whom there were nine at that time, the abbey being delivered up to the King's Commissioners in 1541, valued at 112 pounds 13s. 1d., according to Dugdale. Tintern Abbey was suppressed four years previously. Ware retired to Aston Rowant, near Thame, in Oxfordshire, where he spent the rest of his life in seclusion, and was there buried in 1546.

The vicissitudes of 300 years have left little of the original structure remaining: only in 1788 the pavement of the Chapter-house was discovered at a small depth, on the east side of the refectory, extending about 45 feet, and 24 wide. At the upper end a circular stone bench was exposed, and in the centre the carved base of a pillar. Several coffin-lids of stone were likewise found, sculptured with ornamented crosses, and upon one a hand and arm holding a crosier, under which probably one of the abbots was interred. The view of the abbey as it appeared about the year 1712, according to Sir R. Atkyns's print, exhibits traces of the ancient residence of the abbot and monks, respecting which the Rev. T. Rudge remarks—"It was low, but long in front, being 60 feet in length, 25 feet wide, and only 14 high; the whole arched with stone, and the vault intersected with plain and massy ribs, and seems to have formed the refectory. The first floor contained a long gallery, and at the south end one very spacious apartment which was supposed to have been the abbot's chief room. The dormitories or cells were connected with the great gallery."

[Picture: Stone coffin lids at Flaxley Abbey]

[Picture: The Refectory of Flaxley Abbey]

[Picture: Open Timber Roof of the Abbot's Room at Flaxley Abbey]

A further trace of the same period is also to be found at the head of one of the brooks feeding the stream which descends the Flaxley valley, called "St. Anthony's Well," and which, from its supposed medicinal properties, was until late years widely famed for curing cutaneous disorders, although under circumstances somewhat connected with the marvellous, its peculiar efficacy being combined with the rising of the sun, the month of May, and the visits to it being repeated nine times in succession. However, after due allowance for some exaggeration, there remains ample proof of the utility of its waters in removing diseases of the skin. The square basin or reservoir of stone immediately adjoining the head of the spring was made at the commencement of this century for the convenience of bathers, and occupies a very secluded position, overshadowed by a large beech-tree, and closed round with mossy banks. The water is abundant in quantity, and contains iron and lime, derived from the strata through which it percolates. The general temperature is 50 degrees.

[Picture: St. Anthony's Well]

On the suppression of the Abbey in 1541, Henry VIII. granted it to Sir William Kingston, the Constable of the Tower of London, memorable as being the person to whom the dying Wolsey confessed—"If I had served God as diligently as I have done the King, he would not have given me over in my gray hayres." Sir William dying in 1545, letters patent regranted to Anthony his son (who in consideration of his father's services was knighted on the occasion) "the site of the late Abbey, and all the church, bellhouse, and churchyard of the same, and all the houses, granges, &c., as well within as without the said site, and also all other the manors and granges of Flaxley, Howle, Goderith, Climperwell, Wolmore, Blaisdon, Aclingham, Le Rouhen, Ruardene, Newland, Dene Parva, Newnham, Pulton, and Dymock, with their rights in the county of Gloucester, and the house and manor of Rochilburgh in the county of Somerset, belonging to the same; and all advocations, presentations, &c., of the said parishes at any time appurtenant to the said monastery," subject to the yearly payment of 1 pound 8s. 2d. In the third year of Edward VI. he accompanied Lord Russell as Provost Marshal of the army sent against the Western rebels, in which capacity his great severity obtained for him the epithet from Fuller of "the terrible Provost Marshal." His name occurs on the roll of High Sheriffs for the county in the year 1549. In 1555 Queen Mary appointed him one of the commissioners to see execution done upon that excellent prelate and martyr Bishop Hooper, by whom he had been formerly admonished for gross immorality, and forced to submit and do penance, as well as pay a fine of 500 pounds.

It is not surprising to find him a vigorous opponent in parliament of the Queen's effort for restoring to the religious establishments the property of which they had been deprived. So strongly was he opposed to this, that on one occasion he seized the keys of the House from the serjeant, for which he was committed to the Tower, although upon his humble submission he was afterwards discharged. The next year he was supposed, and not without reason, to be involved in a plot to rob the Exchequer of 50,000 pounds, and therewith to raise a rebellion; but it was discovered, and all the conspirators were executed except Sir A. Kingston, who perhaps only escaped by dying on his road to London, whither he was summoned to appear before the Council. By his will, dated 27th of April, 1 Edw. VI., he entailed his several manors and estates on his sons, Anthony and Edmund. Anthony died without issue, having in 1591 leased the Grange estate to one William Brain and others of Little Dean, for 370 years, of which an annual acknowledgment of 6 pounds continues to be paid by its present holders, and Edmund succeeded to all the Kingston property. He left two sons, Anthony and George, the former of whom died in 1594, leaving by his will his sons Edmund and George joint executors and heirs. George died in the year 1647, intestate, seized of the Collect (Gawlet?) woods, in the parish of Flaxley, and was father of Anthony.

It is said by Sir R. Atkyns that there was a monument to George Kingston in the chancel of the original church of the parish, inscribed as follows:—

"Mar. 4, 1644.

"Vixi dum vellem, moriebar tempore grato Et sic vita mihi mors quoque grata fuit."

"Kings have stones on them when they die, And here Kingstone under a stone doth lie; Nor Prince, nor Peer, nor any mortal wight, Can shun Death's dart—Death still will have his right. O then bethink to what you all must trust, At last to die, and come to judgment just."

There are no traces of any such monument now, and it was therefore probably destroyed when the church was rebuilt about 1730.

The Kingstons took no part apparently in the contests which occurred in the neighbourhood between the Royalists and Parliamentarians, but confined their attention to their own affairs and the management of their iron-works. The only member of the family who suffered was a Sir Francis Crawley, who, about the year 1642-3, was deposed for a judgment in favour of the King on the question of ship-money, or something of a similar kind. The family possess one of King Charles's rings as a memento of such a decision. Edmund died in 1621, and was father of William, who, pursuant to his father Edmund's will, made a settlement between himself, William, and James Boevey on one part, and William Jones, of Nass, on the other. He left an only son, Anthony, who, having no issue, disposed of the estate to Abraham Clarke, Esq., who died here in 1683, as also his wife Joana, from whose son Abraham, dying in 1682, it passed, in virtue of certain complex devises, to a near relative, William Boevey, Esq. Mr. Boevey married Catharina (in her sixteenth year), daughter of John Riches, Esq., an affluent London merchant. She was left at the age of twenty-two a widow, which she inexorably remained until her death, on the 3rd January, 1726, in her fifty-seventh year, leaving a name for benevolence and ability which the neighbourhood venerates to this day. Dr. Geo. Hickes calls her, in the preface to his 'Thesaurus,' published in 1702-3, "praestantissima et honestissima matrona Catharine Bovey," and was most probably one of her personal friends, agreeably to a traditionary account in the family, that "she was very friendly to the nonjuring clergy, and that she had frequently received and protected them."

There are several pictures of clergymen at Flaxley, which have always been believed to be portraits of Mrs. Boevey's nonjuring friends. Amongst these are two in episcopal habits, one of which is ascertained to be the portrait of the deprived Dr. Frampton, Bishop of Gloucester, since an exactly similar painting exists in the Palace at Gloucester. Flaxley is mentioned as her residence by Sir R. Atkyns in 1712, where, he tells us, "she hath an handsome house and pleasant gardens, and a great estate, a furnace for casting of iron, and three forges," as also appears by Kip's view of it. In 1714 Steele dedicated to her the second volume of 'The Ladies' Library,' the frontispiece to which Mr. Kerslake describes as "representing a young lady, dressed in widow's weeds, opening a book upon a table, on which also lies a skull; her admirers, in long wigs and swords, are thronging round the door." In one of his letters to Lady Steele, dated the 17th January, 1717, he writes—"I have yours in a leaf of the widow's." Such incidents seem to prove that this highly-gifted lady was the original of the character so graphically delineated by Steele in his description of "the perverse widow." The numbers of the 'Spectator' in which she is introduced generally bear his name, and she probably was more intimate with him than with Addison (although both are said to have visited the Abbey), since he would naturally pass near Flaxley whenever he travelled between London and his house at Llangunnor, near Caermarthen. Nothing less than such a familiar acquaintance could have enabled him to give so exact and real a description of her as occurs in No. 113.

In Ballard's 'Ladies,' first printed in 1752, and on her monument in Westminster Abbey and in Flaxley Church, her more public virtues are displayed; but the value of her home life, which many of the poor Foresters had experienced in her bounties, is best related in the words of her faithful attendant, Mrs. Rachel Vergo, "who always waited particularly on her mistress, and was the only servant who sat up, as she spent an hour or two every night in her closet. She did the same in the morning, and was a very early riser. Mrs. Vergo had the care of the family under Mrs. Mary Pope, a relation of Mrs. Bovey, who came for a visit of a month, and stayed nearly forty years. The regularity and economy in the family was great. The maids were kept to work till eight o'clock at night, and the rest was their own time. Mrs. Bovey frequently called for her charity account book to see if it kept pace with her expenses in dress, which was always very handsome. Mrs. Vergo was often sent to Ross and Mitcheldean to buy materials to make garments for the poor. The old table-linen and sheets were made into childbed linen, which, together with shirts and shifts of all sizes, were kept in a closet. It was Mrs. Vergo's business to give them out as her lady ordered. Two ladies came to visit Mrs. Pope at the time the epidemic fever raged in Gloucestershire in 1719. One of them, Mrs. Cowling, died of it at the Abbey. The other, Mrs. Grace Butler, agreed with Mrs. Bovey and Mrs. Pope all to lie in the same vault with the deceased. The vault was built accordingly in Flaxley churchyard. Mrs. Bovey died first at the Abbey, and was laid by her friend. Mrs. Pope was brought from Twickenham in Surrey, and Mrs. Grace Butler twenty years afterwards from Worminghurst in Sussex. Every afternoon during her lady's life Mrs. Vergo was ordered to wear a silk gown. Six of the poor children who were kept at school at Flaxley dined by turns regularly every Sunday at the Abbey, when Mrs. Bovey heard them say their Catechism. She was very often in the habit of lending money to poor clergymen, which was frequently repaid to her in small sums, but more often given to them. She did the same, too, by other distressed people whom she believed to be honest and industrious. During the Christmas holidays before Mrs. Bovey died she had the thirty children who were taught at her expense, to dine at the Abbey upon beef and pudding. Mrs. Vergo sat at the head of the table, and two of the housemaids waited upon them. After dinner Mrs. Bovey had them all into the parlour, where she was sitting dressed in white and silver. She showed them her clothes and her jewels, talked pleasantly and with great good nature to them, and having given to each of them sixpence she dismissed them. When they left her they had a harp and fiddle playing in the great hall, where they danced two hours and went away in good time. When Mrs. Bovey was dressing before dinner she said to Mrs. Vergo, 'Rachel, you will be surprised that I put such fine clothes on to-day; but I think that these poor children will remember me the longer for it.' She was then to all appearance very well, but she died that very day month of a bowel complaint."—"Upon Wednesday morning," wrote Mr. MacBarrow, "she was as well at breakfast as usual; between eleven and twelve she was seized with a most violent colic. We sent to Gloucester for Greville, as the nearest at hand; that night for Lane, but he was not to be met with. The extremity of pain continued, and, notwithstanding all means that could be used, nothing would pass. She apprehended death approaching the first day, and said what her illness was: we sent to Oxford and Hereford, but no physician until it was too late. Upon Friday morning she had a little ease, which gave us great hopes; but very soon the exquisite pain returned, and never left her until death had performed its great office, betwixt eleven and twelve on Saturday morning. She was sensible all along, and expressed great satisfaction in being here, where she said she always wished to die. She was buried in the same vault with Mrs. Cowling on 23rd January, 1726."—"Of her personal beauty," observes the Rev. C. Crawley, "although highly extolled, it really appears that very little can be said or seen, if we may form our opinions from the three portraits of her at Flaxley Abbey. They all represent a broad surface of a benevolent and good-natured countenance; and though they were evidently painted at different periods of her life, yet they bear so great a resemblance to each other that we may reasonably infer they were all good likenesses—in each of them the mole on the cheek has been defined with all due minuteness."

Mrs. Boevey bequeathed 1200 pounds to augment the living of Flaxley, the interest of 400 pounds to apprentice poor children, and a similar sum towards putting them out. Lastly she designed the rebuilding of the church, "which pious design was speedily executed by Mrs. Mary Pope." This work was effected about the year 1730, but report says not "speedily," as the parishioners found it necessary to institute a suit in Chancery to secure its accomplishment. The site of the old chapel was retained, only the size was increased, if we may judge from the view that Sir R. Atkyns gives of the former building, which he says was "very small, and had a low wooden tower at the west end." Most of the old monuments were transferred to it, and the new church, although rather plain, was "peculiarly neat" and substantial. Upon Mrs. Boevey's death the estate passed by will to Thomas Crawley, Esq., of London, merchant, in tail male, upon the condition of adding the name of Boevey to Crawley. Thomas, a lineal descendant, succeeded to the baronetage on the death of Sir Charles Barrow in January, 1789, by limitation of the patent. {189} Part of the mansion having been destroyed by fire, it was rebuilt by him in 1777, with extensive additions. This house yet remains, and is a capacious structure.

[Picture: The original Chapel at Flaxley, as it appeared in 1712]

"The iron manufactory," writes Rev. T. Rudge, at the beginning of this century, "is still carried on, and the metal is esteemed peculiarly good; but its goodness does not arise from any extraordinary qualities in the ore, but from the practice of working the furnace and forges with charcoal wood, without any mixture of pit coal. The quantity of charcoal required is so considerable, that the furnace cannot be kept in blow or working more than nine months successively, the wheels which work the bellows and hammers being turned by a powerful stream of water. At this time (Oct. 28, 1802) a cessation has taken place for nearly a year. Lancashire ore, which is brought to Newnham by sea, furnishes the principal supply; the mine found in the Forest being either too scanty to answer the expense of raising it, or when raised too difficult of fusion, and consequently too consumptive of fuel, to allow the common use of it." Since then so great a change has been effected in the mode of reducing the ore, that several tons of the Lancashire mine yet remain unused near the spot where the Flaxley furnace stood, the Forest ore readily yielding to the treatment it now receives in the blast furnaces of the district. "When the furnace is at work, about twenty tons a week are reduced to pig iron; in this state it is carried to the forges, where about eight tons a week are hammered out into bars, ploughshares, &c., ready for the smith." The aged people of the neighbourhood well remember when the Flaxley furnaces were in blast, and tell of the ancient cinders and pickings of the old mine-holes being taken down to them. With their disuse the former mode of manufacturing iron ceased in the district. The furnace buildings have been long removed, and the pools drained in which the water accumulated for driving the machinery.

[Picture: Flaxley Church, and Abbey in the distance]

Thus the "Castiard Vale" is once more devoted wholly to the picturesque, with the most pleasing effect, its beauty being yet further enhanced by a well-placed and exquisitely designed church, erected a few yards to the west of the one built by Mrs. Pope, after the designs of G. G. Scott, Esq., in the Early Decorated style of pointed architecture. {191} It comprises a richly ornamented chancel, nave, and north aisle, and a tower surmounted with a broach spire. There is churchroom for about 300 of the poor Foresters dwelling on Pope's Hill, as well as for the inhabitants of the parish. It was consecrated on the 18th of September, 1856, by Dr. Baring, Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, who preached on the occasion from Eccl. v. 1, most of the surrounding gentry attending, and fifty of the clergy. The present school-room was built in 1840, and accommodates sixty scholars.



CHAPTER XII.

The Forest roads and railways—Vestiges of some very ancient roads, apparently Roman—The old "crooked, winding, and cross ways," when no wheeled vehicles were allowed in the Forest—The original road across the Forest from Gloucester to Monmouth—Roads, first improvement in 1761—Road Act of 1795 carried into effect—Mitcheldean a post town—Roads further improved in 1828 and 1841—their present state and extent—The tramroads and railways of the Forest.

Unusually perfect remains of very ancient roads still exist in various parts of the Forest, resembling those made by the Romans, being slightly raised above the general level of the ground, and carefully pitched with large block stones, not unfrequently a foot square. The most remarkable of these is found along the vale below Puttern Edge, and called "Dean's Road," where the pitching remains in many places, being about eight feet in width. Although no coins have been found near it, yet its direction, indicating a connexion between the old iron-works above Sowdley, and the neighbourhood of Lydney, suggests that it was used in ancient times when the minerals of the district were carried from place to place on packhorses. Another road, yet traceable, gives the name of "Kymin" (Chemin) to a hill opposite Monmouth, the slopes of which it ascends in the direction of the Forest; and a third is partially preserved in a lane leading amongst the cottages at Little Dean's Woodside: it is called by the inhabitants "the Causeway," being yet partly paved, and uniting with another road, which is still in places formed of large stones.

The "crooked, winding, and cross-ways," which are said by Camden to have existed in the Forest, and to have rendered it a place of refuge for noble fugitives, were those paths which penetrated its depths, having their direction turned and rendered perplexing through the frequent interposition of streams, bogs, and thickets. Such were the means of communication which for many generations served the purposes of the Foresters, who permitted no wheeled vehicles to enter their domain, and possessed few if any themselves.

One high road, nearly identical with the present line between Monmouth and Mitcheldean, seems to have sufficed for the neighbourhood during at least 200 years. It was in use in the age of Elizabeth, a silver penny of that reign having been found on it, between Nailbridge and Harrow Hill. By this road Lord Herbert must have marched his army of 500 horse and 1500 foot towards Gloucester in 1643, as likewise Sir W. Waller a month later when pursued by Prince Maurice, and most probably Colonel Massey took the same route more than once. It seems also to be alluded to in the following suggestion made to Sir R. Atkyns, as Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, by a committee appointed in 1692 to inquire into the state of the Forest, with the view of securing its better government and preservation. They proposed that "a Justice-seat should be held once a year, for six or seven years, during the long vacation, within the said Forest, or not very remote from it, which might be done by deputation from the Lord Chief Justice in Eyre to some of their Majesties' Justices of Assize going in their ordinary circuits from Gloucester to Monmouth." Their journey was of course made on horseback, the usage being still continued, which the father of the Lord Chancellor Clarendon permitted him to adopt, when he gave him "leave to ride the circuit in the summer with his uncle the Chief Justice." An old house at the foot of the Plump Hill, near Mitcheldean, called "the Judges' Lodgings," because they made it their resting-place as they passed that way, seems confirmatory of the above suggestion.

The first mention of any sum being spent on the improvement of the Forest roads, occurs about the time that the trees planted in 1668 would be growing into timber fit for the Royal dockyards, and requiring therefore facilities for removal to the water-side. Hence, between 1761 and 1786, upwards of 11,305 pounds 1s. 10d. was laid out on them. Mr. Thomas Blunt, the Deputy Surveyor of the Forest, stated in 1788, in explanation of such an outlay, "That there are two great roads leading across the Forest, which have been made and kept in repair by the produce of timber felled and sold for that purpose, and on which by far the greater part of the expense for roads has been bestowed; the one enters the Forest at Mitcheldean, and proceeds quite across the Forest to Coleford, the other leads from Little Dean to Coleford. These two roads have been made chiefly with a view to the convenience of the public, being the principal roads from Gloucester to South Wales; neither of which roads, nor others which have been made and amended at a considerable expense to the Crown, are any way conducive to the preservation of the Forest, as they are but of little use in the conveyance of timber felled for the use of the Navy, the Navy timber in general being carried by a distinct road leading from the Forest towards Blakeney, which induces him to believe that the roads lately made are disadvantageous to the Forest, more carts and waggons having been used since the making of the roads in the fetching and carrying away of coal, greater quantities of timber being used in the coalworks, and much more timber secretly conveyed away under the coal than heretofore; which practice he believes might in a great measure be prevented by the erecting of turnpike gates on the roads, the tolls whereof would be fully sufficient to keep the roads in necessary repair."