66 66 66 further outlay on them, to the amount of 10,6457., took place in carrying out the provisions of the Act passed in 1795 "for amending, widening, improving, and keeping in repair several roads in and through His Majesty's Forest of Dean, and the waste lands thereto belonging, in the county of Gloucester, and for turning, altering, and changing the course of the said roads, and " for making several new roads in the said Forest to lead "to certain places in and near the same; and also for amending, widening, and keeping in repair certain "roads leading from the said Forest to and through "several parts of the parish of Newland adjoining the "Forest, in the said county of Gloucester." Mr. Surveyor Brimner states, that at a meeting of the Verderers. of the Forest, and the Roads Trustees, held at Newnham, 22nd April, 1796, the following roads were appointed to be put in repair: 66 At this time, therefore, so much of the ancient road as lay between Mitcheldean and Nail Bridge was discarded for the present one, which ascends the Stenders Hill by a more even slope, and avoids the abrupt rise of Harrow Hill. The old line may yet be traced, and Nail Bridge remains; in allusion to which improvements the following advertisement appeared in The Gloucester Journal, Monday, Sept. 5, 1796-"James Graham, at the George "Inn, Mitcheldean, has great pleasure in returning his respectful thanks for the liberal support he has received, and announces to the public that the new road "through His Majesty's Forest of Dean, leading from "Mitcheldean to Coleford and Monmouth, which is the high road from Gloucester to South Wales, is already greatly improved, and in a short time will be equal to any in this part of the country. It is allowed that 66 66 66 "travellers will save a mile at least by taking this way "from Gloucester to Monmouth; and when accurately "measured, it is imagined that the saving will be found "to be still greater. Graham has laid in a stock of "admirable port and other wines, and every exertion "will be made for public accommodation. Post chaises "at 18. per mile, and sober drivers." Nor was this advertisement a mere puff, as Mr. Rudge, writing in the year 1803, states-"The great travelling "road to Monmouth from Gloucester now leads through "Mitcheldean, which, with the good accommodation "afforded to travellers, will in process of time be probably "the occasion of raising it to a considerable rank among "towns of this description." Besides which, there are sufficient intimations in the double approach to the George Inn and large yard adjoining it, as well as in the capacious stable-yards belonging to the other inns of the town, which is beset with six toll-bars, that its character must have been such as is here given; to which may also be added the numerous farmers' teams which were constantly passing through the town to and from the collieries in the Forest, in droves of ten or fifteen together, the bells on the horses merrily jingling as they moved along. Connected with which circumstance it may be observed that the old roads of the district abound in horsepools, or watering-places, wherever a spring could be made available for their supply. At this time the two Mitcheldean toll-bars, situated on the Gloucester and Monmouth line of road, were let at 2507. per annum. The only link connecting in these respects the past with recent times was supplied until the last five years by our old friend Mr. Yearsley's coach, running three times a week between Coleford and Gloucester. For the next thirty years the Crown does not seem to have laid out any money upon the Forest roads, although their condition was so bad that it was urged as a reason for building churches and schools in the Forest, those of the surrounding parishes not being readily accessible to the inhabitants. But in 1828 and the two following years the Roads Trustees borrowed 5,000l., with which they made the road besides widening and improving the road through Lydbrook for Bishopswood. They likewise formed the road Leading from Berry Hill to Shortstanding 1 mile. Christ Church to Symmonds Rock 2 when other parts of the roads were also improved. In 1841 the large sum of 5,000l. was expended by the Commissioners in constructing roads To which may be added a short length of road made from the Hawthorns to the top of the Stenders, by a grant from the Operatives' Relief Fund.* The total length of the roads comprised within the present limits of the Forest is 41 miles 3 furlongs 31 yards. The tolls are not let, but collected in the name of the Commissioners, and yielded, in 1856, as follows, at their respective gates: *The new road over the Plump Hill in its formation exposed an ancient mine-hole, in which was found a heap of half-consumed embers, and the skull of what appeared from its tusks to be a wild boar, the fragments perhaps of a feast partaken of by our Forest ancestors. All these roads are now in excellent repair, but they have been, nevertheless, compelled to yield to the superior advantages of the railway system, here grafted, as is the case in some other places, upon the useful but less perfect tramway.* 66 In the years 1809 and 1810 a local Act authorised the construction of an extensive system of tramways throughout the Forest, under the auspices of "the Severn and Wye" and "Bullo Pill" Companies, traversing respectively the western and eastern sides of the district. The latter of these, the tramway which descends the eastern valley through Cinderford and Sowdley to the Severn, passed into the hands of the South Wales Railway Company, who purchased it in 1849, with the view of forming it into a locomotive road; and this they effected after great difficulty, in consequence of being obliged to carry on the trade upon the tramway at the same time, and opened it on the 14th July, 1854. Its present length, extending from Bullo Pill to the Churchway Colliery, is nearly seven miles. There is a branch from it of three-quarters of a mile to the Whimsey, another of one mile and a half to the Lightmoor Colliery, one of three-quarters of a mile to the Crump Meadow Colliery, one of a quarter of a mile to the Nelson Colliery, and a shorter one to the Regulator Pits. It is a single line, constructed throughout on the broadgauge principle, and for the present only conveys minerals. A central line, in addition to the above, is in course of formation. The tramway of "the Severn "and Wye Company," on the west side of the Forest, has not been materially altered. * One, or perhaps two roads, traversing the Forest from north to south, are yet wanting for public accommodation. CHAPTER XIII. The deer of the Forest, and its timber, plants, birds, ferns, and early allusions to the Forest deer - The Court of Swainmote, by which they were preserved Act of 1668 regarding them Reports of the Chief Forester in Fee and Bowbearer, and Verderers, in 1788, respecting the deer — Mr. Machen's memoranda on the same subject Their removal in 1849 The birds of the Forest - Unforestlike aspect of the Forest, now, compared with its former condition— Successive reductions of its timber - Its oldest existing trees described Present appearance of the young woods - Table of the Timber Stock, from time to time, during the last 200 years An account of the rarer plants and ferns. THE earliest allusion to deer in the Forest is, as might be expected, coeval with its being constituted a royal domain. William the Conqueror is said to have been hunting here when he first heard of the taking of York by the Danes in August, 1069. In Henry I.'s reign the deer were so numerous as to make the tithes of them worthy of being given as a royal present by that king to the Abbey of Gloucester, which city, says Geraldus, was supplied with venison from the Forest of Dean; and the frequent visits of King John to Flaxley Abbey and to the Castle of St. Briavel's during the latter years of his reign, arose probably from the abundant sport the neighbourhood afforded him. The deer of the King's forests were preserved in ancient times with the greatest care by the execution of certain laws, administered by a Swainmote Court, which was regulated by officers called Verderers, Foresters, and Agisters, who disposed of all cases in which deer were killed without warrant: not that any man was to lose either life or limb, as formerly, for so doing; but he was to be heavily fined if he had property, or, if not, to be imprisoned a year and a day, and be then released, |