Worcester Lodge and York Lodge, besides much defacing and spoiling the Speech House; an outrage connected probably with the unpopularity of James II., after whom the Speech House and York Lodge were called. With reference to the general feeling of the neighbourhood respecting the principles of the Revolution, Mr. Pyrke, of Dean Hall, states that the release of Lord Lovelace, a supporter of the Prince of Orange, out of Gloucester prison, was effected by "a young gentleman 66 of that county," an ancestor of his, "who took up "arms for the Prince, and drove out all the Popish crew "that were settled in that city," and that the exploit has been handed down in the following rude lines, sung by his haymakers at their harvest supper: "A health to Captain Pyrke, who in Little Dean was bred, He fought for the truth and the Protestant faith; He down in the West King William did meet, When he came to Gloucester he had but forty men, The city was guarded with soldiers about, But he brought Lord Lovelace from his prison quite out. With sword in his hand he before them did go; He was not ashamed his face for to show : They who have anything to say to Lord Lovelace,' said he, Then up to the Mayor away he did get, Then up into Oxfordshire away he did ride, He plundered the Papists along as he goes, Two years later than the date of the above outrages, wood-fellings to the extent of 6,186 short cords were made, pursuant to their Majesties' letters of Privy Seal. They were sold, it is said, for six shillings a cord, which was considered a good price for the county of Glou cester. A period of about five years from the time that the last was held brings us to the date of the eighth record of the Mine Law Court, viz. the 17th of January, 1692. It was held at Clearwell, before the three deputies of the Constable of St. Briavel's Castle, i. e. Tracy Catchmay, John Higford, and George Bond, Esqrs. The Court levied a further contribution of 12d. upon every miner, with an additional 1s. on every mine horse, with which to clear off certain charges incurred in a recent suit in the Court of Exchequer at Westminster. It extended the protective distance of 100 yards, within which every pit was guarded from being encroached upon by any other work, to 300 yards. It also provided that no iron ore intended for Ireland should be shipped on the Severn or Wye for a less sum than 6s. 6d. for every dozen bushels. This order was signed by sixteen out of the forty-eight miners with their own hands, the rest making their marks only. To this period is assigned Dr. Parsons's quaint remarks on the Forest. "It abounds," he says, "with springs "for the most part of a brownish or umber colour, occa"sioned by their passage through the veynes of oker, of "which there is a great plenty, or else through the rushy "tincture of the mineralls of the ore. The ground of the "Forest is more inclined to wood and cole than corn, yet "they have enough of it too. The inhabitants are, some "of them, a sort of robustic wild people, that must be "civilized by good discipline and government. The ore "and cinder wherewith they make their iron (which is the "great imployment of the poorer sort of inhabitants) " 'tis dug in most parts of ye Forest, one in the bowells, "and the other towards the surface of the earth. But, "whether it be by virtue of the Forrest laws, or other "custome, the head Gaviler of the Forrest, or others deputed by him, provided they were born in the Hundred "of St. Briavel's, may go into any man's grounds whatsoever, within the limitation of the Forrest, and dig or "delve for ore and cinders without any molestation. There "are two sorts of ore: the best ore is your brush ore, of a "blewish colour, very ponderous and full of shining specks 66 66 66 "like grains of silver; this affordeth the greatest quantity "of iron, but being melted alone produceth a mettal very "short and brittle. To remedy this inconvenience, they "make use of another material which they call cinder, it being nothing else but the refuse of the ore after the melting hath been extracted, which, being melted with "the other in due quantity, gives it that excellent temper "of toughness for which this iron is preferred before any "other that is brought from foreign parts. But it is to be "noted that in former times, when their works were few " and their vents small, they made use of no other bellows "but such as were moved by the strength of men, by 66 reason whereof their fires were much less intense than in "the furnaces they now imploy; so that, having in them only melted downe the principal part of the ore, they rejected the rest as useless, and not worth their charge: "this they call their cinder, and is found in an inexhaust"ible quantity throughout all the parts of the country "where any glomerys formerly stood, for so they were "then called." 66 66 CHAPTER IV. A.D. 1692-1758. Condition of the Forest described, and management examined Depredations Ninth and tenth orders of the Miners' Court Timber injured by the colliers - The Forest in its best state, 1712 -Eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth orders of the Miners' Court Fourteenth order of the Miners' Court Swainmote Court discontinued - Extension of coal-works and injury of trees - Forest neglected Fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth orders of the Miners' Court - Grant of 9200 feet of timber to the Gloucester Infirmary. REVERTING to the general condition and management of the Forest, an important commission was issued this year, 1692, to the Crown officers and some of the neighbouring gentry, directing them to examine and inquire into the six following particulars: -I. The quantity of coppicewood fit for being cut from year to year for twenty-one years to come-II. The annual charge for the next twenty-one years of maintaining the enclosures-III. What the cost would be of disenclosing certain coal-pits, with which some of the plantations were encumbered-IV. What the salaries of the Crown officers of the Forest amounted to, and the cost of making such repairs as the buildings they occupied required-V. As to the way in which the timber fellings of 1688 had been disposed of, with the state of the enclosures, if those who had charge of them had duly protected them from injury-and VI. How far trespass and pounding had been enforced, or unlawful building permitted. These were all very important questions, and under the first head, as to wood fit to be cut for cording, &c., the commissioners report, that "there are great and 66 valuable quantities of scrubbed beech and birch, with "some holly, hazel, and orle, fit to be cut and disposed of, being 192,000 cords, worth at 4s. 10d., amounting "to 46,488., of which 12,000 cords might be cut every year, worth 2,9007. Or, as the total quantity of such "wood was 615,500 cords, their worth at 4s. 10d. was "148,7457. 168. 8d., to which 60,0007. may safely be "added for future clearings if a twenty-one years' lease "be granted. 1007. a year would suffice to keep the en"closures in repair." The commissioners, in contemplating the expediency of making a grant adapted to the requirements of iron-making, supposing the King's furnaces to be restored, considered that it" would utterly "destroy the Forest, now the best nursery for a navy "in the world;" since the party obtaining such a lease would be sure to consider their own advantage rather than the preservation of the district. They also urged that a grant like that intimated was opposed to the intentions of the Act of 20th Charles II., as also to the previous decisions of 1662 and 1674, and would cause much dissatisfaction amongst the freeholders of the Forest, who were prepared to petition against it. The commissioners recommended that "the 66 66 66 making of the fellets, if put in execution, should "certainly be intrusted to the present officers, who "had given sufficient testimony of their care in such "matters." Their report adds that "the Lea Bayly is "now a spring of oak and beech of four, five, and six years' growth, but much cropped and spoiled by cattle, by reason the enclosures made for the preservation "thereof have in the night been several times pulled "down and destroyed by persons unknown." The other places mentioned in the Act of 1668, called "Cannop Fellet, Buckholt, Beachenhurst, and Moyey Stock,' are described as "generally very well grown with oak " and beech of fifty, forty, and thirty years' growth, and under, many thousand of them being forty foot and upwards, without a bough to hurt them." They further state, that some of the enclosure fences, especially those on the north-east side of the Forest, would 66 66 66 |