it should be found.

“Our Lord the King hath a mine in the bailiwick of Magna Dene, and he takes from each workman who shall gain every three days three semes of mine ore, 1^d. per week.  And when a mine is first of all found, our Lord the King shall have one man working with the other workman in the mine, and hire him for 2^d. a day, and he shall have such profit as he may find by the one workman.  Item, our Lord the King shall have from thence each week, six semes of mine ore, which is called ‘Lawe ore.’  And he shall give for this to the workmen VI^d. a week. [22]

“Our Lord the King hath in the bailiwick of the Birs, because there are there more mines than in the bailiwick of Dene, all as if in the bailiwick of Dene, this excepted, that he hath from thence each week XXIV. semes of mine, which is called ‘Lawe ore.’  And he giveth for this to the workman, every seven days, 11^s.”

“Our Lord the King hath in the bailiwick of Staunton a mine, and he takes from thence, all as if in the bailiwick of Magna Dene, this excepted, that our Lord the King shall have for each workman that gains each week three semes of mine ore, ½^d. every seven days and not more.

“Item, if our Lord the King shall have a ‘forgeam arrantem,’ the aforesaid workmen shall bring him mine ore for the supply of the aforesaid forge.  And our Lord the King shall give them for each seme 1^d.

“Item, our Lord the King shall have for each seme of mine ore that is taken out of the Forest, ½^d.

“And all that our Lord the King takes from the mine are put to farm for £46.

“Item, in the bailiwick de Lacu is a mine, and our Lord Richard Talebat holds it, and it is unknown by what warrant.  And our Lord the King takes nothing from it.

“Item, the Earl of Warwychiæ hath a mine in his own wood of Lideneye, and our Lord the King takes nothing from it, except for the mine which is carried out of the Forest, a ½^d.  The jurors say that the foresters take cooper’s stuff out of the open woods from the miners to the inbondage of the miners, and work it for their own profit.”

From the above curious items it appears that the iron mines, in common with the forges, were mostly situated on the Wye side of the Forest.  But then the bailiwicks of Little Dean and Ruerdean are not included.

It would appear, too, that the ore was then measured by the bushel, as it has been ever since, owing, of course, to its loose powdery nature, which seems, therefore, to have been the sort preferred.

The other singular particulars descriptive of “lawe ore,” &c., are noticed elsewhere, in the second portion of this work, containing the “Book of Dennis.”

Another “Inquisition” exists, bearing date the 12th Edward II., [23] but applying to the year commencing with Easter the 10th Edward II., or thirty-five years later than the former return.  It was made at (Mitchel) Dene, on the Wednesday before

the feast of St. Nicholas (6th December), by Lord Ralph de Abbendale and other foresters of fee, and by twelve jurors.

It assigns one “fabrica,” consuming ten shillings’ worth of wood-coal per week, or £24 yearly, to each of the following persons, located as under:—

“At St. Briavel’s.—Nicholas Le Prichure (who makes ploughs), Philip Hurel (making ‘grossum ferrum’), Richard Walencius, William FitzOsbert, Adam Betricz, Roger Spore, John Le Hayward, Stephen Malemort, William Bocod—in all 9.

“At Stanton.—Philip Clerk, Thomas Jan,—Walding—total 3.

“At Ruwardyn.—Roger Fowel, Peter de Obre, William Buysche, John Kole, Celimon Le Dine, with William Le Smale, William FitzMaud, Thomas de Leye, Adam de Leye (making ploughs), Robert Smart, Peter de Huwale, Walter de Wyteling, Thomas de Leye—in all 12.

“At (Mitchel) Dene.—Galfridus Dobel, Nicholas Draylax, John Geffray, Richard Stranglebowe, Richard de Gorstleye, Hugo Godewyne, Robert Down, Robert, son of Roger de Ponte, Hugo le Powmer, Margary de la Lond, Reginald Rouge, Robert Palmer, Thomas Bulloc—in all 13.

“Parva Dene.—John Hereford, Thomas Lewelin—total 8.

“Erleyeforde, i.e. Ayleford.—Adam de Erleyeforde, Robert Pote, Stephen Edy, John Schotticus—altogether 4.”

If this list includes all the forges then at work in the Forest, a diminution of seventeen had occurred during the last thirty-five years, and apparently on the west side of the district.  Changes may also be observed to have taken place in the owners, although several names are met with a second time.

Considerable prosperity and steadiness continued to attend the mining and making iron in the Forest, so as to render it eligible for the imposition of tithes.  So, on the completion of Newland Church, at this period, the Bishop of Llandaff, who presented to it, applied for and obtained from Edward III., in the

fourteenth year of his reign, A.D. 1341, a grant of the tenth part of the ore raised in the neighbourhood, which, together with the forest forges, yielded a rental of £34 the same year. [25a]

To the Edwardian period, that has now, by the aid of the numerous records already quoted, been so minutely substantiated, must be assigned the most prosperous era of the Forest of Dean iron works.  A large portion of such success is to be traced to the celebrity at this date of the great fair in Gloucester.  It began annually on the eve of St. John Baptist’s day, and continued for the five days following.  Agricultural implements were in much request at it, and even noblemen are said to have attended. [25b]

Other places, such as Caerleon, Newport, Barkley, Monmouth, and Trellech, obtained their supplies of iron, or at least the mine-ore, from this neighbourhood, the Forest miner having a certain status of his own, and constituting, with his partners or “verns,” a guild of considerable local influence. [25c]

The heraldic crest (p. 67) forming part of a mutilated brass of the fifteenth century, within the Clearwell Chapel of Newland Church, gives a graphic representation of the iron miner equipped for his work, if not actually engaged in it.  He is represented as wearing a cap, and holding between his teeth a candle-stick, an appurtenance still in use amongst the miners about Coleford, as may be observed by examining the frontispiece to this volume, thus illustrating the primitive use and significance of the

phrase candle-stick.  With the small mattock in his right hand, he would loosen the fine mineral earth lodged in the cavity within which he worked, as occasion required, or else