This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.
IRON MAKING
IN THE OLDEN TIMES:
as instanced in the
ANCIENT MINES, FORGES, AND FURNACES OF
THE FOREST OF DEAN,
HISTORICALLY RELATED, ON THE BASIS OFCONTEMPORARY RECORDS
AND EXACT LOCAL INVESTIGATION:
By Rev. H. G.NICHOLLS, M.A.,
author of“an historical and descriptive account of theforest of dean,” and
“the personalities of the forest ofdean.”
1866
p.iDEDICATORY PREFACE.
The remarkable revival and development that has recently taken place inthe Iron Works of the Forest of Dean, and the consequent improvement whichhas accrued to the district, proves conclusively that its condition andprospects are largely dependent upon such manufacture. Impressed withthis fact, it has occurred to the Author that a more particular account ofthem than has been given in his former work on the Forest might proveinteresting to the numerous individuals with whom they are connected.
For several years past this subject has been upon his mind, during whichtime he has fully availed himself of the contents of the Forestal Archivesbelonging to the Middle Ages, and appropriated all the information, as hebelieves, which the neighbourhood itself affords.
He respectfully submits the produce to the perusal of those gentlemenand friends who may favour these pages with their attention.
In coming before them for the third time, he cannot retire from sointeresting a neighbourhood without requesting them to consider this as hisfinal mark of appreciation and gratitude for the invariable kindness theyhave so long shown him.
H. G. N.
April, 1866.
p. 1THEOLD “BLACK COUNTRY”
of gloucestershire;
or,
an historical relation of the mining and
making of iron in the forest of dean,
from the earliest times.
If there be one circumstance more than another that has conferredcelebrity on the Forest of Dean, it is the remote origin,perpetuation, and invariably high repute of its ironworks. Uniting these characteristics in one, it probablysurpasses every other spot in Great Britain.
In the author’s former “historical account” of thisneighbourhood, he gave all the information he had then collected relativeto the mining and making of iron therein. Since that time, he hasgreatly extended his investigations, especially [1] amongst the records of the Courtof Exchequer. The result is, that he believes he is now enabled topresent to the public the most complete description that has yet appearedof the manufacture of iron during the Middle Ages, detailing, in the firstplace, all the particulars he has gathered of the operations of theprimitive miner, or iron worker, and p. 2proceeding, inchronological order, to the present time.
In the year 178