in working which the distance of a stone's throw was
always to be kept, and property in them might be bequeathed.

The miners' clothes and light are mentioned, as likewise the standard
measure called "bellis," and carts and waynes are prohibited.

It alludes to the "court of the wod" at the speech before the Verderers;
but more particularly to the debtor court at St. Briavel's castle or
gate, and to the mine court, as regulated by the constable, clerk, and
gaveller, with the miners' jury of twelve, twenty-four, or forty-eight,
where all causes relating to the mines were to be alone heard. Three
hands, or three witnesses, were required in evidence, and the oath was
taken with a stick of holly held in the hand.

The miners of Mitcheldeane, Little Deane, and Ruer Deane are called
"beneath the wood." It also appears that at Carlion, Newport, Barkley,
Monmouth, and Tulluh, the manufacture of iron was carried on by "smiths,"
who were connected with smith holders living in the Forest, and supplying
the ore.

For many ages the mining operations of the Forest and the action of the
miners' court seem to have gone on so smoothly, and as a matter of
course, that no notices regarding them occur in the documents of those
times.

With the Restoration, however, and the revival of the ancient rights of
the crown, it was found necessary to resume the sessions of the court of
mine law, under the presidency of Sir Baynham Throckmorton. Thus it
first of all met again on the 16th November, 1663, and continued so to
do, from time to time, for the ensuing Hundred years, passing at
different periods its seventeen "orders." These verdicts are chiefly
remarkable for reducing the area of the miners rights to the Hundred of
St. Briavel's, though they fail to say what constituted _free minership_
beyond the old definition given in the "Book of Dennis," viz., "beene
borne and abiding within the castle of St. Brevill's and the bounds of
the Forest as aforesaid." In 1834 the Government commissioners were
informed that it involved birth from a free father, and working a year
and a day in the mines. They are still a numerous and important
fraternity, without whom no new mine works can be commenced.

[Picture: Effigy of a Forest Free Miner]

Their aspect when accoutered for work is given in the frontispiece. If
compared with their mediaeval appearance, as displayed in the miners'
crest, the interval of four hundred years is