timber laid upon the upper woods
of the bellows, to steady it and to work it.

"_Firkett Hooks_, two strong hooks of square wrought iron fixed at the
smallest end of the bellows to keep it firm and in its place.

"_Gage_, two rods of iron jointed in the middle, with a ring for the
filler to drop the shortest end into the furnace at the top, to know when
it is worked down low enough to be charged.

"_Poises_, wooden beams, one over each bellows, fixed upon centres across
another very large beam; at the longest end of these poises are open
boxes bound with iron, and the little end being fixed with harness to the
upper ends of the firketts are thus pressed down, and the bellows with
it, by the working of the wheel, while the weight of the poises lifts
them up alternately as the wheel goes round."

* * * * *

As to the length of time these works continued in operation, the late Mr.
Mushet, who knew the district intimately, in his valuable papers on iron,
&c., considered that they were abandoned shortly after the date of the
inventory, _i.e._ 1635, since, "with the exception of the slags, traces
of the water-mounds, and the faint lines of the water-courses, not a
vestige of any of them remains."

He adds,--

"About fourteen years ago I first saw the ruins of one of these
furnaces, situated below York Lodge, and surrounded by a large heap
of slag or scoria that is produced in making pig iron. As the
situation of this furnace was remote from roads, and must at one time
have been deemed nearly inaccessible, it had all the appearance at
the time of my survey of having remained in the same state for nearly
two centuries. The quantity of slags I computed at from 8000 to
10,000 tons. If it is assumed that this furnace made upon an average
annually 200 tons of pig iron, and that the quantity of slag run from
the furnace was equal to one-half the quantity of iron made, we shall
have 100 tons of cinders annually, for a period of from 80 to 100
years. If the abandonment of this furnace took place about the year
1640, the commencement of its smeltings must be assigned to a period
between the years 1540 and 1560."

The oldest piece of cast iron which Mr. Mushet states he ever saw,
exhibited the arms of England, with the initials E. R., and bore date
1555 (?), but he found no specimen in the Forest earlier than 1620. A
few cast-iron fire