ne Law Court, dated 27th April, 1680, fixes the
prices at which twelve Winchester bushels of iron mine should be
delivered at the following places:--St. Wonnarth's furnace, 10s.;
Whitechurch, 7s.; Linton, 9s.; Bishopswood, 9s.; Longhope, 9s.; Flaxley,
8s.; Gunnsmills (if rebuilt), 7s.; Blakeney, 6s.; Lydney, 6s.; at those
within the Forest (if rebuilt), the same as in 1668; Redbrooke, 4s. 6d.;
the Abbey (Tintern), 9s.; Brochweare, 6s. 6d.; Redbrooke Passage, 5s.
6d.; Gunnpill, 7s.; or ore (intended for inland) shipped on the Severn,
6s. 6d.

Most of these localities present traces of long continued iron
manufacture, especially St. Wonnarth's, Whitchurch, Bishopswood, and
Flaxley, where the energetic proprietress, Mrs. Boevey, is said by Sir R.
Atkyns to have had (c. A.D. 1712) "a furnace for casting of iron, and
three forges." Charcoal is the only fuel of which any indications
remain, the coppice woods being in several instances preserved from which
it used to be obtained, and the furnaces are shown to have been
invariably situated where waterpower was at command.

The prices affixed to the ore, including delivery, indicate a
discontinuance, in a measure, of the mines on the north-east edge of the
Forest. Those adjoining Newland and in Noxon Park, both on the opposite
side of the Forest, appear to have formed the principal sources of
supply. The records of the Court of Mine Law, belonging to this date,
allude oftener to these works than to others, for the same reason.

Its "order," dated 8th December, 1685, in providing that "the one-half of
the jury of 48 should be iron-miners, and the other half colliers,"
manifests considerable decay in the influence and number of the former
operatives, once so much otherwise. It is remarkable that the later
orders are silent as regards iron, owing to the suppression of the Forest
furnaces.

With respect to the mode now in use of reducing the mine ore, there is
preserved so explicit an account, from the pen of Dr. Parsons, the county
antiquary and naturalist of that age, as to call for its verbatim
insertion here:--

"The ore and cinder, wherewith they make their iron (which is the
great employment of the poorer sort of inhabitants), 'tis dug in most
parts of the Forest, one in the bowells, and the other towards the
surface of the earth.

"There are two sorts of ore: the best ore is your Brush ore, of
blewish colour, very ponderous, and full of shin