ed. The
first of them arose from Colonel Massy's efforts to retake Monmouth,
which he strove to accomplish by feigning a sudden retreat from before it
towards Gloucester, as though he had received unfavourable tidings. With
this view he and his forces drew off some three miles into the thickets
of the Forest, sending out scouts at the same time to prevent his being
surprised by the enemy. Intelligence of their disappearance being
reported within the garrison to Lieutenant-Colonel Kyrle, who was in the
secret, he speedily set out in pursuit, but was himself surprised with a
troop of thirty horse, near midnight, by Massy, in Mr. Hall's house, at
High-Meadow. A combination of their forces being effected, they returned
to Monmouth, and with mutual aid, favoured by a dark and rainy night,
recaptured the town, much to the joy of the Colonel and his friends.
Kyrle, an ancestor of "the Man of Ross," lived at Walford, where he was
buried, and where his helmet is still preserved.

The capture of Monmouth proved to be only temporary, as the place was
again lost, thus exposing that side of the Forest to the incursions of
the Cavalier troops. To check these invasions, the garrison of
High-Meadow was carefully kept up. Ruerdean, six miles to the west, and
well situated for guarding the Forest on the north, was made another
military post, being intended to stop plunderers from the King's garrison
at Goodrich, and where there is a spot yet called "Shoot-Hill," adjoining
which many cannon-balls have been found. Probably the site of the old
castle at Bicknor was also converted into an out-station, guarding the
two parallel valleys which there pass up towards the middle of the Forest
from the Wye. This station would likewise assist, from its relative
position, in transmitting signals between Ruerdean and High-Meadow, or
even from Gloucester, if the Beacon, which formerly stood on the crest of
Edge Hill, were included in the range. Such posts would be serviceable
to the Parliamentary Colonel Birch, when engaged in the siege of Goodrich
Castle, not more than four miles north of Ruerdean; for his supplies
would be drawn chiefly from the Forest, as indeed appears from a letter
dated 4th July, 1646, in which he says, "We have supplies of shells for
our granadoes from the Forest of Dean."

Several traditions of violence and blood, referring no doubt to this
period, are preserved by the inhabitants of these parts of the Forest,
one of