NEWSLETTER  2
Autumn 1971
Editor:          Joan Leese
Assisted by Jennifer McCulloch, Mildred Shepherd and Deborah Waller.

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As well as Mr. Capper’ s stimulating speculations and the records of our summer field days, there are three particular points of interest in this Newsletter.

In Mr. Woodford’s article we are able to take an interest in the preservation of something of historical value in the district, namely the old church at Edvin Loach, which in fact we visited on the Society’s very first field day in the Spring of 1967. Then, we are breaking new ground – widening, our interests, it might be said by our introduction to the world of steam traction engine provided by Mr Chapman’s letter. Thirdly, we  have begun our own compilation of’ local folklore with the tales in Miss Shepherd’s article, in the letter from Mrs. Marion Holbourn and “The Mournful Ballad” from Edwyn Ralph.

On our cover in the future we hope to have an illustration of the carving of St. Peter which is above the south door of Bromyard Parish Church.

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THE  OLD  CHURCH  AT  EDVIN LOACH
By Guy Woodford

At a meeting at Tedstone Delamere Rectory in September a working party was formed to undertake the cleaning and repair of the ruins of the old parish church at Edvin Loach, a scheduled ancient monument.           

The Inventory of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments describes it as Norman of the late 11th century. Others have described it as Saxon. The building measures 40 feet by 18 feet. It consists of nave and chancel built in a single rectangle, and a small tower to the west, added in the 16th century. The tower is unusual in that it has no east, wall and was possibly open to the nave for its entire height. No evidence survives to point to the alternative, a wooden linte1 and superstructure.

In the nave that is the western two-thirds of the main rectangle – there is extensive herringbone work the fill length of its north wall and part of the south. In the eastern third -the chancel end – there is none Here the north wall is a later rebuild, close in date but probably not contemporary to the building of the tower. The rest appears .to be integral with the east window which is Norman. It has been suggested that the nave and chance represent two distinct periods. Unfortunately there is no distinguishable break in the south wall to support this. Much controversy surrounds the significance of herring-bone masonry. Originally it was thought conclusive evidence of Saxon period. Earlier this century Baldwin Brown claimed it was an almost infallible indication to the contrary. Dr. H.M. Taylor (“Ang1o-Saxon Architecture, 1965) considers that it gives no reliable evidence either way, but that it often is in fact Saxon; he cites in particular Diddlebury, Shropshire. And in Herefordshire he suggests that the herringbone work at Wigmore may well be Saxon. Perhaps in the course of working on Edvin Loach more light may be thrown on its origins.

There is considerable use of tufa. In the south wall are two features constructed entirely of it; the head to the doorway consisting of monolithic lintel, plain coursed tympanum and round arch, and a little to the east a tall narrow opening. The upper stones of this window have fallen since photographed by the Royal Commission (1930), and the structure above the doorway is now also in danger of collapse. The inner lintel, or more probably arch, has long since disappeared; in recent years the rest of the rear wall has fallen. As a result the features of the outer face stand precarious, possibly only held by the wonderful display of ivy above. Unfortunately this growth is also patiently prizing the masonry apart.

The clearance of vegetation and debris is one part of the working party’s task. The other is to consolidate the fabric throughout and in places this will mean the restoring of fallen masonry. Accurate information, such as early photographs, is urgently needed. The bowl of the 12th century font survives as four somewhat damaged segments with a band of chevron ornament. This too will be reassembled.

Another meeting was arranged for 11.30 am, on Saturday, 30th October. This was held on the site and was open to anyone interested. In the meantime the working party will begin clearing the site, but the main work will not start till the next Spring.

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“BRQMYARD  QUEEN NANCE”
The following letter has been received by Mrs. P.D. Williams from Mr. Brian Chapman of 1 Merton Road, Histon, Cambridge:

‘I am writing to you at the suggestion of Miss Jancy of the H.C.R.0. Some years ago two friends and I purchased a steam traction engine, which spent most of its working life in the Bromyard district. At this time it was owned and operated by C. & J. Smith, Machinists and Haulage Contractors of Pencombe, and I imagine you may know John (Jack) Smith, the surviving partner.

He has told us of an incident involving our engine when it ran away down a steep hill not far from Knightwick, ending on its side with three trailers and their contents scattered on the road.

Mr. Smith’ s memory (on his own admission) is not as clear as it was and we have not been able to gain much precise detail as to when or where the mishap occurred.

The decayed state of the engine when we bought it from a scrap dealer was such that we are completely rebuilding much of it, and. as an adjunct to the engineering aspect we are recording our progress on film and paper. One of my responsibilities is the historical aspect of the story and to this end I wrote to Miss Jancy’ s office for help. She was unable to offer any assistance and so I must trouble you.

We have acquired a few photographs of our engine in its working days, but we would be very interested to see any reference to the above incident. As much of the engine had been stolen by scrap men, we are anxious to see any photographs available, and this led us to wonder if anything appeared in the local paper referring to the accident.

Our engine is called “Bromyard. Queen Nance” and was made by John Fowler of Leeds, it was by all accounts a very common sight around Bromyard. The engine was new in 1909, and worked, until 1934 when it was retired at the Tiffins, Pencombe. If you or any of the members of your Local History Society could offer any word of information concerning reference to Bromyard Queen Nance, we would be more than delighted to hear from you. We make occasional trips to see. Mr. Smith, usually staying overnight at the Talbot, so if you have anything you would like to tel1 us we shall be pleased to see you.’

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THE  CAPMAKERS
By I. 0.Capper.

Elizabeth 1st  in the thirteenth year of her reign ordered by, statute Cap XIX, ‘that every person above the age of seven shall wear upon the sabbath …… upon his head a Cap of wool made within this realm and dressed and finished by some of the trade of Cappers. Upon forfeit of 3s. 4d. …’    Shakespeare mentions this statute cap. when he says in “Loves Labour’s Lost”,  ‘…..better wits have worn plain statute caps’, and the poet’s uncle, William Shakespeare, was fined for not observing the law in 1583.

Wool’ had been England’ s chief trade throughout the Middle Ages and the little Ryland sheep of Herefordshire and Shropshire, whose fleece weighed 1.5 lbs, provided a staple of superb quality, unique to the area. On this account Ludlow prospered and it is not surprising, perhaps, that the trade of Capmakers should have grown with the town.  But it is exceptional to find so many families bearing the trade name of Capper so well established in the area, while so few are noted in the eastern counties, and in other parts of England, where the wool trade also flourished.

Records that have survived show, that in the first half of the l6th~century, in the area referred to, some thirty townships had living in them families bearing the trade name. These townships stretched from Shrewsbury to Monmouth, but eighteen of them were within 20 miles of Ludlow, that is to say, between the Shrewsbury to Hereford road on the west and the River Severn on the east.

This unusually dense distribution of a trade name is interesting, At what period of time did makers of headwear begin to add their trade names to their baptismal names? How many were there in the trade at any given time, and why so many together?  (Cottage industry?) Of course it could be simply that a family of the name living around Shrewsbury in the Middle Ages spread its branches and migrated southwards towards the sun, in common with all migrations, leaving roots at Various villages and continuing southwards down the trade routes of road and river. Certainly this applies to the numerous and prosperous family of Edmund Cappur of Steenton, near Ludlow. In his will dated 1558, he mentions some two dozen relatives living not only in the area but also in Oxfordshire and London.

If we assume that CAPPER and Cappur were the same, then why were those around Shrewsbury and those in Herefordshire spelt CAPPER, while those in the Ludlow area were spelt CAPPUR? If the local accent accounted for the pronunciation CAPPUR, as it does to this day, then why not elsewhere in the area where the accent does not vary greatly? The Bromyard & District Local History Society has much erudition and may have the answers.

Perhaps it is significant that the spelling CAPPUR has all but vanished, while the proper spelling of the trade name remains in the cotunty and still farms sheep!

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THE BELLS OF AVENBURY

The following extract on the bells of Avenbury is from a letter sent by Mrs. Marion Holbourn of Hoel Fanog, Brecon, whose father, the Rev. E.H. Archer Shepherd, was the last Vicar of Avenbury and died in 1931:

‘The church had three bells, these were sold to a London church which was blitzed in the war. But “Gabriel” – the passing bell – had a beautiful Latin quotation meaning “I am Gabriel, messenger from Heaven”, and this though cracked could be restored.

The biggest – “Andrew” used to toll of its own accord when disaster threatened the Parish. Our char­woman, Sarah Walton, now 92 and very deaf, told me that she was kept awake all night by the tolling of the bell on the night my father died. Her address is 9, Schallenge Walk, Bromyard. I was not told in time to see my father before he died, and Sarah said to me: “They said they did not know he was dying; but they should have known; everyone knows that bell never tolls for nothing.”

My mother was entitled to stay on in the Vicarage for 3 months, but I had to hurry her departure because she continually complained of sleepless nights on account of “that bell”.’

In an article enclosed with her letter Mrs. Holbourn cites other happenings. She speaks of a number of occasions when music was heard from the empty church, the first record of it being on the 8th September 1896, when the Vicar’s wife, Mrs. Wilson, and the three adult children of Colonel Purser of Bromyard all heard it at the same time. The Vicar also heard the music on occasions, and a married couple claimed to have heard joyous voices at midnight on Christmas night when the church was locked and in darkness. A funeral attended by people without heads is said to have been seen, and a congregation of monks with cowls over their heads, seen by a churchwarden, is mentioned. People also spoke of seeing a beautiful damsel. Apart from these happenings, Mrs. Holbourn speaks highly in her letter of Mr. Henry Pumphrey. She describes him as ‘the only remaining Quaker’ and continues, ‘He was much respected, and it was said that “his word was as good as his bond”. He used to spend an hour on Sunday mornings, alone in the meeting house.’

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THE STONE  ROAD AT  JUIVIPER’ S HOLE
By Mildred Shepherd.

We have received a most interesting letter from Miss Joan Hatton of Hereford, who in the 1940s visited Stanford Bishop a great deal. She speaks of an ancient track that traverses the parish. She says, ‘A vestige of the ancient track is to be found on the Whelpley Brook which forms the boundary between the parishes of Acton Beauchamp and Stanford Bishop. The spot is known as Jumper’s Hole, where the bed of the little stream is paved with unworked slabs of water-worn stone, one of which is pierced with a rounded hole … The name Stanford may therefore mean Stan = stone, ford from the welsh fordd, a road = the stone road.

Miss Hatton also says, ‘In connection with Jumper’s Hole the fol1owing folk story is told, “A woman stole a loaf of bread from Stanford Bishop. She mounted her horse and galloped away down the hill She came to the brook and as the horse jumped, the loaf fell from her basket onto a stone and there is the dent to this day”. That Stanford- on -Teme is connected with Stanford Bishop is apparent from a similar story concerning a stolen mare whose hoof marks were visible on the stones as she galloped along the bed of the Sapey Brook. She also says, ‘That the stone road led southward into Herefordshire is probable, since this folk-tale crops up again with St. Katherine riding the stolen mare on her entry into Ledbury.’

The above interested me so much that this summer I have been over, twice to Stanford Bishop to see it as it Is now. I also asked the Rector and the farmer on whose land Jumper’s Hole is, and collected two variations of the folk-story, one that an old couple after shopping in Bromyard dropped a loaf, as they crossed the brook and this caused the hole. The other, that as the horse jumped the ‘brook it put its foot on the stone and caused the hole – just about the same as the Stanford-on-Teme legend. These legends crop up all over the country and began in very early ages when people were groping for an explanation of something they could not understand.

Studying various maps, it does look as though foot-paths bridle paths and stretches of road ‘if joined up could lead north to Stanford-on-Teme, and also south to Ledbury. The ancient track is very clear through Stanford Bishop west of the church drive. I was able to walk a short way on it though most of it is badly overgrown now. Down the two sloping meadows it has become merged with the meadows, with the one hedge -side left which is a boundary. hedge.

Miss Hatton remarks on the circular shape of the Stanford Bishop churchyard, which shows it was a holy place in early ages before Christianity She also mentions the standing stone to the right of the gateway to the churchyard. This may well be one of the ancient circle stones as it is on the periphery of the circle It is at present hidden by holly in a tall mixed hedge. 

The crossing-place on the brook is made of natural rocks, of which there are a number about, and consists of three flat boulders, one of which has the hole in it There is no evidence of the stone setts put at fords in the Middle Ages to help the packhorses keep a foothold crossing and go up the banks.

I should think myself that with so many factors pointing to it, that Miss Hatton has told us of one of the earliest tracks in the district, one probably connecting with the Acton Beauchamp saltway mentioned by Professor G.B. Grundy.

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‘ALAS, VAIN WORLD.’

Miss M.B Lewis has sent us this copy, made by Mrs A. Moore of Tan House Terrace, of the inscription on the memorial tablet on the, exterior of the west wall of Bromyard Parish Church. The tablet, which is on the south side of the west window, is crumbling and now nearly all the words are effaced so we are pleased to record them:

‘Near this place lieth the body

of Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Bray

of this town

She died Feb 24 1836

Aged 57 Years.

Alas, vain world, I’ve seen enough of thee

I cares’t not what thou. sayest of me.

Thy smiles I court not, nor thy frowns I fear

At last in peace my head lies quiet here

The faults you saw in me take care and shun,

Go look at home, there’s something to be done.

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Baron Ralph and Lord Yedvin

Also, Mrs. Moore has drawn our attention to “The Mournful Ballad of Baron Ralph and Lord Yedvin” which appeared in the Bromyard News & Record on 9th April 1931. This tells the story, in 57 lines of verse (over long to be given here on this occasion, anyway), of the encounter between thee two noblemen ‘traditionally said to have taken place in a fair meadow near to the parish church of Edvin Ralph’ for they both loved ‘a lady of great beauty, a dark brunette, to view . Unfortunately she endeavoured to stop the fight and’ … by wild mischance the swords of both. In that maiden’s breast were laid.’ The ballad appears over the initials ‘J.N.’ and in a few introductory remarks: he/she says, ‘No sufficient authority exists for calling the parish Edwyn, as is now sometimes done by persons who should know better’. However, a fortnight. later one of these castigated persons, the Rector of Edwyn Ralph himself, the Rev. E.L. Childe – Freeman, wrote to the newspaper refuting “J.N.’s” statement, by citing the use of the name ‘Edwyn’ in official document of the 16th and l7tb centuries.

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VISIT TO OFFA’S DYKE
By Joan Leese.

In June we visited Offa’s  Dyke at Knighton and to the south of the town, conducted by our good friend, Mr. Frank Noble, B.A., the founder of the Offa’s Dyke Association and the author of the Shell Book on Offa’s Dyke Path.

We were accompanied to the stretch of the Dyke in Knighton by Mr E.R. Waters, chairman of the Tref-y-Clawdd 197O Society, a branch of the Association. Tref-y-Clawdd, Town-on-the-Dyke, is the Welsh name for Knighton, and the Society has created the Offa’s Dyke Park on the banks of the Teme around this stretch. A month after our visit the Park was the site of the official opening of the Offa’s Dyke Long-distance path by Lord Hunt, an ‘event commemorated by the issue of a special cover, or envelope, in English and Welsh, with English and Welsh stamps, and posted to those of us who bought them in a special post box placed exactly on the Border between the two countries.

Mr Waters described to us how the land had been obtained and cleared by his Society. The high earth hank, covered with grass and wild flowers which is the Dyke, is at right angles to the river. The western side is steep, but the other, on the side of the town, slopes gradually into a field called Pinner’s Hole which forms a natural amphitheatre.

To the south of Knighton we travelled up rising ground along the Whitton road to Rhos-y-.meirch (the Moor of the Mark) where Mr. Noble pointed out the line of the Dyke. Going down over the Lugg we passed a part of the Dyke by the road at Discoed, and then climbed up again, with hills all around us, to Pen Offa, where the air can indeed be described as like wine, as my companions will bear me nut. Here what is left of the Dyke stretches like a low uneven hump up a field and into woodland. Probably here there was an opening in it, one of the official frontier posts between Mercia and Wales. .

The Saxon name for Knighton was Chenistetune, the town of the horsemen. Mr. Noble described these horsemen as men who held land on the Border, and patrolled and protected the Dyke on the English side, rather like the ranchers and cowboys who pioneered the American West. During our visit we went to the church. The oldest part of the building is the tower for the rest of the church was re-built in the latter half of the last century, but what it lacks in antiquity it makes up for by its appearance of being well cared for which impressed us. Tretower is thought to be Norman, possibly 12th Century. In his notes on the church Mr. Noble says, ‘The dedication of Knighton Church to “St. Edward, King and Martyr’ must be associated with the presentation of that saint’s relics to Leominster Priory when Henry I re-founded it, rather than dating back to Edward’s martyrdom in 978 A.D.’

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FOUR CHURCHES IN THE  GOLDEN  VALLEY
Edna D. Pearson

One lovely July afternoon under the guidance of Mr. H.J. Powell, F.R.I.B.A., we met to visit some of the ancient churches of which there are so many in Herefordshire, all built for one purpose, hut with such fascinating diversity.

We joined Mr Powell it Abbey Dore, one of the few monastic churches that now serves as a parish church. The Cistercians, who always set their abbeys in wild and remote places, built the present church about 1180.  Additions and extensions were made in the 13th century and it was then that the wall at the east end was replaced by the beautiful columns and arches which are amongst the finest in the county. The Abbey was suppressed in 1535 and the buildings soon became a ruin The land was granted to the Scudamore family, and it was Viscount Scudarnore who began to repair the church in 1632. The archways at the west end of the present church were blocked up, sealing off the ruined nave.

We entered the church at the crossing and were impressed with the lofty roof and the heavy oak screen, the work of John Abel. The roof and all the wood-work, with the exception of the pulpit, are known to be by Abel the famous Herefordshire architect and craftsman. Abel, generally known as the “King’s Carpenter”, is said to have earned the title by building powder mills for the Royalists in Hereford during the Civil War/ He died at the age of 97 and his tomb is beside the door at the little church of Sarnsfield.

There are faded paintings on the walls of the crossing, and higher in the north wall is a blocked, doorway through which the monks passed frum their dormitory down the night stairs which descended into the church – a physical concession even in the austere early days of monasticism for the monks ‘day’ began at midnight when they made their way from a cold dormitory to an even colder church. The altar is the original stone table showing the five consecration crosses. Thrown out of the church, it was recovered from farm buildings and replaced in 1633.

From Abbey Dnre we proceeded to Vowchurch with its half-timbered bell turret and, after the pure simplicity of Dore, were almost overpowered by the massive timbers of the roof and the huge oak posts set against the walls. We learnt from a tablet on the wall that the rather crude and heavy oak screen, which adds to the generally weighty appearance of the church, was made by the children of Thomas and Margaret Hill in 1613.

We had our tea in a shady spot opposite the church. Beside us the river flowed under a little bridge. Before the Normans came this river was known by its Welsh name of the Dwr, meaning the water, which to the conquerors sounded like D’or, and so we get our Golden Valley, and the river now known as the Dore.

At Peterchurch, after being pleasantly delayed by a group of morris men in colourful costumes dancing in the street, we made our way to the church with its peculiar tower. This originally supported a tall slender spire built in the 14th century and the third highest in the county declared unsafe in 1949, it was taken down. Another rather unusual external feature is a door high up in the tower. Reached through this door by a ladder from the ground, the tower was a place of refuge when Welsh raiders crossed the Border. Also outside the church Mr. Powell pointed out the hinge pins, beside a window on the north wall, to support the shutters when the game of fives was played against the church.

Inside is a perfectly kept, lofty, aisleless Norman church of surprising beauty with three great arches leading from the long nave to the apsidal East end, making four divisions in the church In the apsidal sanctuary and beneath a Norman window is the original huge altar stone, similar to that at Dore, which somehow escaped destruction at the Reformation The small Norman windows are set in walls so skilfully angled that they let in a surprising amount of light On the south wall of the nave we saw a painted replica of a fish with a golden .chain, illustrating the local legend that such a fish with a golden chain round its neck had been caught in the Golden well, Peterchurch, once upon a time. One other pride of Peterchurch is an enormous yew tree in the churchyard, said to have been planted in the 13th century.

From Peterchurch we went through narrow lanes to Madley and the church which at first sight gives the impression of a small cathedral. The north porch is all that is left of the church the Normans built which was altered and enlarged in the 13th century. The nave, without pews, has the appearance of a huge hall, with three rows of slender pillars reflected in the polished floor The fine chancel, extended in the 14th century, ends in an apse The large Chilton Chapel, open to the nave, gives the impression of a third aisle. A crypt, rare in a parish church, has two sets of stairs leading to it In pre – ­Reformation days the church claimed to have held some relic of the Virgin Mary possibly kept in the crypt through which pilgrims passed via the two stairways. This may account for the building of such a large and magnificent church in this location.

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THE  FOREST OF DEAN
Joan Leese

‘The Birmingham of the country’ hardly seems descriptive of an area of woods and heaths, with wide easterly views over the horse-shoe loop of the River Severn and westerly ones over the Wye Valley, but that was how the Forest of Dean, in former days was represented to us when we visited it on the last Sunday in September. As we were shown old iron mines and coal workings where still in production, and the forests where the first kinds of blast furnace were used we began to appreciate the description.

The excursion was arranged by Mr Thomas Weale in conjunction with his uncle, Mr. M . J. Beddington of Cinderford. Mr. Beddington is a native of the Forest, has written about it, and, among other activities, is an East Dean Rural District Councillor. His love for the area is obvious, his knowledge extensive and his enthusiasm infectious. We could not have wished for a better guide.

Beginning our tour at Mitcheldean, in the north, we moved south-westwards to St. Bravels and then northwards again to the Speech House and Cinderford. The places we visited covered in age a great range in time, from the Celtic camp at Welshbury, which we passed soon after leaving Mitcheldean, to the Haie Tunnel, the first railway tunnel in the world. But we were constantly reminded of the iron ore, and later the coal, which had made the Forest so important. On the road from Mitcheldean, by Gun Mills which speaks for itself as a former arsenal, and Welshbury Mr. Beddingtnn told us there were blast furnaces all along the pleasant valley in which Flaxley Abbey stands.

Over Pope’s Hill, where we looked across the loop of the Severn below us to the Cotswold heights cm the horizon, we went and then through Little Dean, where there is an old gaol, now obscured by new houses which was built of local stone by local men and local cnnvicts. Driving along the Soudley Valley, on the road which is called the Old Danes road although it is also part of a Roman road, we passed Abbotswood which was the only place where the monks of Flaxley Abbey were allowed to cut trees for iron smelting after they had abused the privilege of felling one oak a week in the Forest.

At Soudley Camp Mr Beddington said he thought it had been established by the Romans as it was by a Roman road, but his nephew, Mr Weale, disagreed, contending it was a British camp because of it shape. Mrs Daphne Davies settled the matter neatly, to the satisfaction of all of us, by suggesting it had been established by the British and then used by the Romans.

In. contrast to this anitiquity, our next call was to the entrance of Haie Tunnel, now blocked up. This mile-long railway tunnel, the first in the world carried iron and coal from the Forest to the banks of the Severn, and was closed only about five or six years ago.

We went back to the woods again, towards Blackpool Bridge, and lunched by a stretch of the Roman road which ran from Lydney to Mitcheldean and was laid in the 1st century or the early 2nd. On the way there we stopped to look at the Drummer Boy Stone, set in the undergrowth beside a stream. This, which looks like any old stone, roughly rectangular in shape with two small hollows scooped out of the top of it, is claimed to be one of the earliest blast furnaces, used with skin bellows, and may be 3,000 – 4,000years old. There seems to be no explanation for its present name of Drummer Boy.

If any particular place could be described as providing a highlight in such a constantly interesting tour it was the Clearwell Caves. We descended over a hundred feet down into semi-darkness, squeezed through narrow cavities, scrambled up rock and went down a dark tunnel The owner, Mr R.Wright, showed us three caves at different levels. In the first one he ran up a tall rock, as nimble as Puck, and standing above us described how these old iron mines were formed The iron ore formed in stalactites through the action of water on the minerals in the ground above, and mining was at first easy for the ore could be broken off in bars from the soft recent formations. Mr. Wright said it was not known when mining began in the Forest, scratches on the side of the cave might be 500 years old, or 2,000 or 3,000 His words were calm and factual, but the setting he had provided for us was very dramatic, one felt like the member of a resistance group or a refugee from natural disaster or human tyranny above ground. The largest and lowest cave has a level floor, and a ceiling probably higher than that of Bromyard Parrish Church; it is used for social functions.

We took our tea under the trees at Bream Scowles, where the iron ore was scooped out of the surface of the ground leaving great hollows of rock and a grotto called the Devil’s Pulpit. Then on to St. Briavels Castle, possessed in the 12th century by Milo, Earl of Hereford, and now a Youth Hostel. On the opposite side of the road stands the church, and below them stretches the Wye Valley.

At a Free Miners Mine we saw that the coal industry is still being carried on in the Forest, and then we visited the Speech House, in the trees on the road midway between Coleford and Cinderford. The Speech House which was built for the administratien of the Forrest in the late 17th century, is new a hotel. The Verderers’ Court Room has been preserved, with its oak dias where the feor Verderers still sit end transact business regularly, although it is alsoused as the hotel dining-room.

We finished cur day at Cinderford, where standing en the Mount which was once a slag heap but has new been softened by grass and wild flowers, Mr. Beddington showed us where we had been spread out below us.

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OUR GRATEFUL THANKS

The Society thanks these who have led us on our field days, and these who have allowed us to explore their property during them and on individual investigations.