J. MORGAN'S letter was very interesting, not only because

I appeared to have become my wife, who actually comes

from a long lineage of iron miners, namely the Nashes,

back to the 18th Century, in the Clearwell Meend area,

but because of the question of the seven year qualification

rule in free mining.

An order of the Mine Law Court, dated December,

1737, declared that "No foreigner's son, though born in

the Hundred of St. Briavels, shall hereafter be admitted as

a free miner unless he shall be bound as an apprentice for

the term of seven years to a free miner, and do

accordingly serve the seven years in working at the

mines". This order did not appear in the 1838 Act, where

it was finalised as 'a year and a day' for all prospective

applicants. For the record, 'foreigner' meant anybody

born outside the Hundred of St. Briavels, an area much

larger than the statutory Forest of Dean.

While at my usual Saturday afternoon venue, the

Berry Hill Rugby Club post-match bar (not a bastion of

male chauvinistic piggery by the way, but an excellent

family-friendly club) I was asked why I had become

involved in the woman free miner fracas, when I'm not a

free miner myself. Well, the answers were quite

straightforward.

Firstly, because I was asked by a free miner to do so,

because he felt that there was little public knowledge of

the way that the establishment in the guise of the

Forestry Commission managers and the local MP Mark

Harper had forced through the registration of a woman

free miner against the Forest of Dean Free Miners

Association's objections "on the quiet".

Secondly, because I believe passionately in the

unique rights and traditions of the people of the Forest of

Dean, yet have seen them continuously put under

pressure by vested and mercenary interests over the years

to water them down or destroy them altogether.

"After all this is the 21st Century isn't it". How many

times have we heard or read such patronizing nonsense

spouted at us and now we're even being told that we must

join the so-called 'Big Society', in effect inevitably

removing our cherished Forest laws and traditions

forever; sacrificed to political dogma and the opportunity

to make "loadsamoney", disappearing into some

outsider's pockets. Got a few spare million anyone to buy

the Forest and run it anyone? I'll pass the hat round.

Thirdly, I have been told more than once over the

years "that you know nothing about it".

Perhaps not, but I make sure that I go away and find

out the facts, which are often different to what my

antagonists believe or pretend they are.

It's true that I could never be a registered free miner

because I was born outside the Hundred of St. Briavels in

Lydney Hospital, but both my grandfathers worked in the

mining industry; grandfather James Belcher at the

Norchard colliery near Lydney and grandfather Jim

(Jummy) Fox of Cinderford, who actually spent 50 years in

the pits, with one break for his apprenticeship. He started

at Foxes Bridge Colliery as a 13 year-old hod boy hauling

coal from the coalface on his hands and knees and

progressed to shaft inspector, retiring from Northern

United Colliery when he was 70.

My generation grew up after the Second World War

during the 50s and early 60s when the big Forest

collieries were still in production alongside other heavy

industries such as tin-making and to us they were part of

our normal environment. It was definitely a different

Forest then, a life-style that incorporated a hard-headed

realism about working life and involving a close-knit

society that doesn't readily compare with many people's

'romantic' notions of the Forest's past today; but they

were my formative years and I feel privileged to have been

part of it.

As an extra, I would like to add that it was when the

last deep mine, Northern United, closed in December

1965, that I became interested in local history, especially

industrial history and I held my first mining

exhibition/display on the iron and coal industries in

Clearwell Church of England Primary School as part of St

Peter's Church Exhibition of Arts and Crafts.

The iron mining section was entirely sourced by

Messrs Baden (Fred) and Mostyn Watkins and my father-

in-law Reuben Nash. Without them I couldn't have done

it, because the iron ore industry was extinct; the last

mine, New Dunn, which was owned by Fred Watkins

Engineering, had closed in 1946.

Fortunately they furnished me with a wealth of

information, maps and artefacts, which gave me the

incentive to continue and I am still researching these

ancient industries that left such deep imprints on the

Dean's landscape and psyche.

My father-in law also told me about the extreme

hardships suffered by his father William (Billo) Nash,

whom as a nine year-old boy was forced to work illegally

in the inhumane and dangerous conditions of the old

China Iron Mine, which he barely survived. He went on to

work for 55 years in the collieries. The good old days?

There were no good old days in the mines for children.

In recent years I have been lucky to work with like-

minded volunteers such as Gordon Clissold at the Dean

Heritage Museum, to help keep the stories of our

forebears alive. Gordon was a cartographer par excellence

for the OS by profession and is also well-known for his

adventurous caving exploits, being a founder member of

the Forest of Dean Caving Club. He may not move as fast

nowadays as he did then in the 1960s, but his mind is still

sharp and his knowledge is encyclopaediac. I am

privileged every week to learn from him.

I have been a researcher now at the DHM for many

years and after I started there, Graham Tyler introduced

me to a man with an unparalleled knowledge of free

mining in the Forest of Dean, Robin Morgan. For the next

four years I filmed Robin, at first with his indomitable

butty, cousin Ed Morgan, underground in Phoenix and

Hopewell as they laboured winning coal. I filmed the

whole process from start to finish as Robin carried out a

running commentary. It was better than any training

course, because I didn't have to do the actual mining, but

it was still hard graft. I even did some under­­ground

guiding through Hopewell and Furnace Level for him, but I

think that he thought I was a bit long-winded for it. A

life-time fault I'm afraid. Overall it was an unforgettable

experience and copies of the films were deposited in the

Gage Library at the DHM.

The one big truth about research is that it is never

finished. "The more you find out, the less you know".

The internet has made it quicker and easier for me

and is a great servant, but I am most grateful to those

Forest people with practical experience who have shared

their work and life experiences with me. Keep them

coming please, awld butties.

If this all sounds like a bit of a CV; well I suppose it

is really. As ol'Jolter might have said " If thou const blow

doun a trumput, thou mite as well ploy it". I rest my case.

– John Belcher, Joyford.