of lime, originating in the rocky walls of limestone around.
Sometimes, after proceeding for a considerable distance closely confined
in height and width, they suddenly open out into spacious vaults, fifteen
feet each way, the site, probably, of some valuable "pocket" or "churn"
of ore; and then again, where the supply was less abundant, narrowing
into a width hardly sufficient to admit the human body. Now and then,
the passage divides and unites again, or abruptly stops, turning off at a
sharp angle, or, changing its level, shows rude steps cut in the rock, by
which the old miners ascended or descended.

[Picture: Ancient Miners' Ladder]

In some of these places, ladders, made out of hewn oak planks, with holes
chopped through them for the feet, have been discovered. Mattocks, such
as masons use, have likewise been met with, as well as oak shovels for
collecting the ore. Shoe prints, and even shoe-leathers have also been
found, although the latter are supposed to have been seldom used, judging
from the more frequent occurrence of naked foot marks. Long immersion in
the chalybeate water of the mine has blackened the oak, and corroded the
iron; nevertheless, these relics are surprisingly perfect. The new road
over the Plump Hill exposed in its formation, in 1841, an ancient mine
hole, in which was found a heap of half-consumed embers, and the skull of
what appeared, from its tusks, to be that of a wild boar; the remains,
perhaps, of a feast given by our Forest ancestors. Similar vestiges have
been met with in other spots.

[Picture: Sole and Upper Leather of an old Shoe]

[Picture: Oaken Shovel]

[Picture: Iron Mattock head]

The earliest historical allusions to these underground works is made by
Camden, who records that a gigantic skeleton was found in a cave on the
Great Doward Hill, now called "King Arthur's Hall," being evidently the
entrance to an ancient iron mine. The next refers to the period of the
great rebellion, when the terrified inhabitants of the district are said
to have fled to them for safety, when pursued by the troops with which
the Forest was infested.

[Picture: King Arthur's Hall on the Great Doward]

But, whilst no previous mention of these caverns is to be found, nor
dates anywhere inscribed on their rocky walls, a clue, as to when and by
whom they were first wrought, is given in connection