in places formed of large stones.

The "crooked, winding, and cross-ways," which are said by Camden to have
existed in the Forest, and to have rendered it a place of refuge for
noble fugitives, were those paths which penetrated its depths, having
their direction turned and rendered perplexing through the frequent
interposition of streams, bogs, and thickets. Such were the means of
communication which for many generations served the purposes of the
Foresters, who permitted no wheeled vehicles to enter their domain, and
possessed few if any themselves.

One high road, nearly identical with the present line between Monmouth
and Mitcheldean, seems to have sufficed for the neighbourhood during at
least 200 years. It was in use in the age of Elizabeth, a silver penny
of that reign having been found on it, between Nailbridge and Harrow
Hill. By this road Lord Herbert must have marched his army of 500 horse
and 1500 foot towards Gloucester in 1643, as likewise Sir W. Waller a
month later when pursued by Prince Maurice, and most probably Colonel
Massey took the same route more than once. It seems also to be alluded
to in the following suggestion made to Sir R. Atkyns, as Lord Chief Baron
of the Exchequer, by a committee appointed in 1692 to inquire into the
state of the Forest, with the view of securing its better government and
preservation. They proposed that "a Justice-seat should be held once a
year, for six or seven years, during the long vacation, within the said
Forest, or not very remote from it, which might be done by deputation
from the Lord Chief Justice in Eyre to some of their Majesties' Justices
of Assize going in their _ordinary circuits from Gloucester to
Monmouth_." Their journey was of course made on horseback, the usage
being still continued, which the father of the Lord Chancellor Clarendon
permitted him to adopt, when he gave him "leave to ride the circuit in
the summer with his uncle the Chief Justice." An old house at the foot
of the Plump Hill, near Mitcheldean, called "the Judges' Lodgings,"
because they made it their resting-place as they passed that way, seems
confirmatory of the above suggestion.

The first mention of any sum being spent on the improvement of the Forest
roads, occurs about the time that the trees planted in 1668 would be
growing into timber fit for the Royal dockyards, and requiring therefore
facilities for removal to the water-side. Hence, between 1761 and 1786,
upwards of