r abruptly
stops, turning off at a sharp angle, or changing its level, where rude
steps cut in the rock show the mode by which the old miners ascended or
descended; whilst sometimes the rounds of ladders have been found,
semi-carbonized by age. These excavations abound on every side of the
Forest, wherever the iron makes its appearance, giving the name of
"Meand" or mine to such places. Of the deeper workings, one of the most
extensive occurs on the Lining Wood Hill above Mitcheldean, and is well
worth exploring.

The earliest historical allusion 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 hostile soldiery of
either party.

[Picture: "King Arthur's Hall"]

Adverting, in the next place, to the heaps of cinders left where the
ancient iron-manufacturers of the district worked, their _quality_,
_abundance_, and _situation_ suggest several interesting points of
observation. Thus, their _quality_ proves that charcoal was the fuel
invariably employed, and the large percentage of metal left in them shows
that the process then in use of extracting the iron was very imperfect.
They are said to vary in richness according as they belong to an earlier
or later period--so much so, that some persons have ventured on this data
to specify their relative ages; but other causes may have produced this
difference. As to their _quantity_, it was once so great, that, although
they have formed a large part of the mineral supply to the different
furnaces of the district for the last 200 years, they still abound for
miles round the Forest, wherever human habitations appear to have
clustered, sometimes giving the names to places, as "Cinderford" and
"Cinder Hill," or forming a valuable consideration in the purchase of
land containing them.

Equally remarkable with the two former characteristics of these cinders
is their _position_, not unfrequently on elevated spots and far removed
from any watercourse. Under such circumstances, the high temperature
necessary for acting upon the ore must have been obtained by constructing
the fireplace so as to create a powerful draft of air, the fuel and