The Forest of Dean: An Historical and Descriptive Account Part 11

Deeper the pits than any here before, The lowest vein of coal for to explore.

They were but shallow pits in days of old, They'd not the knowledge then, as I am told; But though there was not then great learning's store, It was much better for the labouring poor; Men loved their masters--masters loved their men, But those good times we ne'er shall see again."

A mining population is generally found to have peculiar customs and privileges of its own, and such is more especially the case with the free miners of the Forest of Dean, who have had hitherto their own Court of Justice, with the exclusive occupation of the district, and the sole control of its mineral wealth. Their claims are thus specified by the Dean Forest Commissioners:--"Every free miner duly qualified by birth from a free father in the hundred of St. Briavel's and abiding therein, having worked in the mines a year and a day, claims the right to demand of the King's gaveller a 'gale,' that is a spot of ground chosen by himself for sinking a mine, and this, provided it does not interfere with the works of any other mine, the gaveller considers himself obliged to give, receiving a fee of five s.h.i.+llings, and inserting the name of the free miner in the gale-book. The gaveller goes to the spot selected with the free miner making the application, and gives him possession with the following ceremonies:--The gaveller cuts a stick, and, asking the party how many verns or partners he has, cuts a notch for every partner, and one for the King. A turf is then cut, and the stick forked down by two other sticks, the turf put over it, and the party galing the work is then considered to be put in full possession. The free miner, having thus obtained possession, is compelled to proceed with the work by working one day in the following year and day, and a day in each subsequent year and day (forfeiting the gale if he fails so to work), and to pay an annual sum of two guineas to the gaveller for each vein of coal he intends to work, till he gets at the coal, after which he agrees with him for the amount of the composition to be paid to the King in lieu of his fifth, which, in case of their not agreeing, must be taken in kind by the King's putting in a fifth man. The right to the gale is considered by the free miner to carry with it that of timber for the use of the works; this seems to extend no farther than to the offal and soft wood; and the mode of obtaining it is for the miner to apply to the keeper of the walk in which his mine is situated for an order, which he takes to the clerk of the Swainmote Court, who, on receiving a fee of one s.h.i.+lling, as a matter of course gives him another order directed to the keeper of the walk in which there is timber fit for the purpose," in the following form:--

_Copy of a Warrant or Order for the Delivery of Timber to a Coal Miner in Dean Forest_.

"[Forest of Dean.] At the Court of Attachments, holden at the Speech House, the 25th day of Sep. 1784, came Phil. Hatton, and demanded Timber for himself and Verns, for the Use of their Coal Works called Young Colliers, in Ruerdean Walk, within the said Forest.

"JNO. MATTHEWS, Steward.

"To Mr. John Bradley, Keeper of the said Walk.

(by Certificate.)

"Some Timber to be delivered fit for sinking.

Indorsed '4 Oaks.'

"The miner cuts the timber when a.s.signed, and until within about the last ten years paid a fee of two s.h.i.+llings to the keeper, there being no limit to the amount of timber if applied for the use of the works. If the gale-ground was situated within the hundred of St. Briavel's, but belonged to private parties, the free miner still claimed his right to open the ground, the proprietor being let in as a partner, making a sixth, the only exception being churchyards, gardens, orchards, and Crown plantations."

A jury of twelve, twenty-four, forty-eight, or seventy free miners, under the auspices of the Constable of St. Briavel's Castle, or his deputy, enacted such mine laws as the interests of the body seemed to require, administering them without any appeal, or permission to resort to another court of law. The witnesses in giving evidence wore their caps to show that they were free miners, and took the usual oath, touching the Book of the Four Gospels with a stick of holly, {149a} so as not to soil the Sacred Volume with their miry hands. These singular usages explain the observation of the Rev. H. Berkin that "the inhabitants are completely _sui generis_," and "their exact situation can scarcely be understood except by those on the spot," as likewise the sentiment which the Rev. H.

C. H. Hawkins expresses--"by altering the character of the Foresters, a curious relic of antiquity might be destroyed, to my regret I must own, as I feel desirous to preserve so singular a specimen in all its purity."

In the year 1832 the Rev. C. Crawley stated, "I think the moral character of the inhabitants has been much improved by the building of churches; heinous offences are very rare in the Forest:" and in 1849 Mr. Machen said, "A great change has been wrought in them; there is a very great difference in their habits now, certainly." {149b}

The Forest miners of the present day are well acquainted with the geological structure of their neighbourhood, more especially with the out-crop, succession, and dip of the mineral veins. In short, their natural endowments are fully equal to the general standard, and only require cultivation, as frequently appears from the quickness with which they detect the bearings of any pecuniary transaction, and their p.r.o.neness to litigation. Many superst.i.tions, however, still linger amongst them, such as the use of charms and incantations, a belief in witchcraft and an evil eye, a resort to "wise men," and even to the minister of the parish as being a "Master of Arts," or for some of the offertory money, out of which to have a charm-ring made. They are likewise inclined to give credence to tales of apparitions, and to regard sickness and accident as fated and inevitable. From their having been for so many generations an isolated and peculiar people, most of them are ignorant of the rest of the world, and have of course a correspondingly exaggerated idea of their own importance. It is pleasing to observe the sympathy they manifest towards the sick amongst them, or such as have been accidentally injured; and although most independent in their notions, and impatient of control, they seem always thankful for real kindness. What they chiefly lack is more generosity and candour towards strangers, and a clearer understanding of their duties as protectors of the national property, in respect of the crops of timber which grow around them. {151} In most mining districts the moral habits of the people are more or less in a low state, and they are certainly not worse here than elsewhere. One source of evil arises from the large ablutions which their working underground necessitates. The process of was.h.i.+ng on their return from the pit is not performed as privately as it might be, and the effect of this upon the moral perceptions of the people, huddled together in their small cottages, is very injurious. It is a pity some arrangement is not made for having washhouses at the pits, where a supply of hot water from the boilers might be easily obtained for the purpose.

One half of the Forest population is understood to be employed at the coal-works, a fourth part at those of iron, whose red dresses make them easily known, and the remaining portion are employed in the quarries and woods, &c.

Horses of a bad breed, donkeys, mules, cattle, sheep, pigs, and geese abound, owing to the free pasture afforded by the open Forest, the three former having been used for many generations in carrying iron-mine, coal, charcoal, &c. Farming operations are necessarily very limited. Cider obtained from the styre apple used to be a common beverage; but that fruit has long been extinct, and malt-liquor is now mostly preferred.

Gardening is little attended to, the colliers generally feeling indisposed to further exertion after returning from the pit. In few instances only are bees kept. Formerly much of the wearing apparel was made from home-spun wool, woven or knitted in the neighbourhood; but this is not now the practice.

The turf-covered cabin, resting on four dry walls, without windows, and pierced only by a low door, with a very rude fireplace and chimney in "the pine end," and partially paved with rough stones, once the habitation of the Forest "cabiner," is now almost entirely superseded by two-floored cottages, often containing not less than four apartments. In bygone days a few neighbours, taking advantage of a moonlight night, accomplished the erection of a cabin ere the morning dawned, in which case it was supposed that the keepers had no power to pull it down. To show the eagerness with which poor families sought to establish themselves in the Forest, it may be mentioned that they took possession of the ancient mine-caves, walling up the back and front, leaving a vent for the smoke in the former, and in the latter a gap as an entrance.

Their pastimes used to be dancing and foot-ball, to the great delight of people of all ages: indeed there are several spots yet called from the above circ.u.mstance "the dancing green." Wakes were likewise very popular, and also the game of fives, so that at Ruerdean one side of the church tower was whitewashed for the purpose, and resorted to even on Sundays. Some of the provincialisms of the district occur in the following words--"yat" (gate), "tump" (hillock), "teart" (sharp), "spract" (lively), "twich" (touch), "near a anoust" (near the same), "anunt" (opposite).

Peculiarities also occur in the selection of Christian names, including these--Benedicta, Abia, Winifred, Kezia, Barzillai, Sibylla, Eve, Saba, Sabina, Beata, Tryphena, Belinda, Myra, Terzah, Nimrod, River, Milson, Miles, &c. {152}

On account of the dense woods with which the Forest was anciently covered, added to the fact that except at Newland, and perhaps at Park End, no churches were built within it, we may conclude that at an early period its population was small, the persons engaged in the iron and coal works then living, as many of the working people do now, in the adjoining parishes. Our earliest information as to the number of inhabitants residing within its present limits relates to the time of the Commonwealth, when "400 cabins of beggarly people living upon the waste, and destroying the wood and timber, were thrown down." In 1712 Sir R.

Atkins states that "there had been many cottages in it, but that they had been lately pulled down, leaving only the six keepers' houses." He gives 6,090 as the total population of the outlying parishes, thus distributed:--

Mitcheldean 600 Little Dean 620 Newnham 400 Blakeney 250 Lydney 700 Newland 800 Clearwell 600 Coleford 600 Bream 300 Le Bailey 200 Staunton 220 Ruerdean 500 Bicknor 300 ----- Total 6,090

At the close of the century, the Forest, as now bounded, comprised 589 houses, which in 1803 had increased to 696, the number of free miners being then 662. Since that time the inhabitants of the Forest have gone on increasing as follows:--

In 1821 they were 5,525 In 1831 ,, 7,014 In 1841 ,, 10,674 In 1851 ,, 13,252

of whom about 1,789 have the right of voting for Members of Parliament.

The annual value of property existing in the Forest, not belonging to the Crown, was estimated in 1849 at 13,603 pounds 14s. 2d., and in 1856 at 18,492 pounds 17s. 7d.

CHAPTER X.

Churches and schools--Religious provisions before the Reformation--Rev. P. M. Procter, Vicar of Newland, lectures in Thomas Morgan's cottage--The erection of a place for wors.h.i.+p proposed--Rev.

H. Berkin opens a Sunday-school--Mr. Procter uses his chapel schoolroom--Mr. Berkin lectures in the Foresters' cottages--Builds Holy Trinity Church (1817)--His a.s.siduous labours and death in 1847--Christ Church, Berry Hill--Mr. Procter's death--His successors--Rev. H. Poole builds St. Paul's, Park End, and schoolrooms--Rev. J. J. Ebsworth--St. John's, Cinderford, consecrated 1844--Lydbrook Church consecrated 1851--Government aid to the churches and schools.

Previous to the Reformation, care seems to have been taken to provide the population of the Forest with the means of religious wors.h.i.+p. The border churches of Mitcheldean and Newland were far larger than the people residing in their immediate neighbourhood required; and there were others, of which the memorials only remain in the names of "Chapel Hill"

and "Church Hill," the former in the parish of English Bicknor, and the latter at Park End. This last was connected apparently with Ruerdean, if we may judge from the "Churchway" which ran in that direction and gave the name to an adjacent colliery. The "Laws and Customes" of the free miners, dating as far back certainly as the year 1300, show that the services of the Church were then generally known--the King's Gaveller being therein directed to visit the mine "between Mattens and Ma.s.se," and the miner was to "swear by his faith." For 200 years after the Reformation no further provision was made, indeed none was apparently required, as the Forest had been more than once nearly depopulated during that period, and was said to be almost without inhabitants in 1712.

In common with many other mineral districts, especially those in the West, the Rev. John Wesley established a connection with our Forest miners. He visited Coleford as early as 1756, and did so again in 1763; and his Journal thus records these visits:--"Monday, 15th March, 1756.--We reached Coleford before seven, and found a plain loving people, who received the word of G.o.d with all gladness. Tuesday, 16th.--Examining the little society, I found them grievously hara.s.sed by disputations. Anabaptists were on one side, and Quakers on the other; and hereby five or six persons have been confused. But the rest cleave so much the closer together. Nor does it appear that there is now one trifler, much less a disorderly walker, among them." Wednesday, 17th (August, 1763).--"Hence we rode to Coleford. The wind being high, I consented to preach in their new room; but large as it was, it would not contain the people, who appeared to be not a little affected, of which they gave a sufficient proof by filling the room at five in the morning."

It appears, also, as stated in the interesting MS. of worthy Mr. Horlich, an Independent Minister, that in the year 1783 "one Mr. Stiff occasionally, on the Lord's Day, went to some sequestered spot in the Forest, where himself and some of his family took their station under the extended branches of one of the trees, for the purpose of reading the Word of G.o.d."

But no sustained effort to impart religious instruction to the inhabitants of the Forest was made until 1803, when the Rev. P. M.

Procter became Vicar of Newland, to which parish the Foresters were always considered to belong. "At this time," he says, in his 'Brief and Authentic Statement,' published in 1819, "I saw nothing of them on the Sabbath-day. The church was only used by them as a matter of course and necessity: indeed, a general opinion prevailed that they had no right to accommodation, and a Forester was seldom seen in the aisle. The first impression I received respecting the inhabitants was of the most unfavourable kind. For some months no other intercourse took place than what the visiting of the sick and the baptizing of the children occasioned. By these means, however, I came to the knowledge of their condition, their lives and conversation, of which the latter were the most deplorable--habitual profanation of the Sabbath-day, drunkenness, rioting, immodest dancing, revellings, fightings, an improper state of females on their marriage, and an absence and ignorance of the Holy Scriptures."

Mr. Procter then goes on to relate how he was brought to attempt their improvement.--"After a few months' residence I was invited to take the afternoon duty of the chapel at Coleford. Curiosity brought some of the colliers to hear, and the report they carried home with them induced others to come and judge for themselves. We pa.s.sed on very quietly for a little time, when a collier, named Thomas Morgan, sent to request that I would call upon him. I did so. After the accustomed salutations were pa.s.sed, he a.s.signed certain impressive reasons for wis.h.i.+ng to see me, and, in stating them, his eyes, his voice, and humble gesture strongly marked the agitated feelings of his soul. After an interesting conversation of two hours, I promised, at his request, to call upon him again the following week. On taking my leave he said, 'I hope your honour will not be offended, but some of my relations and neighbours are in the same ignorant state as myself; they would be happy to hear your conversation, and with permission I will ask one or two to come.' Under the impression of a private conversation with six or eight people, I went to the cottage at the time appointed. Upon laying my hand on the latch of the door, the opening of it was prevented--the resistance proceeded from the number of people collected within. A profound silence prevailed. The collier smiled and looked for a pardon. Astonished at this unexpected scene, not being accustomed and perfectly unprepared to address such an a.s.semblage, I felt for some moments at a loss how to proceed. But there was no time for hesitation; taking the Bible, the 61st of Isaiah was the chapter read and commented upon. The attention with which the poor heard, the very humble manner in which they returned thanks, and the earnest hope they expressed that I would come again, made a deep impression in their favour. Under these circ.u.mstances I was led, as it were, unintentionally to the commencement of those lectures which continue to the present time (1819). The first effects of these lectures were seen in the observance of the sacred duties of the Sabbath-day; our congregations at Newland increased, and the aisles of the church became occupied, in which the Foresters were now seen. Year after year pa.s.sed away, the Thursday evening lectures continued to be well attended, the moral habits of the people improved, and a knowledge of the Scriptures obtained. Religion had evidently taken root; much was effected, but infinitely more remained to be done. The means only were wanting--the opportunity was present. _Could we raise a building to contain about 200 people_? Such were our limited views at that time."

In 1807 a memorial was drawn up and signed by some hundreds of miners and colliers, praying the officers of the Crown to grant a portion of land on which to erect a lecture-room, and also timber for building it. Dr.

Huntingford, the Bishop of Gloucester, presented the pet.i.tion to Government; but the law officers of the Crown, Sir S. Romilly and Sir A.

Piggott, found that it could not be carried into effect without an Act of the Legislature. Under Mr. Perceval's administration, Mr. Procter renewed the attempt by a personal interview with that minister, who, whilst expressing his deep regret that he could not officially a.s.sist, suggested an appeal to the public, to which he would give his name and support, as well as an application to the National Society about to be formed. To him, in fact, is due the insertion at this juncture of the clause in the Act of 52nd George III., chap. 161, sec. 27, to enable the Commissioners of the Treasury to appropriate small portions of land, not exceeding five acres, for ecclesiastical purposes, and which has facilitated the erection of the Forest churches.

Closely resembling the above efforts were those made on the north-east side of the Forest by the Rev. H. Berkin, which he commenced about the year 1809, when curate of Mitcheldean. He writes--"Finding the miners and colliers of the Forest, adjoining that parish, too generally living in the neglect of moral and religious duties, I considered it a duty to attempt their improvement." In January, 1812, he opened a school-room in Mitcheldean, which he had built mainly at his own expense, although he was afterwards a.s.sisted by his private friends, and in particular by a liberal donation from the Duke of Beaufort, and eventually by a grant of 50 pounds from the National Society, 100 pounds being given at the same time to Mr. Procter's building-fund--these were the very first donations to country schools made by that estimable inst.i.tution. Mr. Berkin's school was at once attended by 140 scholars, and ultimately 350 came. In the first Report of the National Society it is stated that "many of the parents expressed their acknowledgments to Mr. Berkin with the tears in their eyes, exerting themselves to the utmost to enable their children to be constant in their attendance, in spite of the numerous difficulties with which they had to struggle--such as the distance of the schools, the wretched state of the roads in bad weather, and the extreme poverty of the people, which makes it a hard matter for them to clothe their children properly, and to furnish them with a slice of bread for their dinner."

Returning to Mr. Procter's exertions to erect a building for the two-fold purpose of divine service and juvenile instruction, he found consolation for former disappointments in the following pleasing offer of Thomas Morgan, the poor cottager already mentioned:--"Take my field," said he.

"With that I give you five guineas, to which my neighbours have added 15 pounds. We ask of you only to begin and build until the money is expended; in another year we will again add our mites; only lay the foundation and begin." Accordingly, in the month of June, 1812, the building was commenced, and (aided by the subscriptions which were received, especially from the Duke of Beaufort, the Lord Bishop of Gloucester, and his secretary, Mr. Ryder) was so constructed as to admit of its being hereafter enlarged and consecrated. "On the Epiphany, 6th January, 1813, the public service of the Established Church was, for the first time, read within its walls, under the authority of an episcopal licence; but on the commencement of Sunday duty a painful circ.u.mstance presented itself which had not been antic.i.p.ated, viz. an astonis.h.i.+ng inattention to the prayers of the Church: all appeared a blank--no interest, no spiritual concern. The cause was evident in the want of prayer-books, soon however supplied by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and one of the bishops of the Church. A schoolmaster, Mr. Edward Hawkins, previously sent to the National School in Baldwin's Gardens, immediately commenced the education of the children--300 being entered the first week. On every Thursday evening throughout the year the scholars were examined in the presence of a congregation a.s.sembled for public wors.h.i.+p--a mode of instruction which gave a laudable excitement to the children, by means of which they acquired a firmness of mind, a clear, distinct p.r.o.nunciation, and an accuracy in their delivery, which was very gratifying to the hearers, whilst it gave to the parents and relations an opportunity of observing their progress by the system of education. Through this medium, also, many a truth has been taught, many an impression made, where preaching had not succeeded." "By this time," proceeds the same excellent man, "the principles and motives of my exertions being made apparent, all the little prejudices were softened down, if not into approval, at least into a pa.s.sive silence, particularly as another clergyman, the Rev. H. Berkin, was zealously pursuing the same line of conduct on the other side of the Forest, who began this year (1812) to lecture in the cottages there, as his next attempt to benefit the parents and children connected with his school." He says--"Finding that few, by comparison, attended public wors.h.i.+p, I visited them in their cottages to read and explain the Bible; and I was led to adopt this plan from the particular situation of the Foresters, dest.i.tute of churches or ministers whom they could properly call their own. In these pastoral visits, made on different evenings in different places, and in which I have usually spent two hours in reading and practically explaining the Holy Scriptures, I have sometimes had 200 persons present at one time, and calculate on the whole that 800 at different times have thus come under instruction. Many instances might be produced, certainly not less than 20 families, of reformation in both s.e.xes, which had evinced itself in their desire to possess the Bible and Common Prayer Book, and by a total change in their moral character."

At the commencement of his career Mr. Berkin was repeatedly remonstrated with by respectable gentlemen who knew the locality better than himself, upon his venturing amongst the Foresters alone, a.s.suring him that it was not safe, since, a very short time before he came to Mitcheldean, two Wesleyan ministers attempted open-air preaching in the Forest, but were violently attacked and driven away. He thus proceeds to describe the circ.u.mstances which led to the erection of Holy Trinity Church:--"At one of the places which I am accustomed to visit, where the heat and crowd have at times been almost insufferable, the colliers, aided by two or three neighbouring farmers, offered to build a large room for the better accommodation of greater numbers. This, for obvious reasons, was declined; but it led me earnestly to wish that the Foresters might be more immediately brought within the pale of the Established Church, and, by regular attendance on a church appropriated to themselves, be made habitually acquainted with that admirable Liturgy to which too many of them are now utter strangers." Acting upon these earnest feelings, Mr.

Berkin, with the concurrence of the esteemed Dr. Ryder, the Bishop of Gloucester, laid a memorial and plan before Government, with an offer, on his part, that, "if the needful fund for building a church and parsonage-house could be provided, he would give up his present curacy and serve the new church without any further emolument than the endowment necessary for its consecration." In the concluding terms of an admirable address to the public, dated the 30th April, 1816, which he circulated with the design of obtaining contributions to the work, he stated--"My wishes are, that the kind contributors will feel rewarded in the reflection that thousands yet unborn may have cause to bless them for thus providing for their spiritual wants, and giving them the knowledge of those principles which alone can make them worthy members of society here, or lead them to provide well for their eternal welfare hereafter."

The Crown granted five acres of land for the purpose on Harry Hill, being a spot situated within a reasonable distance of from 250 to 300 cottages.

To the estimated cost of 2,500 pounds, contributions, amounting in some cases to 30 pounds each, were given by the Earl of Liverpool, Right Hon.

N. Vansittart, the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Beaufort, Sir Thomas Baring, Lord Calthorpe, Joshua Watson, Esq., Rev. H. H. Norris, W. Wilberforce, Esq., M.P., Rev. J. Pratt, &c. The building of the church (the design of which comprised a chancel 15 feet square, a tower about 60 feet high, and a body or nave 40 feet by 60 feet, calculated to hold from 400 to 500 adults, and a large children's gallery, for whom a school-room 30 feet by 50 feet was also to be built close adjoining) was begun on the 4th of June, 1816, and was used for the first time upon the 2nd of February following, on which occasion the sermon was preached by the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, from St. Matt. iv. 16. It was consecrated, as the Church of the Holy Trinity, by Bishop Ryder, on the 26th June, 1817, who preached a sermon, not yet forgotten, upon 1 Kings viii. 30; and the whole property of the living was vested in the Lord Bishop of Gloucester, Lord Calthorpe, and the Right Hon. Nicholas Vansittart, Rev. J. Kempthorne and Rev. Charles Bryan, as trustees.

Although Mr. Berkin had thus accomplished the important object of providing the inhabitants of the north-east portion of the Forest with "a church which they could call their own," he felt that it yet remained for him to make the building really useful to the people by imparting to them more and more just views of the Christian life. Accordingly he laboured if possible more abundantly than ever amongst them, visiting their houses at short intervals, collecting neighbours together, and expounding the Holy Scripture to them under their own roofs, or else opening the church so as to draw them off from the corrupting pastimes which were common at certain times of the year, and bestowing much pains on his Sunday school.

[Picture: Holy Trinity Church and Schools, Harry Hill]

Sometimes, when necessitated to take relaxation, and to go from home for a few weeks, he improved the time by acting as a deputation for the Church Missionary or Bible Societies, and even now his name is remembered in distant parishes. The Missionary a.s.sociation for which he acted as secretary, and which was called the North-east Forest of Dean Branch, sometimes contributed 220 pounds a year to the cause, or a total of 3,300 pounds. The appliances, now so generally known, for interesting the young were even then in actual operation in his own school, and effected their purpose well. His monitors and sub-teachers were carefully guided by him; and no doubt with the design of duly impressing its importance upon his scholars, holy baptism in accordance with the rubric was always administered during divine service, after the second lesson, and this took place most Sundays, as the register shows.

Few clergymen took more pains than Mr. Berkin with the communicants of the church, who were always visited before the communion day, and who generally presented themselves to the number of about seventy. On two occasions valuable livings were offered to him; but, said he, "since my ministerial work began in this neighbourhood, here it shall end," as it accordingly did, after forty years of labour, on the 11th October, 1847.

He was buried in his own churchyard, being followed to the grave by his sorrowing people, and worthily committed to the tomb by the Rev. James Davies, of Abbenhall. His funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. H.

Poole, who took for his text 2 Tim. iv. 6-8. {163}

A rapidly increasing population, and unfortunately not a concentrating one, compelled Mr. Berkin's successor (the writer of this work) to meet its wants by erecting chapel school-rooms, for the accommodation of sixty scholars each, in the hamlets of Woodside and the Hawthorns, the former having been in use since 15th September, 1850, and the latter since 31st December, 1851, to the lasting benefit, he trusts, of many of the rising generation through the Divine blessing on the conscientious efforts of their respective teachers. It was by such a method that Mr. Berkin acted, when, in the year 1822, he caused a chapel school-room to be built at Lydbrook, judging that place to be sufficiently populous and distant from the nearest church to justify such an erection, not as being a full provision for it, but hoping that eventually a church might be built there, which has now been satisfactorily accomplished.