The Nash Family of West Dean, Gloucestershire in the Early 1800s:

Hypotheses & References

Compiled by Matthew Thomas Alexander Nash, travelingmatt@hotmail.com
[Thomas5, Edward James4, Thomas3, Jeremiah2, William1, Richard0(?)]
July 16, 2005

HYPOTHESES

A. In 1838, there were two Richard Nashes living in or around the hamlet of Sling in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire:
The elder Richard Nash, born about 1779, was living in Sling at Clay Lane End (near the old pike house). This man likely was the father of our William Nash, who also was living at Clay Lane End. Other sons or nephews may include James, Rueben and Thomas Nash, who all were living at Clay Lane End at this time. [1]

A second Richard Nash, born about 1809, was living about a mile away in Darkhill. This man may have been the brother of William and the son of Richard the elder (or perhaps the son of John Nash, born about 1776, who also was living in Darkhill in 1838, but who moved to Sling by 1851). [1,2]

B. According to an interview of Richard Nash the younger in 1841 (then aged 32), the Nash family had been miners in the Forest of Dean for at least two generations before Richard (mid-1700s or earlier?). [3]

C. The iron mine at Sling had been the site of an ancient mine, perhaps dating back to Roman times or earlier. [5, 6] Indeed, Richard Nash and company discovered ancient mining implements in the mine. [3]

D. As a free miner, the younger Richard Nash applied for ownership of Sling Pit Iron Mine sometime after 1832 [6] and took informal possession around 1836-1838. [3] He leased the mine to ironmaster George Elwell Jackson of Birmingham until he and brother William finally received formal ownership from the Dean Forest Mining Commissioners in 1841. [3,1]

E. G.E. Jackson started to develop the mine around 1838. [5,6] Richard Nash acted as Jackson’s agent and managed the operations of the mine. [3]

F. Richard and William transferred ownership of the mine to Jackson immediately upon being formally granted ownership by the Dean Forest Mining Commissioners. [4,6]

G. It is possible that Richard and William never intended to maintain ownership of the mine as they would not have had the capital to invest in equipment and workings. Although Jackson could finance such an undertaking, he was not a fee miner of the Forest of Dean and therefore he could not obtain ownership directly from the Crown. [6] Instead, Jackson needed to purchase it through free miners, which was a common practice among industrialists from outside of the Forest of Dean. [5] Perhaps Jackson had an arrangement with Richard Nash by which Richard and William applied for ownership of the mine with the full intent to sell it to Jackson as soon as they were granted the gale of the Crown.

H. The Nash family owned and/or leased other iron and coal mines near Coleford in addition to Old Sling Pit. For example, after selling Old Sling Pit to Jackson, Richard Nash the younger was granted ownership of Tile Quarry coal mine in 1843 and Nash’s Folly coal mine in 1846. [7,8]

I. By 1851, John Nash left Darkhill and lived in Sling with the surviving members of the families of Richard Nash the elder and William Nash. [3] John Nash may have been the brother or cousin of Richard Nash the elder. The widow Charlotte Nash and offspring at 15 Sling Pit may have been the family of Richard Nash the younger or Thomas Nash. A more detailed listing of Nashes in or near Sling in 1851 shows that there were more Nashes living in the area than previously known. [9]

J. Today, there are several buildings in Sling that may date back to the early days of Sling Pit Iron Mine, including the Miner’s Arms, Orepool Inn, and the Sling Pike House at Clay Lane End. Indeed, our Nashes may have lived in these buildings. As recently as 1981, a Nash free miner was still in the Sling area residing at Clements End (Joseph Albert Nash, then aged 76) [1]

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
(Information of greatest relevance is highlighted in yellow)

[1] Freeminers Register, provided by Ian Pope in an e-mail on 6/15/05

138 William Nash Clay Lane End 32 Sept 8th 1838 dead

140 Samuel Nash Cinderford 27 Sept 8th 1838 dead

341 John Nash Darkhill 63 Sept 8th 1838 dead

342 Richard Nash Darkhill 30 Sept 8th 1838 dead

343 Thomas Nash Clay Lane End 34 Sept 8th 1838 dead

360 Richard Nash Clay Lane End 60 Sept 8th 1838 dead

361 James Nash Clay Lane End 23 Sept 8th 1838 alive

362 Reuben Nash Clay Lane End 21 Sept 8th 1838 alive

363 John Nash Coleford Lane End 36 Sept 8th 1838 dead

364 John Nash Breems Tufts 26 Sept 8th 1838 dead

2138 William Nash Clements End Green 32 26 Jul 1887

2446 Henry Nash Cinderford 45 29 Jun 1892 baptism

2688 Emmanuel Nash Belson Green 25 25 Oct 1897 cert of birth prod'

2962 Frederick Henry Nash Cinderford 34 2nd Apr 1904 cert of birth prod'

3052 Francis Nash Ellwood, nr Coleford 27 8 Aug 1904 cert of birth prod'

3662 William Dew Nash Drybrook Lodge Farm, nr Coleford 30 6 Aug 1924 cert of birth prod'

3935 Richard Nash Marsh Lane, nr Coleford 47 7 Jul 1933 cert of birth prod'

4083 Frank Nash 18, Stockwell Green Cinderford 48 20 May 1950 cert of birth prod

4252 Joseph Albert Nash Clements End 76 27 November 1981 cert of birth prod

[NOTE BY MATT: The labels “dead” may have been applied at dates later than the original entries; many of these Nashes show up as still living in later censes.]

[2] 1851 Census of Sling Pit, scanned by George Wayne Nash, his wife, Adrienna and his step-son, Leighton; transcribed by John Loosley http://members.aol.com/lynnash911/nashfamilypage.html?f=fs

NOTE: See additional Nashes in the 1851 Census in footnote #9 below.

[3] Interview of Richard Nash, extracted from The Royal Commission Reports on Children in The Mines, 1842, provided by Ian Winstanley on 6/16/05

Report by Elijah Waring, Esq., on the Employment of Children and Young Persons in the Collieries and other Works in the Forest of Dean and on the State, Condition, and Treatment of such Children and Young Persons.

Interviewee: Richard Nash, Mining Agent to Messrs. Jackson and Co., Sling Pit Iron mine, near Coleford, April 13, 1841.

“I am a free miner, and let the Sling Pit to Messrs. Jackson and Co., who opened it. I took the Gale of the Crown. We employ 35 hands. There are three boys under 13 years of age, the youngest is nine. He is a billy boy and carries about 60 or 70 lbs. of ore down a steep descent to the horse way. He earns 1s. a day at piece work, under the miner who employs him. I fix the wages, and pay them. The other two boys sometimes cart the ore, and sometimes carry billies. They earn from 1s. 4d. to 1s. 6d. a day. I believe we have no young person over 13 and under 18 years of age. We work by shaft, 106 yards deep, and a steam engine. Our pit has no water as we are on a dry tump. We had bad air all last summer but are now cut down to some old workings, beyond the memory of man and this gives us a better circulation of air. Our boys are healthy. Iron mining is a great deal healthier work than coal cutting. One man had his leg fractured, about six months ago, by the fall of a large stone. No other accident has occurred during the whole five years that we have been working. I have lived always in the Forest, and my father and grandfather before me. They were real old miners. I remember things well 20 years ago and think there is a great improvement in the foresters since then. They are more civilised, and better taught, a sight. Two of our boys can read, the others can not. The two eldest go to a night school within 40 yards of the pit. They pay 6d. a week. The least boy is the son of a widow, who has nothing but what he earns, and has one small girl to support besides. He has no change of clothes but a clean shirt but wears the same on Sundays that he wears in the pit.”

Mem.- The above evidence contains an instance, among many I have met with, of the peculiar destitution of instruction, to which the children of poor widows are subject. Partly from want of means to pay even a small weekly contribution to the school, and partly from inability to procure clothing, such as they like them to appear in, among their less impoverished yoke-fellows.

It is a curious fact connected with the Sling Pit, that in the old workings spoken of in the evidence, there was found an ancient shovel, made entirely of wood, but shod with iron. It fell to pieces on being touched.

[4] Transfers of Old Sling Pit Iron Mine, contributed by George Wayne Nash Jones to the website “The Nash Family of England, Wales, Canada & the United States” http://members.aol.com/lynnash911/nashfamilypage.html?f=fs

[5] A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume V: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 326-54.
URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=23267
Date accessed: 16 June 2005.

Before 1775 foreigners rarely held gales, being forbidden to do so by custom. Following the lapse of the mine law court it became common for them to buy or take leases of gales and for free miners to acquire gales on their behalf. (Footnote 85) At first foreigners received little return on their capital but by the 1820s they operated nearly all the large mines in the Forest, investing substantial sums in deep mining and tramroads and thereby producing coal competitively with collieries elsewhere… In 1838 G. E. Jackson, a Birmingham ironmaster, sank Old Sling ore mine below old workings at Clearwell Meend. (Footnote 95)

84. 4th Rep. Dean Forest Com. 7, 9; Award of Dean Forest Mining Com. (1841), 22.

95. Award of Dean Forest Mining Com. (1841), 183; Nicholls, Iron Making, 63.

[6] E-mail from mining historian Ian Pope on 6/15/05

Early ownership of Old Sling Pit Iron Mine:

Forest of Dean mining areas, both coal and iron, were defined following a Royal Commission headed by Thomas Sopwith in 1841. By this Richard and William Nash were granted the Old Sling Pit Iron Mine Work. They applied for it after 9th April 1832 which was the date at which grants of gales were suspended until the Commission had come to its decisions. However, they still took possession of the gale (I think an allowance was made so that work could continue) and leased it to George Elwell Jackson, a Birmingham Iron Master, and he began work on the gale… Only Free Miners could be granted a gale (the best reference work for this is The Free Miners by Cyril Hart, recently updated and reprinted by Lightmoor Press) and they often sold them straight away to an outside interest as they themselves did not have the capital to develop them… From your document it would appear that they conveyed ownership of the gale on the 20th July 1841 (or as soon as they had officially been given title by the Commission). In practice I would think that they had taken the money back in 1832!… As you can see from your document [transfers of Old Sling Pit Iron Mine] the gale went through several changes of ownership (some are mortgages).

History of Old Sling Pit Iron Mine:

The following is an extract from Severn & Wye Railway Volume 3 written by myself on Sling Pit—The 1841 Awards gave Old Sling Pit Iron Mine to Richard and William Nash who leased the concern to George Elwell Jackson, a Birmingham iron master. Application for the gale had been made prior to the Award date but refused. Jackson, however, had already commenced work (probably in 1838) as if permission had been granted.

By November 1859 the gale was in the hands of William Talbot of Kidderminster who at that time wanted to construct a tramroad from the mine to the Severn & Wye’s Milkwall branch, where an end-on connection was to be made. Talbot was also the registered owner of three other local iron gales, Old Bow, Old Ham and Lambsquay. By 1862 only Sling Pit was at work, the ore in the others having begun to run out because they had all been extensively worked by the ‘old men’. The Rev. Nicholls, in 1866, wrote that Old Sling had long been considered one of the principal mine works on the western edge of the Forest. Its chief access was by a shaft to a depth of 105 yards, the depth of the deepest workings which rose, following the ore, towards the surface until the “old men’s” workings were encountered at a depth of about 50 yards. He added that ‘this iron mine has yielded for several years past 1,000 tons of red hematite ore per month and employed nearly 100 hands’. Specific output figures for 1864 and 1865 were given as 15,940 and 12,380 tons respectively.

For a period of 4 years from September 1870 the gales were worked by Talbot’s son who paid his father a royalty of lOd per ton as well as the royalty to the Crown. In September 1874 the gales were leased to William Henry Fryer on the same terms. As already seen, he constructed sidings and loading wharves in 1876 to give rail communication to his concerns, retaining lengths of tramroad from the pit-mouths to the wharf. In December 1883, in an attempt to gain a reduction in the royalty paid, he wrote to the Crown stating that Old Sling and Old Ham ‘had seen best days’ and he soon disposed of his interest in Old Ham, as will be seen later.

Following Talbot’s death, Sling Pit, Old Bow Pit and Clays Farm at Sling were offered for auction at the Feathers Hotel, Lydney, on Friday, 5th October 1894. The auction notice gave various details of the concern and also stated that the amount of royalty paid by Fryer was 7d per ton as well as 4d per ton to the Crown. The outcome of the auction is unknown, but it may be that Fryer bought the concern or continued to lease it from a new owner.

The sidings at the end of the Sling branch did, of course, belong to Fryer, and in April 1895 he attempted to sell them to the Joint Committee who declined his offer. He had also attempted to dispose of them to the Severn & Wye in 1887 but had met with the same response.

In June 1903 the gales and the sidings were conveyed to Messrs. Warren and Frederick Watkins, a partnership which lasted until October 1911 when it was dissolved and Frederick carried on alone. In October 1917 he assigned Old Sling and Old Bow gales to the Coleford Iron Co. for the sum of £11,000 which was stated to be ‘a handsome profit’. In 1919 a report on the Iron Co. stated: ‘The Sling mine has been worked, in the old primitive way, more or less continuously from the year 1838 until 1907. Most of the ore extracted has been taken from above the 314 ft level, although some has been got from below it by underhand sloping. A level has been started at a further depth of about 68 ft; but, as in the case of the Dun Mine no serious pumping operations have been attempted, this lower portion of the mine is only available for work for a few weeks towards the end of each summer when the ground water recedes; consequently, as the exploited portions of the upper drives had became exhausted, very little work has been done at this mine since the year 1907.’

According to Crown records, between 1838 and 1917 367,000 tons of ore had been extracted. It was intended to work Sling together with the New Dun mine and link them through to the Easter mine.

In June 1920 instructions were issued for working the Coleford Iron Ore Co.’s sidings at Sling. They stated that an engine stop board was fixed immediately ahead of the connection to the loop siding and that a weighbridge and three loading chutes were located on the loop siding. Wagons were not to be loose shunted into the sidings but were to be coupled to the engine until brought to a stand on the siding. The guard of the train was to be responsible for making sure that the chutes were raised before any shunting operations took place. The plans of the Coleford Iron Ore Co., who had gained options over 26 iron gales, came to nothing and by 1921 the lease of Sling Pit was back in the hands of Frederick Watkins who was working it in conjunction with Dun Pit.

A tramway brought the iron ore to a loading point on the end of the Sling Branch after 1875 but prior to that date the ore would have been transported on the horse-drawn Severn & Wye Tramroad.

[7] Forest of Dean Coal Mining Pages, compiled by Ian Pope http://www.users.waitrose.com/~iapope/Coalopen.html

Darkhill. Potts Mining Register for 1908 gives Nash Bros. as working the gale employing five below and three above ground.

Darkhill Endeavor No. 2. 4 March 1895 James and Martin Nash, lessees, requiring to drive a water level so as to work the remaining coal in Darkhill Colliery.

Drybrook Folly. 21 July 1927 Messrs. Nash & Sons applying for land in connection with gale. 10 February 1928 Messrs. Nash given up and Mr. Baden F. Watkins has started work.

1931 Watkins registered owner.

1944 Registered owner J. S. Nash, held in connection with New Bromley Hill (above).

[NOTE BY MATT—Who were Nash & Sons? Could Baden F. Watkins be the same person as, or related to, Frederick Watkins, owner of the Old Sling Pit Iron Mine referenced in the record of transfers of that mine?]

Elwood. 11 July 1881 Messrs. Lückes & [Francis] Nash sank the Ellwood pit on Hopewell Engine property.

Hopewell Engine. In June 1869 the gale was being worked by the Western Counties Colliery Co. of Whitecroft, the proprietors of which were Henry Richards Lückes and Francis Nash, (Lückes & Nash also had interests in the Patent Fuel Works at Whitecroft and in the Speech House Hill Colliery) although the registered owners were still the Blanches. They had, however, by November mortgaged the concern to a Mr. Thomas Bower.

[NOTE BY MATT—A museum now operates at this site, Hopewell Colliery Museum, Cannop Hill, Coleford.]

Nash's Folly. 17 February 1846 to Richard Nash, of the Futtrell, near Dark Hill, situate at the Futtrell, opposite Birch Hill Folly Level, to get coal from the Trenchard veins.

Oaken Level. 2 November 1859 John Nash and Wm. Henderson as proprietors of the Oaken & Churchway Level Colliery apply for lease of land one acre adjoining the colliery to dig and get clay for brickmaking. Between the Severn & Wye and the Cannop Brook to north of Oaken Level. John Nash, York Lodge, application granted. Wished to burn bricks in clamps, sell raw clay etc. then fill in the excavated area with colliery waste. 9 March 1864 J. Nash now bankrupt, interest vested in J. Wintle and L. Winterbotham. Lease.

Pillowell Level. 5 May 1869 Pillowell Engine & Rudge gales for sale. Owners of Rudge Revd. James Williams, Henry Richards Lückes, Francis Nash, William Taylor.

4 October 1876 Messrs. Lückes, Nash & Co. [probably since 1866/68 - Pillowell Colliery Co.? Certainly 14 September 1872]

1877 Lückes & Nash looking for a buyer.

Princess Royal. In February 1863 the Bristol and Forest of Dean Coal Co. was wound up under a petition from Charles Nash and Mark Whitwell, the company finally being dissolved in February 1866.

Tile Quarry. 27 June 1843 Granted to Richard Nash, of Dark Hill, for a pit on Tile Quarry Hill, called the Tile Quarry Pit, to get the coal from the Trenchard vein.

Unity. 17 March 1864 Samuel Morgan, colliery manager and Francis Nash accountant.

One-third share in thirteen-sixteenths of Unity & Yorkley to Nash

One-third share in thirteen-sixteenths of Unity & Yorkley to Henry Richards Lückes.

- 21 November 1864 Morgan to Lückes & Nash remaining one-third share together with Morgans lease of Whitecroft No. 2 granted to Morgan by William Taylor for 21 years from 13 February 1864. Also lease of Pillowell Level granted by John Phipps to Jacob Jenkins for 99 years from 2 February 1832.

- 22 November 1864 Messrs. Lückes & Nash & Revd. John Williams, Fairfield, Hereford. One-third of Unity & Yorkley to Williams, also one-third of Whitecroft and Pillowell.

- 30 April 1867 William Taylor to Revd. Williams one-third of one-eighth of Unity & Yorkley

William Taylor to Lückes & Nash remaining two-thirds of one-eighth.

- 12 August 1867 John Taylor to Lückes & Nash remaining two-thirds of one-sixteenth of Unity & Yorkley.

- 20 September 1867 Lückes & Nash, Compressed Coal Co. Whitecroft.

- 1 October 1867 Compressed Coal Co., Francis Nash, the Revd. John Williams, Mr. John Taylor, Mr. Henry Carpenter, Mrs. Sarah Carpenter (late Sarah Johnson).

- 20 December 1867 Deeds of transfer Carpenter to Lückes & Nash.

- 1 March 1870 Pillowell Colliery Co. Francis Nash.

- 2 June 1870 Registered owners: Henry Richards Lückes, Francis Nash and John Williams. To build engine, engine house, boilers, carpenters shop, weigh house, blacksmiths shop, road and pit.

[8] Gloucestershire's Mining Industry in 1896 - A List of Coal Mines

Peak District Mines Historical Society Ltd., Britain's Active Mining History Society.

From the Tables compiled by Joseph S. Martin, H.M.Inspector for the South Western District in his Report for 1896 http://www.tidza.demon.co.uk/1896-66.htm

List of Mines worked under the Coal Mines Regulation Act, in Gloucestershire, during the Year 1896.

Workers

Hilliersland Coleford Richard Nash, Miner's Inn, Clements End, Sling, near Coleford Coal

[9] Additional Nashes in Sling in 1851

In 1851, there were other Nashes living in or near Sling in addition to the ones cited in the letter from John Loosley on Toni Nash’s website. Below is a complete listing of Nashes living in or near Sling that appear in a transcription of the 1851 census produced by G.W. Beavington based on records held in the Public Records Office (Reference 2 CPY (4)19 dated 12 December 1996, P.R.O. Reference # HO 107/2444) http://www.rootsweb.com/~cotswold/westdean51.txt

1851 Census, Sling Pit, West Dean, Gloucestershire:

12

NASH Richard 72 Iron Miner West Dean

Mary 58 West Dean

Susan 19 West Dean

13

NASH Sarah Widow/er 38 Pauper West Dean [WIFE OF WILLIAM]

Emanuel 14 Iron Miner West Dean

William 12 Pauper West Dean

Lorro 8 Daughter 8 West Dean

Jeremiah 5 West Dean

Henry 4 West Dean

Mary 2 West Dean

15

NASH Charlotte Widow/er 43 Pauper Newland [WIFE OF RICHARD OR THOMAS???]

Thomas 19 Iron Miner West Dean

Maria 11 Pauper West Dean

Elizabeth 7 West Dean J

ONES James 40 Iron Miner Newland

17

NASH John Widow/er 75 Iron Miner West Dean

CAPP Andrew Lodger 44 Labourer Torrington Devon

21

NASH James 35 Iron Miner West Dean

Mary 34 West Dean

Sarah 12 Scholar West Dean

William 19 Scholar West Dean

Thursa 8 Scholar West Dean

Peter 5 Scholar West Dean

James 4 Scholar West Dean

Mary 5m West Dean

37

NASH Sarah Ann 20 Dressmaker West Dean [WIFE OF WHOM???]

Benjamin 17 Brother Coal Miner West Dean

Eliza 11 Pauper West Dean Sister

Emma Sister 9 Pauper West Dean

83

NASH Jacob 24 Iron Miner West Dean

Ann 23 West Dean

Thomas 2 West Dean

Sarah Ann 7m West Dean

86

NASH Joseph 26 Iron Miner West Dean

Esther 24 West Dean

Emma 3 West Dean

Samuel 2 West Dean

A complete listing of Nashes found throughout Gloucestershire in the 1851 census can be found at http://www.rootsweb.com/~cotswold/1nameN.txt (see various indices at http://www.rootsweb.com/~cotswold/GLSontheweb.htm).

No.	Date of Conveyance	From	To
--	20th July 1841	Richard & William Nash	George Ellway Jackson of Birmingham
44	10th December 1842	George Ellway Jackson	John Jefferies of Birmingham
164	16th October 1845	John Jefferies	William S. Harding of B'ham & William H. Jackson of Coleford
250	9th August 1847	William H. Jackson	Joseph Frederick Ledsam of Birmingham
511	24th March 1854	Henry Chillingworth of Kidderminisher	William Talbot of Kidderminisher
512	14th April 1854	Joseph Ledsam of B'ham & William H. Jackson of Coleford	William Talbot
584	16th November 1855	Sarah Lawrence of Lemington	William Talbot
2074	23rd June 1903	William Talbot	Frederick Watkins and William Watkins of Bream
2215	16th October 1911	Warren Watkins	Frederick Watkins
2313	3rd October 1914	Frederick Watkins	George W. Wardle of Elondon
2384	16th July 1921	George W. Wardle	Tom Taylor of Hyde Park
2385	15th August 1921	Tom Taylor	Frederick Watkins