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''Freeminer'' is an ancient title given to a coal or iron miners in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, who have earned the right to mine personal plots, known as ''gales''. ==History of Freemining== For hundreds of years, mining of the Forest of Dean Coalfield and iron reserves has been regulated through a system of Freemining, with the Free Miner's Mine Law Court sitting at the Speech House from 1682. The earliest known existing copy of ''Dean Miners’ Laws and Privileges'', known locally as the ''Book of Dennis'', dates from 1610 but the copy itself contains references to much earlier origins.〔(COST website )〕 It also claims that Freemining rights were granted to Foresters by Edward I who, in so doing, also confirmed that such 'customes and franchises' had existed since 'tyme out of mynde'.〔(The Forest of Dean, H G Nicholls )〕 Freeminers had been instrumental in recapturing Berwick-upon-Tweed several times (1296, 1305 and 1315) and it is thought that these privileges were granted as a reward for their endeavours. A plaque bearing the engraved coat of arms of the Freeminers is on the Greyndour tomb in the Clearwell Chapel in Newland church, and other important medieval and modern mining emblems are in the Freeminers Guild church of St. Michael in Abenhall. Towards the end of the 18th century, as the industrial revolution began to take hold, increasing demand for coal and iron led to conflicting mining interests and the Mine Law Court became bogged down with disputes. Deep coal and iron reserves could not be mined without substantial investment and the Crown became determined to introduce the free market into the Forest. In 1777 Mine Law Court documents mysteriously disappeared from the Speech House where they were stored and the Court fell into disarray, most of the Court documents were later found to have been in the possession of local Crown officials (Deputy Gavellers) and they were produced as evidence at an Inquiry, some 50 years later.〔(Clearwell Caves website )〕 A Royal Commission was appointed in 1831 to inquire into the nature of the mineral interests and freemining customs in the Forest of Dean, leading to the passing of the Dean Forest Mines Act 1838,〔(Dean Forest (Mines) Act, 1838 )〕 which now forms the basis of Freemining law. It confirmed the Freeminers' exclusive right to the minerals of the Forest of Dean, but also allowed Freeminers to sell their gales to a non-Freeminers, weakening the Freeminer's control and opening up the Forest to outside industrialists. The Coal Industry Nationalisation Act, of 1946, specifically exempted the Forest of Dean, due to its unique form of ownership and history, allowing Freemining privileges to continue intact. Some large colliery gales were subsequently compulsorily purchased by the National Coal Board (NCB), but these remained under the Freemining system, with a royalty paid to the Freeminers, by the NCB, as a share of the minerals extracted. The last of the NCB deep mines closed in 1965.〔(Clearwell Caves website )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「freeminer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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