240 Mineral Trades 



OTHER MINERALS. 



(a) Iron. 



The iron mining and manufacturing districts of the Isles were, of 

 course, determined by the presence of iron and fuel — charcoal or pit- 

 coal. They were more widely distributed in earlier times, when char- 

 coal was the most used fuel. The rapid deforestation of some counties 

 was the cause of no slight anxiety to the inhabitants during the six- 

 teenth and seventeenth centuries. The iron industry in Surrey and 

 other counties suffered from the increasing costs of production.^ 

 Henry VIII commenced the policy of conserving the forests in 1543- 

 by requiring the lea\ang of so many standils per acre cleared. Eliz- 

 abeth forbade the use of timber for iron smelting within twenty-two 

 miles of London^ and detailed what trees and in what places timber 

 might be cut in England for this purpose.^ Special precautions 

 were taken for preserving the forests of Surrey, Sussex and Kent.^ 

 The conservation pohcy took other lines during the next century: the 

 importation of pig iron from Sweden and, later, its production in the 

 American colonies were encouraged. The old policy of Edward III 

 of prohibiting the export of iron was in vogue until 1693 and probably 

 had some slight effect on iron-production.*^ The Iron-Mongers' and 

 the Blacksmiths' Companies of London in 1668 petitioned for protec- 

 tixe duties on Swedish iron^ lest the domestic industry be wiped out 

 by competition. The domestic producers were very much handi- 

 capped by this free importation.^ As the forests became exhausted 

 and as smelting by coal was invented the iron industry tended to 

 concentrate in more defined districts. 



One reason of its wide dispersion in the early period was, therefore, 

 the wide source of fuel; another was the freedom that characterized 

 mining operations in early times. The "free miner" was one of the 

 freest personages known to medieval law. The high risks attached 

 to mining adventures and the high need of iron for military and other 

 purposes probably inchned the state to a most generous policy with 

 respect to the miner. For instance, in Gloucestershire every free 



1 Cf. V. C. H., Derby, II, 359; Glouces. II, 230. 



235 Hen. YIII, Cap. 17. 



3 23 Eliz., Cap. 5. 



^ 1 Eliz., Cap. 15. 



5 27 Eliz., Cap. 19. 



«28 Ed. Ill, Cap. 5 (1354) to 5 Wm. & M., Cap. 17 (1693). 



' S. P. Dom. Chas. II, Vol. 238, No. 20; V. C. H., Derbj;, 359-60. 



« "Dialogue," 120-1. 



