30 A PICTURE OF THE IRON TRADE. 



of Newcastle, the purchase of whose wood he monopolised. John 

 Magson had also been in partnership with him, and was now 

 reputed to be worth 25,000 or 26,000 pounds. Mr. Jenings 

 (son in-law to Colonel Milward) was at one time reported to have 

 taken Clayton's works, and may well have been nearly related to 

 the founder of the great Jennings' fortune. Captain Mazine, Mr. 

 Westerne. Mr. Blake, Mr. Bullock, and, I think, Mr. Newton, 

 were also manufacturers ; but I find no mention of William 

 Simpson, of Renishaw, Francis Barlow, of Sheffield, and Dennis 

 Hayford, of Millington, Co. Chester, whom we know from 

 Hunter to have taken over Copley's ironworks at Wadsley Forge, 

 Rotherham Mill, and Chapeltown Furnace, in the year 1678 or 

 thereabouts. 



It was a frequent occurrence for two or more employers to 

 become partners in some big bargain for the purchase of wood or 

 the delivery of iron ; and in such cases they conjointly hired or 

 built a furnace or forge, and divided the tools there when the 

 business was finished ; or one would contract to supply another 

 with iron or with wood, as, for instance, when the author of these 

 letters undertakes in 1654 to supply Copley with 850 tons, over a 

 period of years. 



Though there was much jealousy and ill-feeling between them, 

 yet they were sufficiently alive to their own interest to attempt, 

 with some success, to combine for the purpose of keeping up the 

 price of iron. Prices, indeed, were, during this period, naturally 

 falling from over competition, and I find frequent complaints of 

 the badness of trade. " It proves very sad,'' writes our merchant, 

 '* when iron will not reach /12 p. tunn." This is in July, 1663, 

 and in the same month of the next year he repeats the complaint — 

 " I cannot send any more iron to London this year, it sells pretty 

 well in the country." In December, 1664, Franceys writes from 

 London, that iron is worth ^14 per ton, and that he has heard a 

 merchant ask £16. In February, of the next year, George Sitwell 

 says — " I saw a letter yesterday from Mr. Pellett of the rates of iron, 

 wherein he writes some sorts are worth ^17, some ^16, and that 

 ordinary iron is worth £i$ per tunn ; truly, I think I shall have 



