Ill 



THE GERMAN MINERS AT KESWICK. 



By J. FISHER CROSTHWAITE, F.S.A. 



(Read before the Cumberland and Westmorland Archceological Society ; and also 



at Keswick, March 26th, 1883. Reprinted by permission of the Council 



of the Cutnberland Association.) 



The first mention which I can find of the colony of German 

 miners who settled in this parish in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 

 is contained in an abstract of State Papers (Domestic Series) of 

 the reigns of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, from 1547 — 1580, 

 preserved in the State Paper department of Her Majesty's Public 

 Record Office, by Mr. Robert Lemon, F.S.A. 



The date is July i6th, 1561. It is a letter from Dr. Nich. 

 Wotton and Peter Osborne to the Secretary of Stale, Sir William 

 Cecill. They say they have conferred with Steynbergh and the 

 Master of the Savoy upon articles for the incorporation of a 

 company for working the mines in England. They enclose an 

 indenture between the Queen, and John Steynbergh and Thomas 

 Thurland (Master of the Savoy), for erecting a corporation for 

 working mmes in England. 



Three years later (September loth, 1564,) there is a memorial 

 of Thomas Thurland, Master of the Savoy, and Sebastian Spydell 

 and their company, desiring their grants for working mines and 

 minerals in England and Wales may be transferred and assigned 

 to Daniel Hechstetter. On the loth of December, the same year, 

 there is an extract of an indenture made by the Queen on the one 



