INDUSTRIES 



called ' HenrysongreyfF,' with certain wood for 

 charcoal to smelt the iron, the bishop, however, 

 reserving to himself the right of winning at his 

 own cost sufficient ore for Ralf, earl of West- 

 morland, and the prior of Durham, to smelt at 

 their iron mills. 



This reference to the great Benedictine House of 

 Durham may remind us that as early as 1360-61 

 their bursar '^ was buying Weardale and Spanish 

 iron ' Marescalcia. In 4 lades ferri de Werdall 

 5ii. In 21 petras ferri de Spayne, petra g^ti. — 

 i6j. Jjd.^ And from the Almoner's roll"" 

 nearly a century later, between 1 44 1 and 1446, 

 we find the priory procuring metal from one of 

 the forges already mentioned, * Et in undecim 

 petris ferri de Werdall emptis de Roberto Kirk- 

 house precio $5. 6^.,' but simultaneously Spanish 

 iron was bought, 12 stones for 9;., working out 

 at gd. a stone. At this time it is evident that 

 fhe imported metal fetched half as much again 

 as the native product. 



The mining of iron in the Weardale continued 

 during the sixteenth century, though in its closing 

 years probably in diminishing quantities. In the 

 fourth year of Thomas, bishop of Durham, al- 

 most certainly Bishop Ruthall, we meet with a 

 licence^' issued to Thomas Siggeswyk, chaplain, 

 and Thomas Pikhall, to open the lord's soil and 

 win iron ore in Weardale from the feast of 

 St. Peter's Chains for two years at a rent of 

 1 80 stones of iron a year or the money value at 

 6d. a stone. Payment was to be made to the 

 general receipt, the issues of the mines being no 

 longer accounted for by the chief forester. In 

 connexion with this licence two of ' lez smethes 

 ferri infra parcum de Wolsyngham ' were leased 

 to the same parties in the suitable allowance of 

 brushwood for charcoal for two years from Mar- 

 tinmas at a rent of ^^20 a year. Although it is 

 hazardous to draw too definite conclusions from 

 isolated entries in the general accounts of the 

 bishopric, a summary^' of about 1509 is perhaps 

 significant. From the coal-mines, ;^209 6s. T^d. ; 

 licences for carting coal, ^10 ; sale of lead, 

 j^3i 2s. 8d. ; sale of iron, ^^i 5J. Wolsey's 

 lease '' of all mines of metals and minerals within 

 the bishopric and the country called ' Wardall,' 

 to Thomas Wynter in 20 Henry VIII, though 

 no doubt referring especially to lead may have 

 included the iron-mines as well. It was for 

 thirty years at the rent of ^5 per annum. In a 

 book of the great receipt ^* of Bishop Tunstall's 

 seventh year, while the amount derived from 

 mining, leases, wayleaves, &c., is entered at 

 ;{^2 28 lOJ., there is a blank space opposite the 



" Dur. Acct. R. (Surtees Soc. xcix-ciii), 562. 

 "Ibid. 235. 



" Eccl. Com. Var. 220217, ^o'- 7^S- 

 "Ibid. 220216, p. 451. An account cancelled, 

 but probably only because elsew^here entered. 

 " Dur. Curs. 73, m. 2. 

 " Eccl. Com. Var. 220208, fol. 16. 



rubric ' Firma Minerae Ferri in Wardel!,' but 

 this may be accidental since Weardale iron was 

 certainly being produced at this time as the 

 Durham Priory accounts clearly show. It is 

 probable that all the iron-mines of the bishop 

 were then let on lease. On the account "* of 

 the bursar of the priory for 1536-7, we have an 

 entry of 26/. 8d. received as the price of 80 stone 

 of Weardale iron won at Muggleswick {lucratas 

 apud Muglesvjyk ad 4^. hoc anno), perhaps surplus 

 stuff, for at the same time they were purchasing"' 

 the metal in considerable quantities, paying 

 22s. 6d. to James Lawson of Newcastle for 

 30 stone of Spanish iron at gd. a stone, and 

 4.15. Sd. for ' 100 petras ferri de Wardall emptas 

 de Richardo Crosby de Rychemond ' at Srt'. a 

 stone. And this was not all the native iron 

 bought in this year, since 280 stones of Wear- 

 dale metal were purchased 'de tenentibus de 

 Edmundbyrez et pastoribus de Mugleswyk' for 

 ;^5 i6j. Sd., and this price works out again at 

 ^d. z stone. 



Towards the middle of the sixteenth century 

 the great wastage of timber, which resulted from 

 smelting operations in all the mineral-producing 

 districts of England, began to excite attention, 

 and measures were taken to deal with the matter. 

 It is probable, as already suggested, that the 

 working of iron in Durham was already becom- 

 ing less profitable, and any restriction of fuel 

 would still further discourage the speculative 

 renting of furnaces. From that time, however, 

 until the present, iron has been mined intermit- 

 tently within the county. In 1626 we hear of 

 an iron-mine near Chester ; "' about the time of 

 the Restoration iron was still got in the west of 

 Weardale, while in the late seventeenth or early 

 eighteenth century it is probable that ironstone 

 as well as coal was mined, if only to a small 

 extent, by the German sword-makers of Shotley 

 Bridge. The great Whitehill furnaces of Mr. 

 Cookson, founded originally in the early years of 

 the eighteenth century, were supplied partly with 

 local ore and partly with ore from Robin Hood's 

 Bay. In the first half of the nineteenth century 

 the ironstone of the Derwent valley was for a 

 time exploited for the works at Consett and else- 

 where, but in 1852 the Derwent Iron Company 

 ceased to mine the local ore, as with the greater 

 facilities for the transport of large quantities of 

 mineral that railways now afforded, it was found 

 cheaper to bring the Cleveland ironstone over 

 the county border. 



The Weardale iron ore deposits have been 

 exploited during the last century chiefly by the 

 Weardale Iron Company, under the management 

 of Mr. Charles Attwood, who acquired a furnace 

 at Stanhope in 1845, which had been erected by 

 Mr. Cuthbert Rippon, followed by six others at 



" Dur. Acct. R. ut supra, 686. 



"• Ibid. 694. 



" Eccl. Com. Var. 220193. 



355 



