ENGLAND. 



741 



Product of 

 opper. 



It appears that the iron mines f this country were 

 wrought at a very early period, since iron works are 

 known to have existed in the Forest of Dean in Glou- 

 cestershire, before the year 1066. In 1581, in con- 

 sequence of the great consumption of wood which they 

 occasioned, they were restrained by act of Parliament. 

 In 1624, a patent for smelting iron with pit coal was 

 exempted from the law against monopolies: but the use 

 of wood for this purpose seems still to have continued ; 

 for in 1719. complaints were made that the waste and 

 destruction of the woods in the counties of Warwick, 

 Stafford, Worcester, Hereford, Monmouth, Gloucester, 

 and Salop, by the iron works, was not to be imagined. 

 At this period, about 20,000 tons of iron were annual- 

 ly imported into England from abroad ; and subse- 

 quently, when our manufactures increased, and before 

 our own mines were properly wrought, the importation 

 was still greater. In 1737, it was computed that England 

 made annually at home about 18,000 tons of bar iron, 

 which, at the rate of three tons of pig iron for one of 

 bar iron, would give 54-,000 tons as the produce of our 

 mines. In 1 785, a method was invented of convert- 

 ing pig iron into bar iron, superior to the Swedish bar 

 iron ; by which improvement it was given in evidence 

 before the House of Commons, in the year 1812, when 

 application was made for a parliamentary reward for 

 the invention, that whereas, about 30 years before, the 

 importation of foreign iron averaged about 50,000 tons, 

 in 1810 it was reduced to 20,500 tons; and that our 

 export of iron, which at the former period was only 

 a few hundred weights, in- 1810 amounted to 24,500 

 tons. From other documents laid before Parliament, 

 it was ascertained, that our average import of foreign 

 iron (principally bar iron) from 1800 to 1805, was 

 38,218 tons, of which 4590 were exported, leaving 

 33,628 tons for home consumption ; and that the ave- 

 rage of British unmanufactured iron exported from 

 1800 to 1805, was of bar iron 91,797 cwt., and of pig 

 iron 40,186 cwt. : the increase between the beginning 

 and end of that period was considerable, since in 1800 

 there was exported only 56,892 cwt. of bar iron, and 

 .32,207 of pig iron ; whereas, in 1805, there was ex- 

 ported of the former, 131,896 cwt., and of the latter 

 65,520. The average real value of pig iron exported 

 from 1796 to 1805, was upwards of L. 14,000; and 

 of bar iron, upwards of L. 92,000. At present, the 

 iron mines of England are supposed to supply ore suf- 

 ficient to produce considerably upwards of 150,00\) 

 tons of pig iron : 10,300 tons of which are made in 

 Derbyshire, the remainder in Yorkshire, Staffordshire, 

 Shropshire, Lancashire, Monmouthshire, &c. In the 

 lat county, there are nine furnaces, each of which 

 makes about 2000 tons of pig iron yearly. At Myr- 

 thyr Tydvel, also, in Glamorganshire, there are fur- 

 naces for making pig iron, which produce 250 tons 

 weekly, and consume 240 tons of coals daily.* 



Copper mines were first wrought in England in the 

 year 1189: in 1561, mines of this metal were disco- 

 vered in Cumberland; and, 1622, they were wrought 

 in several counties. In 1690, copper was discovered 

 in Wales, but it would appear, that during all this pe- 

 riod, little attention was bestowed on working any of 

 these mines ; nor was it before the commencement of 

 the 17th century tliat the valuable copper mines of 

 Cornwall were properly and effectually wrought; and in 

 a few years, the quantity produced had attained to a 



considerable amount. From 1~2C to 1735, there was Statistics. 

 produced 64,800 tons of ore, which afforded the annu- V "^"Y"~'' 

 al quantity of about 700 tons of fine copper. From 

 1736 to 1745, the ore amounted to 75,520 tons, pro- 

 ducing 830 tons of fine copper. From 1746 to 1755, 

 the produce of the former was 98,790, and of the lat- 

 ter 1080. From 1756 to 1765, 16'9,699 tons of the 

 former, and 1800 tons of the latter: and from 1766 to 

 1775, 264,273 tons of the former, and 2650 of the 

 latter ; thus exhibiting an increase in the produce of 

 copper in 50 years, from 700 tons per annum, to 2650. 

 About the year 1773, new copper mines were discover- 

 ed in Derbyshire, which circumstance, added to the 

 discovery of the famous copper mine in Anglesey, 

 forms an important era in the history of this branch of 

 English mining. As long as this latter mine continued 

 productive, it furnished from 5000 to 10,000 tons per 

 quarter, exclusively of what was obtained from the 

 Mona mine, which probably was nearly as much ; 

 both together employing 1200 miners, and 90 smelters. 

 But both the Parys and the Mona mines have for some 

 years produced comparatively little copper ore. In the 

 mean time, the Cornish and Derbyshire ores were 

 wrought with great spirit and success ; so that the pro- 

 duce of them, and of the other mines in England and 

 Wales, about the year 179U had rendered this country 

 one of the principal sources from which the world was 

 supplied with this useful metal, instead of her depend- 

 ing, as formerly, upon foreign mines for a supply of 

 it. It has already been shewn, .that the Cornish mines 

 in 1775, produced about 2650 tons a year: in 1798, 

 the produce had increased to 5427 tons. At this time, 

 the average annual cost of working them amounted to 

 ^313,589, of which the labour was 197,640, and the 

 materials employed about 115,950: the number of men 

 employed was about 5000, or perhaps nearer 6000. 

 Within a very few years afterwards, the copper mines 

 of Devonshire began to be wrought with spirit and 

 success : in 1800 they did not produce more than 100 

 tons of fine copper: in 1804, the produce had increas- 

 ed to 300 tons. In 1805, owing to great exertions 

 made in Consequence of the high price of copper, the 

 returns of the Cornish and Devon mines reached to 

 7000 tons of fine copper, producing the sum of 

 1, 260,000. At present, according to Mr Grenfel's 

 Observations on the Copper Coinage, the Cornish and 

 Devon mines yield 80,000 tons of ore annually ; and 

 the metal thus obtained being on an average from 5 to 

 15 in the 100th part, may be stated at 8000 tons of 

 copper : almost all the ore is smelted in Wales. The 

 consequence of this great increase in the produce of 

 our own mines, notwithstanding the increased demand 

 for copper, was visible in the diminution of our im- 

 portation of this metal from foreign countries. In 1 806, 

 we imported, chiefly of copper ore, 53,600 cwt. : in 

 1807, upwards of 96,000: in 1808, 91,000: in 1809, 

 49,000: in 1810, 50,000: and, in 1811, only 20,000; 

 the ore itself having fallen from 73,800 cwt. which 

 it was in 1807, to about 7000 cwt. in 1810. 



In giving a historical sketch of the produce of the Of tin. 

 tin-mines in England, we shall not go farther back than 

 the commencement of the 18th century. At this pe- 

 riod, the mines, which had been neglected during the 

 civil wars, were again wrought with effect and success, 

 producing, one year with another, rather more than 

 1600 tons: From 1720 to 1740, the annual average 



When the tx on pig-iron was about to be laid on in 1806, it was ascertained, that there were then in Great Britain 220 blast furna- 

 ce*, of which 169 were in work the preceding year, making 249,500 tons of pig-iron. The capital employed in the establishment and sup- 

 port of these work*, wu not lest than L. 5,000,000 j and they supported a population of 800,000 persons. 



