A HISTORY OF CORNWALL 



Moreover there is good authority for the state- 

 ment that silver has been found in small quanti- 

 ties in nearly every mining district in the county. 

 Quite recently, at Perranuthnoe, not far from 

 Great Wheal Neptune (a lode running east and 

 west whence silver to the value of 500 is said 

 to have been obtained some fifty years ago), a 

 new lode called the Sedgman, bearing about 10 

 W. of N., has been discovered. The silver 

 mineral, which occurs here in the gossan, con- 

 sists almost entirely of cerargyrite (silver chloride, 

 otherwise known as horn silver), but a few speci- 

 mens of argentite (sulphide of silver) have also 

 been found. An inspection of the assay-returns 

 of this lode shows that the yield of silver has 

 been extremely uncertain and fluctuating in 

 amount, the ore, along the course of the lode, 

 having afforded in some parts as much as 1 1 ,000 

 ounces per ton, while in others it has produced 

 less than an ounce per ton. The Sedgman lode 

 has been found to extend for at least 800 yards ; 

 and, at the present time, there is every indica- 

 tion that the mine will prove sufficiently rich in 

 silver not only to pay expenses but also to yield 

 a fair return on past outlay. 1 



The manufacture of textile fabrics has never 

 been considerable at any time in Cornwall. In 

 the reign of Edward III Cornish wool was re- 

 garded as so 'gross and weak ' that the collectors 

 were constrained to obtain an ordinance from 

 the king and council whereby a composition of 

 one hundred shillings in money was effected for 

 every sack of wool required by the king. 2 An 

 Act of Queen Elizabeth 3 allowed the manufac- 

 ture of 'woolen clothes called plaine white 

 straightes and pinned white straightes." These 

 are described as a ' base and course kind of clothes 

 usually made for the use of poore people beyonde 

 the seas and most commonly shipped into Brit- 

 taine (Brittany) to serve the use of the poorer 

 sort there.' More recently the woollen manu- 

 facture was carried on at Launceston, Menheniot, 

 Callington, Ponsanooth and Truro, but it is now 

 decayed. 



To meet the growing demands of the mining 

 industry, which had hitherto been dependent 

 upon London for its supply of blasting material, 

 in or about the year 1813 the manufacture of 

 gunpowder was commenced at Kennall Vale by 

 Messrs. Benjamin Sampson, John Ferris Devon- 

 shire, and Edward Allen, who entered into a deed 

 of partnership, dated 30 December, 1812, for a 

 term of twenty-one years, with the object of 

 carrying on a gunpowder business, in the name 

 of The Kennall Gunpowder Mills Company, on 

 land at Kennall which had recently been acquired 

 by them for that purpose. Messrs. Devonshire 

 and Allen retired prior to the determination of 



1 From information supplied by the proprietor, Mr. 

 G. D. McGrigor, including a report by Mr. F. H. 

 Butler, M.A., A.R.S.M. 



' Cal. of Close 17 Edw. Ill, p. 13. 



3 27 Eliz. cap. 1 8. 



the lease, leaving Mr. Sampson sole proprietor, 

 who in 1827 also acquired the gunpowder works 

 and business which had been carried on since 

 1822 by Mr. John Nicholls at Cosawes about 

 a mile from Kennall. Mr. Richard Lanyon 

 became manager of the works in 1828 with a 

 tenth share in the business. In 1840 Mr. Samp- 

 son died and was succeeded by his nephew, 

 Mr. Benjamin Sampson. On the death of 

 Mr. Richard Lanyon in 1863 his eldest son 

 Mr. William Henry Lanyon became manager. In 

 the following year Mr. Benjamin Sampson (the 

 nephew) died, and Mr. William Shilson succeeded 

 to his interest in the business. Upon the retire- 

 ment of Mr. William Henry Lanyon in 1868, 

 Mr. Shilson became sole owner of the works, 

 which he carried on under the name of The 

 Kennall Gunpowder Company until his death in 

 1875. After his death his sons, Messrs. Charles 

 Shilson and Daniel Henry Shilson, as his execu- 

 tors, carried on the business until the year 1898, 

 when a limited company, under the name of 

 Curtis's & Harvey, Limited, was formed for the 

 purpose of effecting the amalgamation of the 

 various gunpowder businesses in the United 

 Kingdom, and the Kennall works were then 

 turned over to the new company, by whom they 

 are still owned ; but little, if any, business is 

 now being done there. Other powder factories 

 were built in various parts of the county at St. 

 Allen by Mr. Humphrey Willyams ; at Nance- 

 kuke, which was for some years held on lease by 

 Mr. Thomas Davey, and at Herodsfoot. The 

 two former have long since been abandoned, 

 while the latter, after having been for many 

 years carried on by Mr. J. C. Isaac and other 

 members of his family under the name of The 

 East Cornwall Powder Company, was taken over 

 by Curtis's & Harvey on the occasion of the 

 formation of that company. 



The kind of powder used in the mines prior 

 to the invention of the higher explosives was the 

 common large-grained powder. At Kennall 

 there was also manufactured compressed powder, 

 cylindrical in shape, with a small hole in the 

 centre through which the safety-fuse could be 

 passed ; but this was not used to any great extent 

 in Cornwall. 



In the autumn of the year 1879 at the re- 

 quest of many practical mine agents, engineers, 

 and others interested in mining a committee on 

 mining explosives was appointed jointly by the 

 Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, the Miners' 

 Association of Cornwall and Devon, and the 

 Mining Institute of Cornwall, to inquire into 

 the nature, economy, efficiency and safety of the 

 various explosives in use or proposed for use in 

 the mines of Cornwall and Devon. This com- 

 mittee conducted two series of experiments at 

 Seveock Quarry, near Chacewater, and also ob- 

 tained answers to numerous questions bearing 

 upon the subject from the leading mine managers 

 in Cornwall. The committee reported in the 



