INDUSTRIES 



been there proclaimed at the three following 

 sessions, in default of opposition, the bounder's 

 title became valid. 1 



The mediaeval tinner had also the right of 

 access to running water, 2 without the use of 

 which to cleanse the ores mining would have 

 been impossible. In the miners' charters this 

 right appears as that of diverting streams, 3 and 

 served not only to permit the washing of ore, 

 but also to lay bare the river beds for searching 

 for stream tin. 



With the above privilege went that of buying 

 brushwood for smelting purposes, 4 amounting, 

 doubtless, to a right of seizure in case the owner 

 refused to sell. In an age when pit coal was 

 rarely used in the metallic industries, this was a 

 concession of importance, especially in view of 

 the fact that the barrenness of the Cornish moors 

 made it difficult to procure a sufficient stock of 

 fuel. Partly in consequence of this, and partly 

 because of the approaching exhaustion of the 

 Cornish peat beds, the tinners were permitted 

 to cut turf in the royal forest of Dartmoor. 

 For Devon this right probably derives its 

 sanction from a custom as old as bounding, 6 

 but it was not enjoyed by Cornwall until 

 1465." 



In Cornwall, the claims of the lord of the soil 

 in which a mine existed were satisfied by the 

 payment of a fixed proportion of the ore on the 

 day of the ' wash ' or ore-dressing, when 

 a servant of the landlord, known as the ' toller," 

 met the tinners, and received his master's share 

 in kind. 7 The proportions of toll were not 

 uniform throughout the stannaries. The tenth 8 

 or fifteenth dish was usually given, but this de- 

 pended partly on local custom, and partly upon 

 special enactment of the stannary convocation, 9 

 a general rule prevailing that wastrel land should 

 pay less than arable. In lieu of toll the landlord 

 might receive a share in the mine itself, 10 a 



1 Harl. MS. 6380, fol. 31. P.R.O. Ct. R. bdle. 

 161, No. 18. 



' Chart. R. 33 Edw. Ill, m. 40. For the custom 

 in Derbyshire see Gompleat Mineral Laws of Derb. 

 pt. i, art. 2, 9. 



3 ' Et divertere aquas ad operationem eorum ' 

 (Chart. R. 33 Edw. I, m. 40, 41). 



4 The king's miners had like privileges (Cal. of 

 Pat. 1283, 69; Cal. of Close, 1333, 152; 1337, 

 190 ; 1339, 286). Similar liberties prevailed in the 

 Forest of Dean (Houghton, The Compleat Miner, 

 pt. ii, art. 26, 28, 29, 34), and in Derbyshire (Com- 

 pleat Mineral Laws of Derb. pt. i, art. 1 1 ; Add. MS. 

 6682, fol. 68). 



5 Pat. i Hen. Ill, m. 5 ; Close 3 Hen. Ill, pt. i, 

 m. 9</, 23. 



6 Pat. 5 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. 7. 



7 Pearce, Laws and Customs of the Stannaries, p. xix. 



8 In the Mendip mines the lord received the tenth 

 dish. (Houghton, The Compleat Miner, pt. iii, c. 1 1). 



9 Convoc. Cornwall, 1 2 Chas. I, c. 4. 



10 Ibid c. 3. Carew, SUIT, of Cornwall (ed. 1811), 



44- 



practice, however, more frequently to be found 

 in Derbyshire n or in the Forest of Dean. 12 



Doubt exists as to whether or no the miners 

 were subject to impressment for work in the royal 

 mines or elsewhere. We find undoubted grants 

 of exemption from forced labour; 13 but, on the 

 other hand, besides several royal writs and letters 

 which call upon the sheriffs of Devon and Corn- 

 wall to furnish workmen for the king's mines, 14 

 positive evidence from at least one Receiver's 

 Roll for the Duchy of Cornwall shows that 

 tinners were occasionally made to work at the 

 king's wages, 15 a hardship which in Derbyshire, 16 

 Mendip, 17 and the Forest of Dean 18 was taken 

 quite as a matter of course. In addition we 

 know that the tinners were frequently called 

 upon for special military service, the sole condi- 

 tion being that they be impressed by and with 

 the consent of the warden, 19 and mustered separ- 

 ately from the rest, under his command, 20 a 

 custom which has as a result one of the pro- 

 visions of the Militia Act of i8o2. sl 



The remaining privileges, those of exemption 

 from the jurisdiction of any but the stannary 

 courts and from the incidence of ordinary taxa- 

 tion, deserve less summary treatment, inasmuch 

 as they are connected with stannary institutions 

 of a similar nature. 



The clauses in the charter of 120 1 which 

 placed criminal and civil jurisdiction over the 

 tinners in the hands of the warden had resulted 

 in the division of the mining districts of Corn- 

 wall into several distinct provinces or stannaries. 23 

 The local limits of each of the four stannaries 

 have never been defined. They probably grew 

 up from this general grant of jurisdiction, which 

 we find to have been usual in other mines, 23 

 and which, perhaps, constituted a mixed personal 

 and local law. The character of the locality 

 seems to have resulted from the aggregation of 

 the tin works in certain situations favourable to 

 them, and the name of each stannary points out 



11 Houghton, The Compleat Miner, pt. i, art. i . 



11 Ibid. pt. ii, art. 14. 



u Cal. of Pat. 1305, 331 ; 1308, 61. 



14 Cal. of Close, 1319, 134; 1336, 579. Cal. of 

 Pat. 1320, 537 ; 1328, 318. 



15 Receiver's R. 29 Edw. III. Add. MS. 24746, 

 fol. 1 20. 



16 Cal. of Close, 1288, 499 ; 1319, 212 ; 1328, 

 478 ; 1333, 5 2 ; '380, 527. 



17 S.P. Dom. Jas. I, clii, 9. 



18 Cal. of Close, 1319, 127. 



19 S.P. Dom. Jas. I, Addenda, dxxi, 101. 



80 Add. MS. 6713, fol. 113. S.P. Dom. Eliz. 

 cxii, 23; ccix, 22; ccxvi, 48; cclxii, 73. S.P. Dom. 

 Jas. I, Ixxviii, 36. Convoc. Cornw. 30 Eliz. c. 6. 



" Stat. 42 Geo. Ill, c. 72. 



w The Derbyshire lead fields were also divided into 

 various administrative districts. (Compleat Mineral 

 Laws of Derbyshire.) 



23 Pat. 47 Hen. Ill, m. 12 ; 27 Edw. I, m. 35 ; 

 15 Edw. IV, pt. i, m. 22 ; i Hen. VII, pt. ii, 

 m. 25. 



527 



