INDUSTRIES 



copper. This statement is corroborated by the 

 fact that, although a charter for making brass 

 was granted as early as I565, 1 Tonkin does not 

 fix the date of the discovery of the value of copper 

 ore earlier than i6y9, 2 and it was not until 1691 

 that a charter was granted to Sir Joseph Hearne 

 and others, for refining and purifying copper, 

 under the name of Governor and Company of 

 the Copper Mines of England. 3 Another cir- 

 cumstance favouring the same conclusion is that 

 the copper currency of Great Britain was not 

 coined from British metal until 171 7.* The new 

 industry, however, was encouraged by the repeal 

 of the old prohibition of the exportation of cop- 

 per, 8 and active operations made at once con- 

 siderable headway. 



Pryce was familiar with a Cornish memorial 

 dated about the year 1730, which prays that 

 facilities be given for the importation of coals on 

 account of the distressed state of the mines, and 

 the necessity for deepening them. The exis- 

 tence, therefore, of Cornish copper mines seems 

 at that time to have depended upon the applica- 

 tion of the new power brought in by steam, and 

 it is evident that the discovery of the power of the 

 steam engine in drawing water was almost co- 

 incident with the rise of copper mines on a great 

 scale, and that its history is parallel with that of 

 the mines themselves throughout their course. 



During this period we meet for the first time 

 with records of the sale of copper ore in Corn- 

 wall. According to Pryce a yearly average of 

 6,480 tons of ore was sold from 1726 to 

 1735; 7,552 tons from 1736 to 1745; 

 9,879 tons from 1746 to 1755 ; 16,970 tons 

 from 1756 to 1765; and 26,427 tons from 1766 

 to I775- 6 In 1786, 39,895 tons of ore were 

 mined, and in 1796 43,313 tons, producing 

 4,950 tons of pure copper. 7 The first successful 

 copper mines were those of Blanchland in Kea, 

 belonging to the earl of Falmouth, 8 but in early 

 years the most productive were Poldice (which, 

 according to Hals, employed for forty years from 

 800 to 1,000 men), Huel Fortune in Ludgvan, 

 Roskear in Camborne, Pool Adit in Illogan, and 

 Huel Virgin in Gwennap. 9 The greatest and 

 most sudden gain ever heard of is said to have 

 been in Huel Virgin during July and August, 

 1757. In the first fortnight 5,700 worth of 

 ore was extracted, and in the next three weeks 

 and two days 9,600 worth. 9 In 1758 the best 



1 Moses Stringer, Opera MineraRa ExpRcata, p. iii. 



* Carew, Survey of Cornwall (ed. 1811), p. 21, note. 



1 ' Copper Mining in Cornwall,' by Jos. Carne, 

 Tram. Roy. Geol. Soc. Corntv. iii, 44. 



4 ' Statistics of the Copper Mines of Cornwall,' by 

 Sir Chas. Lemon, Journ. Roy. Statist. Soc. \, 66. 



6 Stat. 5 & 6 Will, and Mary, c. 1 6. 



6 Pryce, Mincrahgia Comubiensis, Introd. p. xiv. 



7 Lysons,Magna Britannia (ed. 1 806-22,) iii, p. ccviii. 



8 Ibid, iii, p. ccvii. Polwhele, Hist, of Cornwall, 

 bk. 4, p. 1 34. 



9 Lysons, Magna Britannia (ed. 1 80622), iii,p.ccviii. 



producing mines were those of Chacewater in 

 Kenwyn, North Downs in Redruth, Huelros in 

 St. Agnes, Dolcoath, Bullen Garden, Roskear, 

 Huel Kitty, Entral, and Longclose in Camborne, 

 Huel Fortune in Ludgvan, Pool in Illogan, 

 Metal Works and Trejenvivian in Gwennap, 

 B inner Downs and Clowance Downs in Crowan, 

 Huel Cock and Rosmoran in St. Just, and Her- 

 land in Gwinnear. 10 The close of the eighteenth 

 century saw forty-five copper mines in Cornwall, 

 of which eleven were in the Gwennap district, 

 six in St. Agnes, five in Camborne, four in 

 Gwinnear, four in St. Hilary, three each in 

 Germoe, Crowan, and Illogan, two in St. Neol, 

 and the rest scattered. Besides these were 

 eighteen mines of copper and tin, one in Gwin- 

 near for copper and silver, and one in Camborne 

 for copper and cobalt. 11 



To attempt a description of the various im- 

 provements which were introduced into the sink- 

 ing of copper mines would be to duplicate in 

 great measure what is given under the heading 

 ' tin,' and the more so as it is a well-known fact 

 that many of the best copper mines have pro- 

 duced tin as well, the ores usually coming in 

 regular alternation. As copper mining on any 

 scale did not begin in Cornwall until the 

 eighteenth century, the mines at once obtained 

 the benefit of the steam engine for draining the 

 levels and hoisting the ore, 12 blasting powder for 

 smashing the rocks, as well as a host of other 

 improvements elsewhere enumerated. Most of 

 them were, at an early period, comparatively 

 deep. One hundred fathoms seems to have been 

 considered the necessary minimum at the time 

 when Pryce wrote, 13 while, thirty years later, in 

 1808, Crenver and Oalfield mines had reached 

 200, Cook's Kitchen 210, and Dolcoath 228 

 fathoms. 14 



From the massive character of the copper 

 ores it is probable that, in the early days of 

 mining, little or no dressing took place, the ores 

 of less homogeneous nature being rejected. 

 Hence, in all probability, arose those traditions of 

 waste which are, in this sense, confirmed by the 

 fact that hedges have been torn down in the 

 nineteenth century for the sake of the stones of 

 copper ore built up in them. 18 No earlier record 

 exists of the processes of copper dressing in 

 Cornwall than that given by Borlase ; and as 

 he could not have spoken to the fact from his 

 own personal knowledge, it seems not unlikely 



10 Polwhele, Hut. of Cornwall, bk. 4, p. 134. 



11 Lysons, Magna Britannia (ed. 180622), iii, 

 p. ccviii. 



12 ' Statistics of the Copper Mines in Cornwall,' by 

 Sir Chas. Lemon, Journ. Roy. Statist. Soc. \, 68. 



13 Pryce, Mineralogia Cornubiensis (1778), Introd. 

 p. viii. 



14 Polwhele, Hist, of Cornwall, bk. 4, p. 134. 



15 R. N. Worth, Historical Notes Concerning the 

 Origin and Progress of Mining Skill in Cornw. and 

 Devon, 43. 



565 



