A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



should be taken for the maintenance of the 

 workmen. 1 



Robinson of Ousby, who saw the books of 

 the German miners in 1702, says that when 

 queen Elizabeth won the suit against the 

 earl of Northumberland, her officers seized a 

 hundred tons of ore in her name. 2 Opera- 

 tions continued till 1642, when the smelting 

 houses were destroyed and most of the miners 

 were slain during the Civil War. 3 An 

 attempt was made by the duke of Somerset 

 to re-open the mines at the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century, but the project was 

 abandoned after a great outlay, because the 

 operator, not understanding the nature of the 

 ore, burnt and destroyed fifty tons of the best 

 goldscope ore without the production of one 

 pound of fine copper. 4 Various attempts to 

 work the Keswick mines had been made by 

 private companies in the nineteenth century, 

 but they met with scanty encouragement, 

 and were finally abandoned in 1864. 



The black lead mine of Keswick was of 

 sufficient interest to attract the notice of 



1 S. P. Dom. Eliz. cclxxi. 40. It may be re- 

 marked that the State Papers of this period contain 

 numerous references to the progress of mining at 

 Keswick from the incorporation of the company 

 in 1561 (ibid, xviii. 1 8) till the end of the reign. 



2 Robinson, Essay towards a Nat. Hist, of Cumb. 

 and Westmld. (ed. 1709) 61-4. When Robinson 

 stated that the copper works at Keswick in queen 

 Elizabeth's time were the most famous in England 

 and perhaps in Europe, he was probably right ; 

 certainly they were the most famous in Cumberland 

 for ' the mynes royale ' there were the only mines 

 marked by Speed on his map of 1610. Bishop 

 Nicolson noted in his diary, under date 25 July 

 1702, that 'Mr. Robinson of Ousby, giving an 

 account of the Copper works at Keswick, saies the 

 Account Book of the old German miners, very 

 fairly written, is in ye hand of old Mrs. Hechstetter 

 in that parish : and that, by one of them, it ap- 

 pears that they refined their metal with ye hoofs 

 and pairings of horses.' In the same diary it is 

 stated in 1705 that the account books relating to 

 the mines were in possession of the duke of Somer- 

 set's agent (Trans. Cumb. and Westmld. Arch. Soc. 

 [new ser.], ii. 173-4 5 "> 34)- 



3 Thomas Denton, Perambulation of Cumb. in 

 1687-8, MS. ff. 38, 40, 41. Our author was of 

 opinion that it would have taken 4,000 to begin 

 work at these mines in his day. Remains of the 

 smelting houses may still be seen at the east end of 

 Keswick : notably the mill race by the side of the 

 Greta, part of which has been cut through the solid 

 rock. 



4 Robinson, Essay towards a Nat. Hist. 634. 



5 For a description of these mines and of the 

 modern attempts to re-open them, the reader may 

 be referred to Postlethwaite, Mines and Mining in 

 the Lake District, 19-32. 



Camden who described the mineral product as 

 a 'kind of earth or hardened glittering stone 

 which painters use to draw their lines and 

 make pictures of one colour in their first 

 draughts.' 6 The mine was situated on the 

 eastern side of Seatoller Fell near the hamlet 

 of Seathwaite in the manor of Borrowdale 

 about 9 miles from Keswick. The mineral 

 otherwise known as plumbago, or wad in the 

 vernacular of the district, is reputed to be of 

 remarkable purity. It drew from Robinson 

 of Ousby a curious panegyric setting forth 

 the uses to which it was put in the latter half 

 of the seventeenth century. ' The most re- 

 markable mundick vein upon these mountains,' 

 he said, ' is that we call wadd or black lead. 

 This was found upon Borrowdale mountains 

 near Keswick, and there is not any other of 

 the same kind in England nor perhaps in 

 Europe, at least that I have heard of. Its 

 composition is a black, pinguid and shining 

 earth, impregnated with lead and antimony. 

 This ore is of more value than either copper, 

 lead, or iron. It was bought up by the 

 apothecaries and physicians of the day and 

 used medicinally for various sorts of ills with 

 good success. At the first discovering of it, 

 the neighbourhood made no other use of it, 

 but for marking of sheep, but it is now (i 709) 

 made use of to glazen and harden crucibles, 

 and other vessels made of earth or clay that 

 are to endure the hottest fire. It was also 

 used by dyers of cloth to make their " blues " 

 to stand unalterable and for the polishing of 

 fire-arms. The vein was but opened once in 

 seven years, as the quantities obtained were 

 sufficient to serve the country. The mineral 

 was bought up at great prices by the Hol- 

 landers. ' 7 



This industry was protected by a special 

 Act of Parliament (25 Geo. II. c. 10), in 

 which it is stated that the mineral was neces- 

 sary for ' divers useful purposes, and more 

 particularly in the casting of bomb-shells, 

 round-shot, and canon-balls,' and by which 

 it is made a felony ' to enter unlawfully any 

 mine, or wad-hole of wad, or black-cawke, 

 commonly called black-lead, or unlawfully 

 taking or carrying away any wad therefrom, 

 or buying or receiving the same, knowing it 

 to be unlawfully taken.' In 1800 it is said 

 that a house was built over the mouth of the 

 principal mine, and armed men were kept on 

 guard there during the night. As a further 

 precaution the miners were stripped and care- 

 fully searched on leaving their work, and 



Brit. (ed. Holland), 767. 

 7 Nat. Hist, of Cumb. and Westmld. 74-6 (pub- 

 lished 1709). 



344 



