720 REPORT—1863. 
former times existed vast quantities of wood, that it was extensively used 
for the mines, and that the country was thus rendered bare and treeless, in 
which state only too much of it yet remains. 
Another intimation contained in these ancient records leads to the sup- 
position that mining cases were at one time subject to the decision of juries 
of miners similar to those which existed in other parts of the kingdom, and 
the proceedings of such juries one of the writers had occasion to investigate 
more closely in connexion with the Forest of Dean. Alston Moor after- 
wards became the property of the Hyltons, of Hylton Castle, in the county 
of Durham, and a lease was granted in 1611 for 999 years by Henry Hylton, 
subject to the payment of certain rents which amounted to £64. In 1629 
the manor was sold to Sir Edward Ratcliffe for £2500, and it remained the 
property of that family till the confiscation of the estates of James, Earl of 
Derwentwater, in 1716. It was granted by the Crown in 1734 to the Royal 
Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich, and has ever since remained in the pos- 
session of the Commissioners in trust for that institution. Adjoining estates 
have subsequently been purchased, and added to the original tracts of land 
so given. It would be a work of some labour to extend these notices to the 
details of property and succession in the several other districts. The only 
practical result would be to discover a period when general and undefined 
Royal rights were gradually brought into narrow compass by increasing 
population, and when mining was doubtless encouraged by liberal immunities 
granted to miners. It would be difficult to pursue in any minuteness the 
gradual advance of improvement and distinct rights of property over clearly 
defined districts. The royalties of Allendale passed into possession of the 
Fenwicks of Wallington, of the Blacketts, and eventually of the family of 
the present possessor, Wentworth Blackett Beaumont, Esq., M.P. The 
Weardale mines are held under lease by the same owner from the Eccle- 
siastical Commissioners. The mines in Teesdale belong to various lords, of 
whom the Duke of Cleveland is the chief; and at and near Blanchland, in 
the valley of the Derwent, the royalties belong to H. Silvertop, Esq., and 
other proprietors. It is, however, interesting to endeavour to mark the 
periods at which the former vague and uncertain methods of mining in these 
lead districts were replaced by more exact ones, and it is apprehended 
that such a period of change may be distinctly traced in the supervision of 
that great engineer, Mr. Smeaton, who was for a time an agent of Greenwich 
Hospital in this district. It is certain that one great work which he pro- 
jected and commenced at Alston, in 1775, gave a new stimulus to mining. 
This was the Nent Force Level, a work of great magnitude, of vigorous con- 
ception, well adapted to the then existing state of information, and to the 
imperfect state of engines where great power was required. In the present 
day an equal amount of exploration and drainage may be pursued by the 
use of hydraulic engines wholly worked by water. About the same period 
the progress of mining in Allendale owed much to the ingenuity of Mr. Wm. 
Westgarth, who first introduced water-pressure engines. The generous 
interest taken by Smeaton in the promotion of so useful a discovery may 
be seen by the communications of that great engineer to the Society of Arts. 
The minute details of the construction of Mr. Westgarth’s engine may be 
seen in the early volumes of the Transactions of that society. “The old 
man” is the local phrase by which ancient mining operations in these 
districts are described. The greater or less abundance of produce of lead 
was scarcely matter of public interest, nor were the fluctuations of price 
such as would have been felt in the case of coal. Carried on in remote 
