108 



PRECIOUS METALS IN THE WEST OF ENGLAND. 



It is remarkable liow very generally gold lias occurred in 

 connection with stream tin in the valleys of Cornwall — scarcely 

 a parish has been without both stream tin and gold.^® Gold has 

 also been found in the black titaniferous sands of the Manaccan 

 Valley (Meueage), and also in several of the raised beaches. In 

 Devon, too, gold has been found in the alluvial deposits in some 

 of the valleys which originate in Dartmoor, 



It has been said that the entire produce (of gold) from the 

 tin stream works of the cou.nty of Cornwall "can scarcely have 

 exceeded a few pounds,'"' but in view of the above-mentioned 

 facts this seems to be altogether too low an estimate. As to the 

 gold actually present originally in the tin-ground, this must have 

 been quite considerable in quantity. In a former work^^ the 

 author has shewn that the amount af black tin derived from the 

 tin gravels of the West of England (mainly from Cornwall) vnaj 

 be reasonably estimated at 750,000 tons. If this ore contained 

 but one dwt. of gold to the ton (surely a veri/ low estimate in 

 view of the facts and statements already' quoted), we arrive at 

 the very respectable yield of 37,500 oz. This is by no means a 

 trivial quantity, and, even if not more than one tenth of that 

 quantity was ever separated, it suggests that the numerous 

 "Gaulish" gold coins fouird on Cam Brea Hill more than a 

 century and half ago,^^ as also the gold cups, torques, armlets 



and other objects found in so many of the pre-historic sepulchres 

 may have been of native origin.^" 



i6. The following' may be especially mentioned :— 



Manaccan 

 Northill 



Perranarworthal 

 Probus 

 Redruth 

 Roche 

 St. Austell 

 St. Blazey 

 St. Breward 

 St. Columb Minor 

 St. Dennis 

 Hcwwood, Presidential Address, Joitrnal R.I.C. 1873, p. 225. 

 Seven Centuries ot Tin Mining- in Cornwall. 

 See Eorlase. Antiq. 1754 

 20. The gold cup found in a barrow at Rillaton Manor in the year 1837 and now 

 in the possession of the King, weighed 2 ozs, i dwt. It is described and figured, 

 Journal R.I.C, Vol. iii. In the same volume Mr. Albert Way decribes and figui'es a 

 portion of a gold armlet found at Tredinney, near Penzance, (and now in the museum 



St. Ewe 



St. Just 



St. Mewan 



St. Neot 



St, Stephens (in 



r>rannel) 

 Stoke Climsland 

 Talland 

 Warleggan 

 Wendron 



17- 



19. 



