R. N. Worth — Antiquity of Mining. 265 



II, — On the Antiquity of Mining in the West of England. 

 By E. N. Worth, Esq.^ 



THE author said the inquiry into the antiquity of mining in the 

 West of England naturally divided itself into three branches 

 — the historical, the inferential, and the geological. The historical 

 records of their own country showed that long before the date of the 

 first existing Stannary Charter, that of John, a.d. 1201, tin mining 

 in Cornwall and Devon was a settled and organized occupation. 

 Greek and Latin writers about and before the Christian era made 

 frequent reference to the existence of a trade from the East for tin 

 with the Cassiterides, caiTied on by the Phoenicians. In proof of 

 this, the writings of Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, and others were cited. 

 The earliest direct evidence was that given by Herodotus, who, 

 writing in the fourth century B.C., stated that tin was brought from 

 the Cassiterides, but that he did not know where the Cassiterides 

 were. It was clear, however, that under that name ]oarts of Corn- 

 wall, if not Devon, were intended, and hence a definite recorded 

 antiquity was given to the mining of the West of at least 2300 years. 

 The use of metals by man clearly pre-supposes the existence of some 

 kind of mining. Tin and copper were two of the oldest metals 

 known, and were mentioned either by their separate names or under 

 the title of bronze in the very oldest writings — in Homer, Hesiod, 

 and in the Pentateuch, the 'brass' of which was really bronze. Pre- 

 historic archeology gave a high antiquity to what was known as the 

 Bronze Period, which in Switzerland had been considered to date 

 back 4000 years. Mr. Worth was inclined to agree with the 

 position of Sir John Lubbock, that the use of bronze in Europe 

 originated with an Indo-European race, and could not accept the 

 theory that bronze was first produced in the West of England by the 

 smelting of mixed metal ores. Given the antiquity of the bronze 

 age, the next point to be decided was, whence the tin used in its 

 manufacture came. He held that so far as Europe was concerned, 

 the balance of evidence —tin being a metal which occurred nowhere 

 in Europe in large quantities save in the West of England — ^was 

 overwhelmingly in favour of Cornwall and Devon. The examination 

 of the third branch of the inquiry — the geological — was prefaced by 

 an explanation of the difierent modes of occurrence of tin ore, in lodes 

 or in detrital deposits ; and the manner in which the one was 

 wrought by mines and the other by streaming — the latter the oldest 

 form of tin mining practised. The oldest streamers of which they 

 had any knowledge had no other implements than a pick of wood 

 or horn and a wooden shovel — many of which had been found in 

 old workings. It was entirely due to the fact that streaming was 

 the oldest method of raising tin ore that they were enabled to form 

 any far-reaching conclusions as to its antiquity. There was not a 

 valley on the South. Coast of Cornwall — at all within the mining 

 area — that had not been streamed again and again ; but nowhere had 

 the stream works been so extensive and important as at Pentuan and 



1 Being the substance of a lecture delivered on March 5th at the Plymouth 

 Athenaeum. 



