A HISTORY OF SURREY 



carts, hoys and barges as should be neces- 

 sary for the purpose.* The saltpetre house 

 was by the terms of the contract to be still 

 in Southwark, but either it was early trans- 

 ferred to Kingston or another was set up 

 there, for in 1636 we find one of the salt- 

 petre men complaining of the refusal of two 

 men to supply carts to carry liquor from 

 Cheam to his majesty's saltpetre house in 

 Kingston.^ On the other side we have in 

 this same year the complaint of the hundred 

 of Kingston against the unjust exactions of 

 the saltpetre men, a complaint to which we 

 have already had occasion to refer. 



Perhaps the most remarkable circumstance 

 in the history of the manufacture of gunpowder 

 by the Chilworth contractors was the consti- 

 tution of the Crown as the sole powder mer- 

 chant of the realm. The industry was rigidly 

 treated as a monopoly, and the most active 

 eflForts were made to suppress all other makers. 

 To meet the cost of the minimum proportion 

 that was held necessary for the service of the 

 State out of the total quantity supplied, it 

 became the object of Charles I. to sell all the 

 surplus at greatly enhanced prices. Thus in 

 1637 the retail price was raised from I2d. to 

 lid. per pound,' and no powder was allowed 

 to be sold but by licence of the Earl of New- 

 port, the master of the Ordnance.* As may 

 be readily supposed, the result of this policy 

 was to give increased impetus to the illicit 

 manufacture of the commodity. The case of 

 Southwark has been already mentioned. A 

 newsletter of 8 June 1640 states that the 

 secret manufacture there had been going on 

 ever since powder had borne so great a price." 

 The Bristol makers have also been noted. 

 Cordwell himself, in some points he offered to 

 the consideration of the Council in February 

 1639-40, drew attention to the fact that 

 Bristol, in respect of its being the greatest 

 shipping town in the realm, with the excep)- 

 tion of London, must vend much powder, and 

 suggested that the farmers of the Customs 

 should return accounts of all sold there." The 

 suggestion was acted upon by the Council, 

 and an order directed to be made as had been 

 done previously in the case of Southampton. 

 The case of a maker in London is interesting, 

 because incidentally it proves that in gun- 

 powder making we have another of those 

 industries between which and themselves the 

 citizens of the capital preferred to put the 

 whole breadth of the River Thames. The 

 maker, Robert Davis by name, had at some 



' S. P. Dom. Chas. I. cccxxxi. 90. 

 » Ibid, cccxli. 69. a Ibid. cccl. 19. 



« Ibid, ccclxviii. 112. » Ibid, cccclvi. 44. 

 " Ibid, ccccxliv. 22. 



time carried on his trade in Whitcchapcl, 

 where he had had his house blown up.' Since 

 then he had worked in Thames Street, to the 

 great disquietude of his new neighbours, who 

 were fearful of some unhappy accident. 



The high price of the authorized powder 

 and the increase of the illicit manufticture had 

 their natural result in a very small demand for 

 the king's gunpowder. In view of the small 

 sale of his powder, Charles L seems to have 

 resolved in May 1637 upon trying the experi- 

 ment of selling it in foreign parts, and an order 

 was made by the gunpowder commissioners 

 for six barrels to be sent into France to be 

 disposed of to the king's best advantage.' In 

 September of that year one of the provisioners 

 of the gunpowder for shipping, who had in 

 the previous year taken out of store ;^ 10,000 

 worth of powder at I2d. the pound, refiised 

 to take out his licence again now that 18^. 

 per pound in addition to id. per pound to 

 Lord Newport and other petty charges were 

 demanded.* On 28 July 1640 the Commis- 

 sioners advised the king to reduce the price to 

 1 6d., and to issue a proclamation to this effect 

 with all speed in order that suflScient money 

 might be raised to pay Cordwell the sum of 

 ;^4,ooo due to him, for want of which his 

 works were in danger of being stopped.'" On 

 9 October of that year we find the retail price 

 of gunpowder at its old rate again of 1 2d. the 

 pound.*' Cordwell, who seems to have become 

 the sole manager of the Chilworth mills, for 

 we hear little further of his partner Collins, 

 succeeded in carrying out his contract with 

 the Commissioners to the complete satisfaction 

 both of them and of the Ordnance officers. 

 For the first and third years the full supply of 

 240 lasts was sent in,'' and it was certified 

 that only the deficiency in the supply of salt- 

 petre prevented him from sending in more 

 than 200 lasts in both the second and fourth 

 years." To effect an economy in the manu- 

 fecture he seems to have cut down a number 

 of fees which his predecessor had paid to 

 different officers of the Ordnance. Thus the 

 surveyor of the Ordnance on his own statement 

 had had £f,o a year from Evelyn. This had 

 been discontinued by Cordwell. Similarly, 

 annuities of ^^40 each paid to the clerk of the 

 Ordnance and to the keeper of the stores had 

 been stopped by Cordwell." At the same 

 time he suffered losses. A fire at his works 



' Ibid, ccccxviii. 69. « Ibid, ccclv. 61. 



• Ibid, ccclxviii. 112. i" Ibid, cccclxi. 35. 



" Ibid, cccclxix. 73. 



" Ibid, ccclxxi. 117 ; ccxcii. 71, 110 ; 

 ccccxxxii. 45. 



" Ibid, ccxcii. 86; cccclxxiii. 33; ccxcii. 123, 



" Ibid, ccccxli. 11, 12, 13. 



320 



