More ancient records of copper-mines exist: thus Edward III., in the fifteenth year of his reign, granted the right of working "the copper-mines of Skildane in Northumberland, and the copper-mine of Alston-Moor in Cumberland, and the copper-mine near Richmond in Yorkshire, during a term of fifteen years, and on payment of a royalty to himself of one eighth, and one-ninth to the lord of the soil," to a company of adventurers, amongst whom his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and Henry, Earl of Northumberland, are mentioned.* That the copper-ore which was raised in these earlier times was smelted at or near the mines, I think there is reason to suppose, notwithstanding the absence of any positive historical record of the fact. The Hindoos have smelted copper from time immemorial; and to this day conduct the operation in small blast furnaces about three feet high, with charcoal and cow-dung as the fuel. The ores which they employ are not those of the easily reducible class, such as carbonates, but sulphuretted ores, like copper-pyrites. But, if these rude tribes of mankind are able to smelt copper-ores with success, it is not difficult to believe that our ancestors, at least those of the fourteenth century, possessed an equal degree of metallurgical skill. Moreover, it appears certain that copper-ore was raised in this country many hundred years ago, and it must either have been smelted at home or exported; but I am not aware whether there is any historical evidence of the fact of such exportation; if not, we have an additional though negative argument in favour of the supposition which I have above ventured to express, concerning the early history of copper-smelting in England. On the other hand it should be stated, that our ancestors imported copper from Hungary † and Sweden, and allowed calamine to be exported as ballast.‡

—

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Copper-works were in operation in Yorkshire during the last century. Mr. Keates has communicated to me the following particulars on this point: Copper-smelting, I believe, was carried on in Yorkshire to a limited extent; but all that I know of it was told me by old Samuel Burgoyne in 1822, who at that time was eighty-four years of age, and was consequently born in 1738. His father worked at the copper works at Middleton Tyas, in Yorkshire. He said, 'The ore was green and red, and melted by blast. The work stopped when I was about twelve years, and we came to live at Ecton."" Mr. Keates has furnished me with a copy of a memorandum which confirms the preceding statement:-"April 17th, 1752.-Assayed the sample of Middleton Tyas round ore brought me by Mr. Rotton's son. Quantity T13. c4. 2qrs. 13lbs. 20 dwts. produce 9 dwts. of fine." This shows that the ore yielded 45 per cent. of fine copper. Jars states that in 1765 copper-smelting in this locality was effected in reverberatory furnaces, and that various kinds of ore were raised from the neighbouring mines, amongst which he mentions green carbonate of copper, vitreous copper, and rarely yellow ore, or copper pyrites. §

In Staffordshire copper-smelting was carried on at the village of Ellaston, near Ashbourne. The ore was obtained from the well-known Ecton mine in the vicinity. Specimens of this ore, which I have seen, consist of copperpyrites in association with calc-spar. Plot, writing in 1686, informs us that when he visited Ecton, the mine had ceased to be worked, and that at the mills at Ellaston, where they smelted three kinds of ore, "all was out of order," the famous wooden-bellows that had no leather about them having been carried away to Snelston, in Derbyshire," whither he went to see them. From this it is clear that the smelting was conducted in

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*Heton, op. cit., p. 9.

† See Specification of Patent to George Danby, A.D. 1636. Jan. 21.

Heton, op. cit., pp. 153, 154.

§ Voyages Metallurgiques, 3, p. 72.

VOL. I.

12

blast furnaces. According to Plot, the stoppage of the mine and smelting works was on account of "Copper coming cheaper from Sweden than they could make it here."

The working of the Ecton mine was resumed; and Mr. Keates informs me that about 1750 the ores raised from this mine were smelted at Whiston, and some of the copper was carried to a forge at Bosley, on the river Dane, near Macclesfield, where it was hammered out into pans, &c. Other Staffordshire copper-ores were smelted at Cheadle about 1780. Mr. Keates has also communicated to me the fact that copper-ore was raised at the Ribden Mine, distant a few miles from Alton Towers, and smelted at a place in the vicinity called "Blazing Star," on account of the light emitted at night; so that a blast furnace was probably employed. The ore consisted chiefly of carbonate and oxide of copper. Webster states, on the authority of one Dr. Merrett, that a copper mine existed at Wenlock, in Staffordshire.†

The following historical notice of copper-smelting in Lancashire has been kindly supplied by Mr. Keates:

"The first introduction of copper-smelting into Lancashire was by the ancestor of the present Colonel Patten; the works were at Bank Quay, on the banks of the Mersey, near Warrington. The building of these works commenced in 1717 or 1718. The ores were principally Cornish and Irish, with small importations from the West Indies and the British Colonies in North America; some also were got from Alderly Edge, Coniston, &c. These works were dismantled, I believe, about 1780. The next works in Lancashire were built very near Liverpool: the present Mersey Iron and Steel Works stand on their site. They were carried on by Roe and Co., who had a brass manufactory at Macclesfield. Cornish and Irish ores were smelted at these copper-works, which were discontinued about the year 1800. Next in succession were the works at St. Helen's and at Stanley, a few miles distant. These works were of considerable magnitude, and were established by the father of the late Lord Dinorben and his partners for smelting the ores raised at the Parys and Mona Mines in Anglesea. I have not the exact dates, but I believe they were begun about 1780, and discontinued between 1812 and 1815. Copper-smelting then ceased entirely in Lancashire, but was resumed in 1830, when the writer built works at Ravenhead, near the site of the old St. Helen's works, primarily with the object of smelting the ore raised at the mines of General Bolivar in Columbia, the legislature having granted permission to import and smelt foreign ores in bond, on condition that the produce should be exported in the state of cake or ingot copper. The works at Sutton, near St. Helen's, were also built by the writer shortly after those at Ravenhead; and these have been followed by others, so that at present the quantity of fine copper smelted from ore in Lancashire is probably not less than 6,000 tons per annum. The principal ores smelted are from the west coast of South America, Canada, Cornwall, Ireland and Wales, together with the sulphides of low produce imported by the chemical manufacturers from Spain, Portugal, &c., who first extract the sulphur from them and then turn them over to the copper-smelters."

In the last century copper-smelting was carried on in Gloucestershire, at Bristol, and other neighbouring localities; but I have not been able to ascertain when it was first established in this country, or when it was discontinued.

Jars published, in 1781, a description of the smelting of copper in the vicinity of Bristol. There were two works to which the greater part of the ores raised in Cornwall were conveyed by sea. Reverberatory furnaces were used, of which there were not less than fifty in one of these works.

* The Natural History of Staffordshire. By Robert Plot, LL.D.: Oxford, 1686. † Op. cit., p. 244.

The regulus, preparatory to calcination, was broken and ground under edge-stones by horses.

Aikin, writing in 1797, states that at Amlwch port, in North Wales, the poorest ores of the Parys Mine, which yielded only from 1 to 2 per cent. of copper, were partially smelted, so as to produce a regulus containing 50 per cent. of copper, which, together with the rich ores, was exported to Swansea. There were two companies, each of which had a smelting-house, in which were thirty-one reverberatory furnaces.†

Copper-works were established by the Union Company, at Risca, near Newport, Monmouthshire, in 1807, and continued in work till 1817, when the copper trade being much depressed, the smelters determined to reduce the number of works; and they accordingly drew lots to decide which works should be given up. The lot fell upon the Risca works, which were consequently abandoned, and the buildings have since been used as chemical works.

We now arrive at the history of copper-smelting in South Wales. In Carew's "Survey of Cornwall," of which the first edition was published in 1602, is the following passage:- Touching metals: Copper is found in sundry places, but with what gain to the searchers, I have not been curious to enquire, nor they hasty to reveal; for at one mine (of which I took a view) the ore was shipped to be refined in Wales, either to save cost in fuel, or to conceal the profit.§ From the evidence which I shall adduce, and for which I am indebted to Mr. G. F. Francis, it may be certainly concluded that the first copper-smelting works at Swansea were not erected until after 1720; and that anterior to this date copper-smelting works existed at Neath,

In George the Third's collection of topographical engravings, in the British Museum, I have found a curious old Indian ink drawing of copperworks at Llangefelach, the parish adjoining Swansea; and though I do not know when they were erected, yet it will be shown in the sequel that they were in operation in 1745.

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From the evidence which has now been advanced we may, I think, conclude with certainty that copper-smelting had been extensively carried on at or near Neath for a considerable period before it was established at Swansea; but I have not yet succeeded in obtaining more precise information on this subject. Carew, however, it will be remembered, states that copper was refined in Wales; " and as this statement was published in 1602, there can be no doubt that copper-smelting was in operation in the Principality before that date. The term refined, in the passage quoted from the "Survey of Cornwall," is evidently used as synonymous with our present word smelted. Hence, unless it can be shown that when Carew wrote, copper-smelting was conducted in other parts of Wales, we may reasonably infer that the art had attained a considerable degree of development at or near Neath at least 120 years prior to its introduction into Swansea. It must be left to future antiquarian researches to elicit more precise evidence on this subject than we at present possess.

In Cornwall during the last century several unsuccessful attempts were made to smelt copper, of which a record has been preserved by Tonkin; and as the history of these failures may convey an important lesson to

* Voyages Metallurgiques, 3, p. 222.

† Journal of a Tour through North Wales, &c., by Arthur Aikin; London, 1797, p. 133, et seq.

I am indebted to Mr. Octavius Morgan for this information concerning the Risca works.

§ Carew's "Survey of Cornwall;" to which are added Notes illustrative of its History and Antiquities; by the late Thomas Tonkin, Esq., and now first published from the original manuscripts by Francis Lord De Dunstanville; London, 1811, p. 21. See also the note p. xii, as to the date of the first edition.

persons engaged in mining adventures, I insert this record without abridgment: it is contained in Lord de Dunstanville's edition of Carew's "Survey of Cornwall," and was evidently prepared in 1739 with a view to publication: -"

"This variety of ores and great increase in the mines has occasioned the setting up of six several companies for the buying of the ore, but who take care to keep us as much in the dark as they can, by shipping off all the ore to be smelted in their houses near Bristol, in Wales, &c., under a pretence of saving cost in fuel, but in reality to conceal the profit, as Mr. Carew very justly observes; so that we must be entirely at their mercy, as, not understanding the true value of the commodity ourselves, or, if we did, they know that it would require a greater purse than any one private gentleman can be supposed to be enabled to lay out. It was, however, attempted about thirty years since by the late John Pollard, Esq., and Mr. Thomas Worth, jun., at St. Ives; and before them by Mr. Scobell, at Pol Ruddan, in St. Anstell, with whom the late Sir Talbot Clarke and the old Mr. Vincent joined, and when the first piece of copper that ever was so (sic) in this country was smelted, refined, and brought to perfection. But both these attempts failed of success, more through ill-management, roguery of the workmen, and the ill situation of the said smelting houses, than any defect in the ore, or charge of the fuel. Since this, one Gideon Collier, of St. Prian-in-the-Sands, erected a house for the like purpose, at Penpol, in the parish of Phillack: but being soon taken off by a fever, in the best of his time, when he had made a fair progress in it, the same was carried on by the late Sir William Pendarves and Robert Corker, Esq., who have (particularly the last, with whom I have often discoursed about it,) assured me that they could smelt their ore as cheap there, all hazards considered, as the companies could pretend to do at their houses in Wales, &c., and did so accordingly for some years. But they being both since dead, and their affairs falling into such hands as had other interest to mind, this project too sunk with them. A small beginning was also made to the same purpose at Lenobrey in St. Agnes', where they smelted some pieces of copper with good success; but were forced to give it over for want of a sufficient stock to go on with it. From all which essays, and some observations I have made of my own and gathered from some workmen abroad, but chiefly from the late Mr. John Coster, who owned to me that most of our ores might be smelted rough here as cheap as abroad, but not brought to the true fineness (for what reasons you may easily guess), and therefore must be shipped off to be refined, I am fully convinced that the ore may be smelted here, and refined too (that pretence being a mere cant to conceal the real value), all things considered, at as small an expense as it can be done in Wales, &c. And if we allow for the great salaries the said companies are obliged to give to their agents here and elsewhere, the great charges they are at in working the mines (which they covet at any rate to get into their own hands), the hazard of the ore on shipboard, especially in time of war, and many other incidents, which would be saved if the ore was smelted here, I believe it would amount to a demonstration that it would even be done much cheaper in some convenient places in this country than in Wales, &c. What advantage from this would accrue to our country in general is too obvious to need any more words; and this the copper companies know but too well, and therefore keep us as much"

[Left unfinished by the Author.]

In 1754 copper works were erected at Entral, in the parish of Camborne, and afterwards removed to Hayle, where coal could be procured at a less cost. According to Price, the [copper] companies left no method unsought

* P. 22.

to traduce the credit and stab the vitals of this undertaking. Threats and remonstrances were equally used to oblige or cajole the owners of the mines to abandon or suppress the new company at Hayle. The opponents of this association, using every expedient to mortify the spirit of this arduous undertaking, alternately raised the price of copper-ores, and lowered the value of fine copper, to the great loss of the contending parties, which will ever be the case where monopolies are disturbed and the almighty power of opulence can prevail. But happening to have men of fortune and capacity at their head, they were founded in prudence, and withstood the shocks of power and artifice."* The same author informs us that copper works were subsequently erected at North Downs, in Redruth; but the locality proving unsuitable, they were removed to Tregrew, on a branch of Falmouth harbour, where they were carried on with advantage.

From the language of these writers, it is evident that the Cornish mine adventurers considered themselves the victims of a conspiracy on the part of the Welsh copper-smelters. But it is difficult to understand why coppersmelting should have ceased in Cornwall if it had really been so profitable as Price declares. In one instance, at least, failure was not due either to deficiency of capital or incapacity in the management. As the adventurers felt themselves so much aggrieved by the smelters, they might have entered into a combination to keep up the price of copper-ore. Of all facts, none are more stubborn than those of political economy; and the truth of the matter appears to be, that copper-smelting can be conducted with greater profit in Wales than in Cornwall; and, therefore, it has become extinct in the latter county. When a man has an article for sale he ought to know how much it has cost to produce it, and to fix such a price upon it as he considers remunerative. So the miner should determine the value of the ore which he raises, irrespective of the profit which it may subsequently yield to the smelter; and he has no right to impute injustice to the smelter who declines to inform him of the gains arising from the metallurgical treatment of the ore, and to allow him to participate in those gains, which often entirely depend upon the exercise of individual skill and the possession of sound commercial knowledge. Whatever the profits of copper-smelting may have been in former times, it is certain that the smelters of the present day do not, in general, realize more than they are fully entitled to expect.

The last county to be mentioned in which copper-smelting has been conducted is Middlesex. About fifteen years ago works were erected on Bow Common for the purpose of smelting copper by a process devised and patented by Mr. James Napier, which will be described in the sequel. The locality was not suitable, and, as might have been anticipated, the works were speedily abandoned. The chief promoter of the undertaking was, I believe, the late Mr. Benjamin Smith, the silversmith, of Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields.

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Towards the end of the last century, probably between 1780 and 1790, copper-smelting was carried on at Ballymurtagh, Wicklow, Ireland. Through the kindness of Mr. Moyle, of Chatham Dockyard, I have received the following information on this subject from Mr. Edward Barnes, the present resident director of the Ballymurtagh Mines, now worked by the Hibernian Mining Company. Mr. Barnes writes that, when we first commenced the mine, none of the persons employed at the works were living, or at least remaining in the neighbourhood, and no records are to be found in the office of the Hibernian Mining Company on the subject. I think I have heard it stated that the smelting works were erected by English parties, the Mining Company selling them the ore as raised. At

*" Mineralogia Cornubiensis." London, 1778, p. 279.