INDUSTRIES INTRODUCTION CLIMATE, mineral wealth, and geo- graphical position are the three elements which have determined in the past and which still deter- mine the occupations of the in- habitants of Cornwall. A coast-line of enormous extent with estuaries which afford safe shelter for ships and fishing craft ; mineral resources such as no other county in England possesses ; a climate which enables sub-tropical plants and shrubs to grow in native luxuriance to these natural ad- vantages Cornwall's chief industries fishing, mining, and horticulture are to be attributed. Foundries and boat building, the manufacture of explosives, safety fuses and the like, are merely subsidiary and supplementary. In the present work the larger industries are dealt with separately . by writers of practical knowledge and experience. In what follows here it will suffice to call atten- tion to those industries which have either become extinct or have not acquired a leading position in the county. The numerous references in the Patent and Close Rolls to the king's mines of gold and silver in the counties of Devon and Cornwall render it certain that, in the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- turies, gold and silver were found in these counties in sufficient quantities to be worth working. In I378 1 the prior of Bodmin and the abbot of Buckfast had letters patent enabling them ' to control the profits arising from the gold and silver mines ' leased to Henry of Burton, and re- quiring them to account for one-seventh of the profits to the king. Thirteen years later 2 a commission was appointed to survey the ' newly- found mines of gold, silver, lead, and tin, and other metals, and to set the necessary workmen and labourers to work them for the king's ad- vantage.' In 1461' Sir John Nevill received a grant of ' the king's mines in Devon and Corn- wall in which gold and silver can be found,' at a rent of 100 yearly. In 1480* surveyors were appointed to superintend the agreement which had been made nine years previously with Sir John Fogge for the working of all mines bearing gold and silver in Devon and Cornwall. These references are illustrative of many others, all of which go to prove that mining for gold and silver was carried on with satisfactory results. 1 Pat. 2 Ric. II, 3 July. 'Pat. 15 Ric. II, ii August. 3 Pat. i Edw. IV, 2 May (p. 191). 4 Pat. 20 Edw. IV, 12 June (p. 213). It is curious however that the rolls supply no data enabling us to discover either the precise locality of the mines or the amount of gold and silver obtained from them. Within comparatively recent years small quantities of gold have been found in the parishes of St. Stephen in Brannel, St. Austell, Redruth, Gwennap, Manaccan, Illogan, Budock and else- where, but nowhere in payable quantities. 5 Lead ore rich in silver at Wheal Pool near Helston, yielding forty ounces of silver to the ton, and at Wheal Rose, yielding sixty ounces to the ton was discovered towards the end of the eighteenth century, but the cost of working was so great as to lead to the abandonment of the enterprise. At Guarnek near Truro good results were obtained in or about the year 1720; and when operations were resumed at the same mine in 1814, out of 800 tons of silver-lead ore thirteen-twentieths were silver. In 1788 lead rich in silver, and also fibrous native silver in the gossan, were discovered in the parish of Per- ranzabuloe at Wheal Mexico ; but it was soon found that below a certain level the silver dis- appeared. Nevertheless, at Trebisken, in the same parish, so late as 1860 the following results were obtained : 6 tons cwts. qrs. Ib. 1859 Sep. 14 i 14 2 o worth 1 64 IS 6
26 2 O o 7 3 4 1 8 60 May '3 I 3 16 4 4
'4 3 '9 IOO 14 i
4 3 1 1 I 16 4 Aug. '4 ' 9
12 485 3
2 19
o
I
286
3
IO
1087
At Herland in Gwinear, early in the last cen-
tury, silver worth 8,000 was obtained in the
form of vitreous silver ore, arsenicated silver ore,
and black oxide of silver. A little later, a dis-
covery of native silver and silver ore was made
at Wheal Duchy near Callington. The value
of the silver obtained there was about 3,000.
Besides the places already mentioned, the most
noteworthy sources of silver in the past have
been Dolcoath, Wheal Basset, Ludcott near
Liskeard, and Wheal Brothers near Calstock.
5 Trans. Roy. Geol. Sot. ofCornw. xii, 241.
6 Given by R. Hunt, F.R.S., in his British Mining,
from the account books of the mine.
513
