INDUSTRIES copper. This statement is corroborated by the fact that, although a charter for making brass was granted as early as I565, 1 Tonkin does not fix the date of the discovery of the value of copper ore earlier than i6y9, 2 and it was not until 1691 that a charter was granted to Sir Joseph Hearne and others, for refining and purifying copper, under the name of Governor and Company of the Copper Mines of England. 3 Another cir- cumstance favouring the same conclusion is that the copper currency of Great Britain was not coined from British metal until 171 7.* The new industry, however, was encouraged by the repeal of the old prohibition of the exportation of cop- per, 8 and active operations made at once con- siderable headway. Pryce was familiar with a Cornish memorial dated about the year 1730, which prays that facilities be given for the importation of coals on account of the distressed state of the mines, and the necessity for deepening them. The exis- tence, therefore, of Cornish copper mines seems at that time to have depended upon the applica- tion of the new power brought in by steam, and it is evident that the discovery of the power of the steam engine in drawing water was almost co- incident with the rise of copper mines on a great scale, and that its history is parallel with that of the mines themselves throughout their course. During this period we meet for the first time with records of the sale of copper ore in Corn- wall. According to Pryce a yearly average of 6,480 tons of ore was sold from 1726 to 1735; 7,552 tons from 1736 to 1745; 9,879 tons from 1746 to 1755 ; 16,970 tons from 1756 to 1765; and 26,427 tons from 1766 to I775- 6 In 1786, 39,895 tons of ore were mined, and in 1796 43,313 tons, producing 4,950 tons of pure copper. 7 The first successful copper mines were those of Blanchland in Kea, belonging to the earl of Falmouth, 8 but in early years the most productive were Poldice (which, according to Hals, employed for forty years from 800 to 1,000 men), Huel Fortune in Ludgvan, Roskear in Camborne, Pool Adit in Illogan, and Huel Virgin in Gwennap. 9 The greatest and most sudden gain ever heard of is said to have been in Huel Virgin during July and August, 1757. In the first fortnight 5,700 worth of ore was extracted, and in the next three weeks and two days 9,600 worth. 9 In 1758 the best 1 Moses Stringer, Opera MineraRa ExpRcata, p. iii.
- Carew, Survey of Cornwall (ed. 1811), p. 21, note.
1 ' Copper Mining in Cornwall,' by Jos. Carne, Tram. Roy. Geol. Soc. Corntv. iii, 44. 4 ' Statistics of the Copper Mines of Cornwall,' by Sir Chas. Lemon, Journ. Roy. Statist. Soc. , 66. 6 Stat. 5 & 6 Will, and Mary, c. 1 6. 6 Pryce, Mincrahgia Comubiensis, Introd. p. xiv. 7 Lysons,Magna Britannia (ed. 1 806-22,) iii, p. ccviii. 8 Ibid, iii, p. ccvii. Polwhele, Hist, of Cornwall, bk. 4, p. 1 34. 9 Lysons, Magna Britannia (ed. 1 80622), iii,p.ccviii. producing mines were those of Chacewater in Kenwyn, North Downs in Redruth, Huelros in St. Agnes, Dolcoath, Bullen Garden, Roskear, Huel Kitty, Entral, and Longclose in Camborne, Huel Fortune in Ludgvan, Pool in Illogan, Metal Works and Trejenvivian in Gwennap, B inner Downs and Clowance Downs in Crowan, Huel Cock and Rosmoran in St. Just, and Her- land in Gwinnear. 10 The close of the eighteenth century saw forty-five copper mines in Cornwall, of which eleven were in the Gwennap district, six in St. Agnes, five in Camborne, four in Gwinnear, four in St. Hilary, three each in Germoe, Crowan, and Illogan, two in St. Neol, and the rest scattered. Besides these were eighteen mines of copper and tin, one in Gwin- near for copper and silver, and one in Camborne for copper and cobalt. 11 To attempt a description of the various im- provements which were introduced into the sink- ing of copper mines would be to duplicate in great measure what is given under the heading ' tin,' and the more so as it is a well-known fact that many of the best copper mines have pro- duced tin as well, the ores usually coming in regular alternation. As copper mining on any scale did not begin in Cornwall until the eighteenth century, the mines at once obtained the benefit of the steam engine for draining the levels and hoisting the ore, 12 blasting powder for smashing the rocks, as well as a host of other improvements elsewhere enumerated. Most of them were, at an early period, comparatively deep. One hundred fathoms seems to have been considered the necessary minimum at the time when Pryce wrote, 13 while, thirty years later, in 1808, Crenver and Oalfield mines had reached 200, Cook's Kitchen 210, and Dolcoath 228 fathoms. 14 From the massive character of the copper ores it is probable that, in the early days of mining, little or no dressing took place, the ores of less homogeneous nature being rejected. Hence, in all probability, arose those traditions of waste which are, in this sense, confirmed by the fact that hedges have been torn down in the nineteenth century for the sake of the stones of copper ore built up in them. 18 No earlier record exists of the processes of copper dressing in Cornwall than that given by Borlase ; and as he could not have spoken to the fact from his own personal knowledge, it seems not unlikely 10 Polwhele, Hut. of Cornwall, bk. 4, p. 134. 11 Lysons, Magna Britannia (ed. 180622), iii, p. ccviii. 12 ' Statistics of the Copper Mines in Cornwall,' by Sir Chas. Lemon, Journ. Roy. Statist. Soc. , 68. 13 Pryce, Mineralogia Cornubiensis (1778), Introd. p. viii. 14 Polwhele, Hist, of Cornwall, bk. 4, p. 134. 15 R. N. Worth, Historical Notes Concerning the Origin and Progress of Mining Skill in Cornw. and Devon, 43. 565
