Mining in a Medieval Landscape

Christopher Smart, Peter Claughton, Steve Rippon

Description

This book explores an industry that was of profound importance both in terms of the local economy and the history of mining nationally, but is long forgotten: the late medieval royal silver mines at Bere Ferrers in the Tamar Valley.


The Bere Ferrers silver mines employed up to 400 men, mining on a scale and at depths not previously possible, and changed forever the way that mining was carried out in medieval Britain.

Sujets

• Techniques
• Energie et Environnement
• Technologies de Fabrication
• Social History
• Economic History
• Medieval
• HISTORY
• Cornualles
• Edad Media
• Archaeology
• Tamar Valley
• History of the British Isles
• Landscape archaeology
• Industrial archaeology
• General officer
• Ireland
• Mining
• Metallurgy
• Middle Ages
• History of Europe
• Economics
• Stephen Ireland
• Great Britain
• Business
• General
• Tamar
• Cornwall
• Devon
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: University of Exeter Press
• Date de parution: 02 mars 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780859899338
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

Extrait

RIPPON, CLAUGHTON
Mining in a Medieval Landscape
and SMART
Mining pb V6:UEP 26/5/09 16:50 Page 1
Mining in a
MEDIEVAL LANDSCAPE
The Royal Silver Mines of the Tamar Valley
This book explores an industry that was of profound
importance both in terms of the local economy and the Mining in a
history of mining nationally: the late-medieval royal
silver mines at Bere Ferrers in the Tamar Valley on the MEDIEVAL LANDSCAPECornwall/Devon border.
Just to the north of Bere Ferrers lies Bere Alston – probably
the first purpose-built mining town in Britain – along with the The Royal Silver Mines of the Tamar Valley
remarkable engineering feat that was the ten mile long leat
supplying the water to power the pumps that drained the
mines. The Bere Ferrers silver mines employed up to 400
men in the area, mining on a scale and at depths not
previously possible, and changed forever the way that
mining was carried out in medieval Britain.
Mining in a Medieval Landscape is a pioneering study of the
history and archaeology of this fascinating and little-known
part of our industrial heritage.
ISBN 978 0 85989 828 7
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER PRESS
www.exeterpress.co.uk Stephen Rippon, Peter Claughton and Chris Smartm i n i n g i n a m e d i e v a l l a n d s c a p e

This book examines for the first time how a local industry
revolutionized the way mining was carried out in medieval
Britain and beyond.
Mining in a Medieval Landscape explores the history
and archaeology of the late-medieval royal silver mines at
Bere Ferrers in the Tamar valley in Devon. It compares
their impact on the landscape with less intensive, traditional
mining industries. The analysis of maps and documents
together with archaeological field-survey work allows the
mining landscape to be reconstructed in remarkable detail,
including Bere Alston – probably the first purpose-built
mining town in Britain.
Stephen Rippon  is Professor of Landscape Archaeology at the University of
Exeter. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and a Member
of the Institute of Field Archaeologists. He makes regular television appearances.
Peter  Claughton has worked as an economic historian since gaining his
doctorate, becoming an expert in his field. He is Conservation Officer of the
National Association of Mining History Organisations and an active member
of the international industrial heritage committee T CIChrC isI HSm. art was
responsible for field survey and historic landscape analysis on the Bere Ferrers
project. He discovered, and subsequently directed excavations of, the Roman fort
at Calstock. He is now a Project Archaeologist with Exeter Archaeology.
Rippon et al, Mining in a Mediev1 1 28/05/2009 13:03:05Frontispiece: Aerial photograph of Bere Ferrers peninsula including the mine workings, Bere Alston and the
high ground beyond (reproduced courtesty of Barry Gamble, The Tamar Valley AONB).
Rippon et al, Mining in a Mediev2 2 28/05/2009 13:03:06Mining in a
Medieval Landscape
The Royal Silver Mines
of the Tamar Valley
S t e p h e n R i p p o n ,
P e t e r C l a u g h t o n
a n d C h r i s S m a r t
Rippon et al, Mining in a Mediev3 3 28/05/2009 13:03:06First published in 2009 by
University of Exeter Press
Reed Hall, Streatham Drive
Exeter EX4 4QR
UK
www.exeterpress.co.uk
© 2009 Stephen Rippon, Peter Claughton and Chris Smart
The right of Stephen Rippon, Peter Claughton and Chris Smart to be
identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Acts 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Paperback ISBN 978 0 85989 828 7
Hardback ISBN 978 0 85989 827 0
Typeset in Stempel Garamond, 10.5 on 14 by
Carnegie Book Production, Lancaster
Printed in Great Britain by
Short Run Press Ltd, Exeter
Rippon et al, Mining in a Mediev4 4 28/05/2009 13:03:06Contents
Illustrations vi
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviation s xi
Glossary xii
1 Introduction: the impact of industry on the medieval
landscape 1
2 Earth’s riches: metal resources in medieval D evon 13
3 Silver production in medieval England and the Devon
mines 45
4 The extraction and processing of silver-bearin g ores 71
5 Fuelling the industry: the management of water and
woodlan d 101
6 The mining community and its impact on the wider
landscape 121
7 Discussion and conclusio ns 160
Notes 165
Sources and bibliography 183
Index 205
v
Rippon et al, Mining in a Mediev5 5 28/05/2009 13:03:06Illustrations
Figures
Frontispiece: Aerial photograph of Bere Ferrers pe ninsula ii
1.1 The nineteenth-century Carn Galver tin mine north of
Rosemergy hamlet, Cornw all 2
1.2 Location of Bere Ferrers in the Tamar valley south-west
of Dartmoo r 5
1.3 The medieval earthworks on Lockridge Hill 10
2.1 The major mineral resources of Devon and adjacen t are1a4s
2.2 Interpretation of the geophysical surveys of workings on
Harris’s Lode, Combe Mart in 15
2.3 The Bampfylde copper mine in North Mol ton 25
2.4 The tin streamworks at Lydford, south-west of Dar tmo3o1r
2.5 The medieval iron industry of the Blackdown Hills 38
2.6 The iron, copper, and lead/silver industries of the
Exmoor regio n 41
3.1 Silver penny of Henry II’s reign struck at the Carlisle
mint in the 1160 s 47
3.2 Silver penny of Edward I struck at the London mint in
the late 1290 s 47
3.3 Continental silver mines 51
3.4 Employment structure of the Devon silver mines in the
fourteenth centu ry 59
3.5 Medieval woodland, mining and processing sites in the
Bere Ferrers region 61
3.6 The mining landscape of Combe Martin, North Devon 64
vi
Rippon et al, Mining in a Mediev6 6 28/05/2009 13:03:06Illustrations vii
3.7 Named sections of the Bere Ferrers mines and to whom
they were farmed out in 1451–53 68
4.1 The value of recorded silver and lead production from the
Devon mines 1292–1344 72
4.2 The mine workings in Cleave Wo od 76
4.3 Documented mine workings in Bere Fer rers 78
4.4 Location of the cross-cutting adits at Bere Ferrers 80
4.5 Mine workings and adit at Furzehill shown on the 1737
estate ma p 81
4.6 Surveyed earthworks of the air shaft at Fu rzehill 82
4.7 Late medieval silver mines and trial workings in
SouthWest England 85
4.8 The breaking up of ore-bearing r ock 88
4.9 Smelting techniques at Bere Ferrers in the late medieval
period 89
4 .10 Aerial view of Calsto ck 95
4 .11 Results of the magnetometer survey south of Calstock
parish church 96
4 .12 The equipment required for the refining of lead to
produce silve r 98
5.1 Maristow and Blaxton Wood from across the Tavy
estuary 104
5.2 The construction and assembly of a suction-lift pump 111
5.3 The route of the Lumburn l eat 112
5.4 The line of the Lumburn Leat at Hocklake Farm 114
5.5 The Lumburn Leat at Broadwell 115
5.6 The Lumburn Leat in Shillamill W ood 116
5.7 A deep cutting for the Lumburn Leat at Raven’s Rock 116
5.8 The leat tunnel below Raven R ock 116
5.9 Plan of the cuttings at Raven’s R ock 117
5.10 The Lumburn Leat south of Raven’s Ro ck 118
6.1 Historic landscape characterisation of Bere Ferrers and
adjacent are as 122
6.2 Vertical aerial photograph of Bere Alston 128
Rippon et al, Mining in a Mediev7 7 28/05/2009 13:03:06viii Mining in a Medieval Landscape
6.3 Bere Alston on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey
Six Inch maps 129
6.4 Bere Alston on the 1737 estate map 130
6.5 Bere Ferrers parish: land ownership as recorded in the
Tithe survey 131
6.6 Bere Ferrers parish: land holding as recorded in the Tithe
survey 132
6.7 Bere Ferrers parish: land occupancy as recorded in the
Tithe survey 133
6.8 Characterisation of the settlement pattern in Bere Ferrers
and adjacent parish es 135
6.9 The former medieval park in the far south of Bere Ferrers
parish 137
6.10 Extract from the 1737 estate map showing the small
hamlet at Bere Ferrers 139
6.11 The planned medieval borough at South Zeal 142
6.12 Bere Alston on the Tithe map of 1845 143
6.13 Nineteenth-century settlements in Bere Ferrers parish146
6.14 Metherell and St Dominick showing the extensive former
open field s 148
6.15 Whitsam on the First Edition Ordnance Survey Six Inch
map 150
6.16 Whitsam on the 1737 estate maps 151
6 .17 Places in Bere Ferrers parish referred to in the late
fifteenth-century ‘confessor’s itine rary’ 152
6.18 The relative size of settlements in Bere Ferrers parish
based on the late fifteenth-century ‘confessor’s it iner1a5r4y’
Tables
3.1 Account of William de Wymondham 20–25 Edw. I
[1292–97] 55–59
4.1 Extracts from the wage roll for the mines at Bere Ferrers
in 1342–43 73–74
4.2 Bole smelting costs in 1342–4 4 91–92
6.1 Defining features of the historic landscape character
types 124–27
Rippon et al, Mining in a Mediev8 8 28/05/2009 13:03:06Acknowledgements
his book is the outcome of a major research project that lasted T from May 2006 through to March 2008. It was generously funded
by the Leverhulme Trust with additional support from the University
of Exeter. The authors would like to take this opportunity to thank the
many individuals, landowners, and organisations who helped during
the course of the project: Mrs Betsy Gallup, Jerry Venning, Graham
Tew, The Woodland Trust, Mrs Rees of Pengarth, Paul Wiseman (agent
to the Mount Edgcumbe Estate), Mrs Sargent, Mr and Mrs Cole,
Trevor Jeans and Tony Viggers, Mr and Mrs Neave, Hugh Harrison,
Malcolm Collingridge, Mark Snellgrove of Tavistock Woodlands,
Mr and Mrs Maurice Gerry, Peter Baker, Mr and Mrs Edwards of
Colcharton Farm, Sandra Anstey, Mr Tait of Millhill Quarry, Joe Hess
of the Maristow Estate, Mr Turpin of Pound Farm, Dr Charlie Moon,
Mrs G.M. Astruc, John Start and Chris Facey, Trevor Dunkerley for
permission to use geophysical survey results from Combe Martin,
Mick Warburton and Roger Burton for assistance at Combe Martin,
Alasdair Neill, The Calstock