The Crown silver mines in Devon: capital, labour and landscape in the late medieval period
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Published
Nov 10, 2021
Abstract
In the late 13th century the English Crown introduced direct management of silver mining in Devon and maintained it for over 50 years. At Bere Ferrers in the Tamar Valley the Crown, and later its lessees, used capital-intensive methods and innovative technology. Large numbers of miners, many of them immigrants, were employed but not housed by the Crown. The impact of silver mining and its infrastructure on the landscape is examined, including the establishment of the borough settlement of Bere Alston as a response to the demand for housing and food supply. The documentary and archaeological evidence for this unique sector of the early mining
industry is variable but taken together as part of an integrated study they provide us with a valuable insight into the organisation and methods used at that period.
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References
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Claughton P 2003a, Silver mining in England and Wales 1066–1500. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Exeter.
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Crafter T C R 2008, Monetary expansion in Britain in the late twelfth century. Unpublished DPhil thesis, University of Oxford.
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Mayer P 1990, ‘Calstock and the Bere Alston silver-lead mines in the first quarter of the 14th century’, Cornish Archaeology 29, 79–95.
McNeill C 1934, ‘Harris: Collectanea de Resus Hibernicis’, Analecta Hibernica 6, 248–450.
Newman P 2006, ‘Tinworking and the landscape in medieval Devon’, in S Turner (ed), Medieval Devon and Cornwall (Macclesfield).
Orme N 2002, ‘Confession in a fifteenth-century Devon parish’ Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science 134, 57–68.
Pettus Sir J 1670, Fodinae Regales (London).
Rackham O 1993, Trees and woodland in the British landscape, revised edn (London).
Roberts B K and Wrathmell S 2000, An atlas of rural settlement in England (London).
Salzman L F 1950, ‘Mines and Stannaries’, in J F Willard, W A Morris and W H Dunham (eds), The English government at work 1327–1336, Vol 3 (Cambridge, Mass), 67–104.
Stuart E 1991, Lost landscapes of Plymouth. Maps, charts and plans to 1800 (Stroud).
Tanquerey F J (ed) 1916, Recueil de lettres Anglo-Françaises (Paris).
Wheeler J 2007, The implications of iron-working on the woodlands of Rievaulx and Bilsdale. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Bradford.
Allen M 2003, ‘Mining, metallurgy and minting’ book review, English History Review 118, 1037–38.
Beresford M W 1964, ‘Dispersed and grouped settlement in medieval Cornwall’, Agricultural History Review 12, 13–27.
Beresford, M W and Finberg H P R 1973, English medieval boroughs (Newton Abbot).
Blanchard I 1996, ‘Lothian and beyond’, in R Britnell and J Hatcher (eds), Progress and problems in medieval England; essays in honour of Edward Miller (Cambridge), 23–45.
Blanchard I 2001, Mining, metallurgy and minting in the Middle Ages, Vol 2, Afro-European supremacy, 1125–1225 (Stuttgart).
Brown R A, Colvin H M and Taylor A J 1963, The history of the King’s works: Vol 1, The Middle Ages (London).
Buckley A 1992, The significance and role of adits. Unpublished MPhil thesis, Camborne School of Mines.
Burt R 1995, ‘The transformation of the non-ferrous industries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries’, Economic History Review 48, 23–45.
Burt R 1998, ‘Proto-industrialisation and “Stages of Growth” in the metal mining industries’, Journal of European Economic History 27, 85–106.
Cal Charter R: 1903–1927, Calendar of Charter rolls, Henry III-8 Henry VII, 6 vols (London).
Cal Close R Hen III: 1902–1975, Calendar of Close Rolls, Henry III, 15 vols (London).
Cal Close R Edw I: 1900–1908, Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward I, 5 vols (London).
Cal Close R Edw III: 1896–1913, Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward III, 14 vols (London).
Cal Liberate R: 1917–1964, Calendar of Liberate Rolls, 6 vols (London).
Cal Pat R Hen III: 1901–1913, Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry III, 11 vols (London).
Cal Pat R Hen VI: 1901–1911, Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry VI, 6 vols (London).
Cal Pat R Edw IV-Edw V-Ric III: 1904, Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward IV - Edward V - Richard III (London).
Campbell B M S and Bartley K 2006, England on the eve of the Black Death (Manchester).
Clarkson L A 1985, Proto-Industrialization: the first phase of industrialization? (Basingstoke).
Claughton P 2003a, Silver mining in England and Wales 1066–1500. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Exeter.
Claughton P 2003b, ‘Production and economic impact: Northern Pennine (English) silver in the twelfth century’ in the Proceedings of the 6th International Mining History Congress, (Akabira, Japan), 146–49 - available for download [MS Word document] URL http://people.exeter.ac.uk/pfclaugh/mhinf/claugh.doc [accessed 7 April 2011].
Claughton P 2007, ‘Mining law in England and Wales: understanding boundaries in the landscape’, in F Reduzzi (ed), Sfruttamento, tutela e valorizzazione del territorio. Dal diritto romano alla regolamentazione europea e internazionale (Naples), 303–17.
Claughton P and Smart C 2008, ‘The Bere Ferrers Project and the discovery of the Roman fort at Calstock’, Tamar, Journal of the Friends of Morwellham 30, 4–15
Crafter T C R 2008, Monetary expansion in Britain in the late twelfth century. Unpublished DPhil thesis, University of Oxford.
Dunham K C, Young B, Johnson G A L, Colman T B and Fossett R 2001, ‘Rich silver-bearing lead ores in the northern Pennines?’ Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 53(3), 207–12.
Finberg H P R 1969, Tavistock Abbey (Cambridge).
Fleming A 1998, Swaledale: valley of the wild river (Edinburgh).
Fox H A S 1991, ‘Occupation of the land: Devon and Cornwall’ in E Miller (ed), The agrarian history of England and Wales, Vol 3, 1348–1500 (Cambridge), 152–74.
Gill M 1990, ‘Mining and proto-industrialisation’, British Mining 41, 99–110.
Gover J E B, Mawer A and Stenton F M 1932, The place-names of Devon, Part I (Cambridge).
Hatcher J 1993, The history of the British coal industry, Vol 1, Before 1700: Towards the age of coal (Oxford).
Hatcher J and Bailey M 2001, Modelling the Middle Ages (Oxford).
Henderson C G and Weddell P J 1994, ‘Medieval settlements on Dartmoor and in west Devon: the evidence from excavations’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 52, 119–40.
Henry A 2001, ‘Silver and salvation: a late 15th-century confessor’s itinerary throughout the parish of Bere Ferrers, Devon, England’, Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science 133, 17–96.
Herring P 2006, ‘Cornish strip fields’ in S Turner (ed), Medieval Devon and Cornwall: Shaping an ancient countryside (Macclesfield), 44–77.
Kaeuper R W 1974, ‘The Frescobaldi of Florence and the English Crown’ in W M Browsky (ed), Studies in medieval and renaissance history 10 (Lincoln, Nebraska), 41–95.
Langdon J and Masschaele J 2006, ‘Commercial activity and population growth in medieval England’, Past and Present 190, 69–77.
Mayer P 1990, ‘Calstock and the Bere Alston silver-lead mines in the first quarter of the 14th century’, Cornish Archaeology 29, 79–95.
McNeill C 1934, ‘Harris: Collectanea de Resus Hibernicis’, Analecta Hibernica 6, 248–450.
Newman P 2006, ‘Tinworking and the landscape in medieval Devon’, in S Turner (ed), Medieval Devon and Cornwall (Macclesfield).
Orme N 2002, ‘Confession in a fifteenth-century Devon parish’ Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science 134, 57–68.
Pettus Sir J 1670, Fodinae Regales (London).
Rackham O 1993, Trees and woodland in the British landscape, revised edn (London).
Roberts B K and Wrathmell S 2000, An atlas of rural settlement in England (London).
Salzman L F 1950, ‘Mines and Stannaries’, in J F Willard, W A Morris and W H Dunham (eds), The English government at work 1327–1336, Vol 3 (Cambridge, Mass), 67–104.
Stuart E 1991, Lost landscapes of Plymouth. Maps, charts and plans to 1800 (Stroud).
Tanquerey F J (ed) 1916, Recueil de lettres Anglo-Françaises (Paris).
Wheeler J 2007, The implications of iron-working on the woodlands of Rievaulx and Bilsdale. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Bradford.
How to Cite
Claughton, P., & Smart, C. (2021). The Crown silver mines in Devon: capital, labour and landscape in the late medieval period. Historical Metallurgy, 44(2), 112-125. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/152
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Articles
How to Cite
Claughton, P., & Smart, C. (2021). The Crown silver mines in Devon: capital, labour and landscape in the late medieval period. Historical Metallurgy, 44(2), 112-125. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/152