O f coining
tin.
eight for . twenty tp its oyvner^.| : Thq; 'bargained #>r
% pared brpugjht^ .g k e iM ^ o te to deliver .,i;he quantity of white
tin agreed upon at the enfuing coinage, arid-at his, pwn conveniency
(taking care judicioufly to mix,, corred, and qualify the different
fqrts of tin wjdeh he^takes hi) mdts thq,tm in^^q^eratory.futhjffie*
with a fire of pit-coal, all which comes from Wgles., The great cdfiy
fumption of wood ufed in charcoal by the former and more ancient
method* of melting tmby a.Momng-boufe\ fuggeftedat l*ft the neceffity
of mtroducing the pit-coal for this purpofe, and among the reft to the
noble Sir Bevil Granville o f Stow in this County yv^ho fcs-I have been
informed) made feveral experiments for meltings of tin therewith
(though without fuccefs) in order to ihve wood, and keep the tin
from wafting in the blaft. The invention of th^reyerbenttory furnace,
about fifty years fince, has| rendered :this fire.efieftu^l, but
the pit-coal leaves a fulphureous bxittlenefs in,tfie metal, which the
wood-fire does not, the former aflimilating in .fojn£, jmealure the
metal to the harfhnefs of ftone, and the .latter infufing the topgh-
nefs erf- wood j and this is the reafon tfiat tii^melted in,the bloMftgsn
houfe by charcoal fells for more at . the market (ufually a twelfth
part more) than that of the furnace, as being the purer metal, When
the ore is fuffidendy melted, it is poured into quadrangular troughs,
or moulds of ftone, containing about three hundred andjiyenty pounds,
weight o f metal1, which, when hardened,; is called a,block;.of tin,
and carried to the coinage town. .
Five towns" are appointed in the moft cqnvejftent parts of the
county for the tinners to bring their tip to every quarter of £jear.
In the time o f Henry VIH. there were but two. coinages in a year*
v iz. at Midfummer and Michaelmas ”, but two more were added
at Chriftmas and Lady-day, for the conveniency of., the . tinners,
for which they pay an acknowledgement (called Toft-groats) of
four-pence for every hundred of white tin then coined. When
the tin is brought to the coinage-town, the officers appointed by the
Duke, of Cornwall aflay it, by taking off a piece of one of the under
comers of the block of about a pound weight, partly by cutting and
partly by breaking; and, if well purified, ftamp the face of the
block with the impreffion of the leal of the Dutchy °, which ftamp
\ At prefent praffifed in fome parts of Cornwall
but only for fmall parcels.
1 Called fo from a fire or blaft perpetually kept
in vigour by the blowing of a large bellows turned
by a water wheel.
* Temp.Car. i. ■
1 Formerly they made not thefe blocks fo large, at
appears by the blocks lately found inSt.Auftel-Moor
mentioned pa. 163, which do not weigh full 3elb.
“ Liikerd, Loftwythyel, Truro, Hellion, and
Penzance, which laft was added to the four ancient
Towns, in thiftime of Charles II. for the cpriveniency
of the VVefterii tinners. ■
» Leland, V 61.;iii< Itin. page 12.
« Thé arms of Condorus laft Earl of Cornwall
of Britifli blood (temp. W . 1.) were Sab.' lÿbe»
zants (5, 4, .3, 2,1) in. pale, Or. See Camden,
page 26. Richard King of the Romans, Earl of
Cornwall, fon to King John, ‘threw thefe bezants
Into a bordure round the bearing ■ of the
i Earls of Poiftoui He bore therefore Argent a
Lyon Rampant Gul. crowned Or within a bordure
fame garnilhed by Bezants, (fee Camden, page
27) and tbisftffl continues the Dutchy Seal,
,is'‘ a pfermiflion for 'the>‘o'wn'er ; to felf^rfrid' at the fame! tittle 'an
affttr'a'nce" that the tin fo mai'kS.d'' has been purpofely exattiined
andrfouMd' merchindable. ‘ Tte^ftamping ofthis impreffion fiy a
Hammer »(frs like, manner ras* was'andetttlyl?' 'dbne1 totaonejftlomake.
it current) is cfflfel Coinitig the'tiri.' EVdry' hundfed ' o f whitfe' tin
fo coined,- pa/s fO^fhe Duke of ’Cbrnwall the iurrf df' four fhiiliti®
before the property cM he difpofed of, and this makes up a cott-
fiderable annual Revenue, much fuperior at prefe&t fo ivhat it Was
formerly. “ The tin fd fold (fays Mr. Carew, pr f 5)' ttfilaMy am&iiftted
heretofore to thirty or forty 'thoufattd peitmdsi'at twenty :ahd*‘tMrb)
pounds a thou{afad|;fofoetimes'.^ arfdf fofodtimesfl^w&r;?,'Tut
for fome years laft paft^ th^ price of ’each hundred wteight’fofwhite
tin has confiderably ‘ advattced^'' andbfeen lom three pounds" three;
ftiillings to three pounds eight1 {hillings’5 and. fix-pe'ncer, fanft ’ the
quantity fold has been much greater; ‘ fo that th.% ta'd^W'th’e Whole*
county,' for fourteen; years laft paft,'has amounted, ififeiyear with
another, nearly to ’ the "fom "Of 1800oo pounds fterling; and for
ten yeafe laft paft 'by r f‘particular Mcouttl^W the number of blocks
coined in that time,-and the ’price they "fold at (though5 fobieWhSt
lovv for four years laft paft) I find that the whole tin of thia cOuntff ISijl
at a moderate' computation,' brought in cafl^ otife*’yeaif with the1
other, at leaft to the amount o f one hundred ^hd* ninety thouiand
nine hundred and fifty-three pounds nineteen {hillings and threepence
halfpenny. Of this the Duke of Gorfi#all' receives (for his
four ftiillings; dirty upon every hundred weight o f whitfe tin)' above
ten thoufand pbuttdsyearly; the bounders and proprietors OTthfe'foil:
may receive about one ftxthatai medium clfear, which we? may reckon
ab^frthirty thouiand pounds y ^ I y jthfe miiiaiiider goes to lhfe£|lVfebfi£-
rers in the mine, who pay for all labour and materials, and may fome-
times 'chance to be lofers (as in every kind of merchandize is ’fottieC
times the - Cafe) ' but muft alwftys have the commendation alid iti-'
ward comfort of contributing in a great degree to thff* employment
of the poor, to the enriching ■ of their counter, • and ’ to the ittcreafo
of the public reventt«-! ^
If, together with the Gafli which tin” brings1 in dearly to the
Lord of the !Soil, procureris duties to thfe K in g' by' its mines, arid
to the Duke of Cornwall as$ tax upon every hundred weight of tin,
we confider the feveral branchfes' of employ which it creatfes fdf’ boys
as well as men, carriage by catde mnd flapping, the many handicrafts
it; promotes, and the trade for neceffaries, which belong t^'idinittg,
diefling, and melting, and all this out of a narrow flip of land ufoally
of the moft barren and hilly kiflid, without diftrfefling the tillage,
:» Till 1 the'year 1553 when .obinihg will''-11 ;-i.
was Invented. 5' Mr. Carews meaning.
pafture,
Its annual
profit.