4000 years

(1)

Dartmoor is an area unequalled in Southern Britain for its collection of visible remains of human occupation covering some 4000 years.

The preservation of these remains has been due to their existence in a large area of high moorland, but little disturbed by later agricultural or other activities, that involve the breaking of the soil.

The nearest comparable collection is on the western slopes of the mountain mass of Merioneth in North Wales.

But Dartmoor, which lies nearer to the Continent from which successive groups of settlers came, is likely to yield the more valuable information.

Scientific study requires that the area be considered as a whole.

Irreparable damage has already been done in the part farther north, including the Tavy Valley, and it is therefore the more necessary to preserve what remains. (2) The Plym valley is one of the richest areas in the whole of Dartmoor in respect of antiquities. Detailed evidence is being Submitted on behalf of the Council of British Archaeology and the Devon Archaeological Exploration Society.

Their schedule and map list over 60 sites of pre-Roman date.

one willing to murder flowers and behead wild rosebuds

Trippers ready to believe that their name denotes: a rider in bangs, a litter distributor, one willing to murder flowers and behead wild rosebuds with paper streamers: not “one who walks nimbly, or dances with light feet.” Motor horns seem to be “The passing bell, also called the soul bell, ” sounding the knell of better days. 

Country Contentments 
STO LEN goods are sweetest when a title is needed for extracts from the “ Cunynge Curiosities” of 10th- to 18th-century writers; books “wherein, thou o Reader (if thou canst but read) art sure to finde abundance and plenty of matters most dainty.” Gervase Markham, the author of 16th-century Country Contentments, writes, like Sir Hugh Platt in The Garden of Eden, “to the pleasuring of others,” and title thief though I am, I can not feel that kindly Master Markham grudges me my stolen heading. “ I shall not blush to tell you I had some ambition to publish this book” for the “ pleasing” of “ all Gentlemen and Ladies and others delighting in God’s vegetable creatures.” 
“When the greate books at large are not to be had but at greate price,” or after hours of search in ancient libraries, many modern readers must be denied access to the “Truths and Mysteries” early writers deemed all important, and occasionally, as Platt says, “rolled up in the most cloudy and darksome speech” after having“wrung them from the earth by the painfull hand of experience for your good entertainment.” Surely in a world which pessimists insist is being given over to the devil all should hear of a reliable Anglo-Saxon Salve against “Temptations of the Fiend”? A famous politician begged for the inclusion of a “Leechdom against a man full of elfin tricks,” and suggested that certain citizens of the U.S.A. would welcome “A lithe soft drink against a devil and dementedness,” and might not Scotland Yard consider the possibilities of a prescription said to be infallible “If any evil tempting occur to a man” ? Such simple remedies, brewed, pounded or devised from garden herbes— “honest wortes,” mingled with Holy water, prayers, and flowers whose very names bring healing:— Love o’ the ground, All healand True Love, 
Mothers wort and Queen of the Meadows. As for a salve wherewith to anoint the forehead against visits from “Elf or goblin night visitors,” our nurseries still need it, while an ointment inducing Elves to return and restore our lost childish faith in them would be of even greater value to some of us. 2


Miss Rohde in her exquisite Garden of Herbs quotes a 16th-century receipt 

“ To enable one to see the fairies,” 
a charm I never saw written down, 
though one very similar was told me over thirty years ago by an old woman in the West Country.
 As in Miss Rohde’s version,
 Rosewater and Marigold water, herbs and flowers gathered to the East, played their part, but first in importance
           — or perhaps first in my memory— was, thyme and grass from a fairy ring.
 I often wanted to test its magical properties, but never succeeded in waking at dawn. 

According to my informer, dawn, or just before set of full moon, was the correct hour at which to make one’s first bow to the little unseen folk. 

At that time of my life the inner wonder of her beliefs and friendship with the fairies— which none of her neighbours seemed to doubt— was just as it should be, and nothing much out of the ordinary. 

Now, when I could better appreciate it and have no unsympathetic nursemaid to scoff at pleadings to be allowed a hedgehog in bed to keep me awake on important business, the old lady sleeps forever, and the wood where she said the fairies could be found was cut down in 1916. 
To have missed collecting all the details for preparing such a truly content-giving charm still makes me “monstrous melancholy” ; old adjectives, “prodigious,” “vastly,” and their like, express better than modern words the seriousness of such a loss.
 The loss of enjoyment and belief in ancient charms and customs, not to mention courtesies, has spread like a pest amongst country-folk since Trippers “boomswisshed” into their midst, 

Trippers ready to believe that their name denotes: a rider in bangs, a litter distributor, one willing to murder flowers and behead wild rosebuds with paper streamers: not “one who walks nimbly, or dances with light feet.” Motor horns seem to be “The passing bell, also called the soul bell, ” sounding the knell of better days. 
The above paragraph was gently censored by one with a knowledge of “ Gardens and their Godly treasure to be found therein” that ranks him kin to Thomas Hill, who wrote as finale to The Profitable Art of Gardening, “The favour of God be with thee always.”
 At his suggestion I add a quotation from Grose: 4
“ The passing Bell was antiently rung for two purposes, one to bespeak the Prayers of all good Christians for a Soul just departing; the other to drive away evil Spirits who stood at the Bed’s foot, and about the House, ready to seize their prey, or at least to molest and terrify the Soul in its passage: but by the ringing of that Bell (for Durandus informs us Evil Spirits are much afraid of Bells) they were kept aloof and the Soul like a hunted Hare gained the start or what is by Sportsmen called Law.” Even if many of the old Contentments are gone beyond recall, we can, as he says, loudly “ring the funerall peale” over such fiendish customs as the games of “Mumble Sparrow” and “Cat in Bottle”— inflicting intense suffering on helpless animals.
 The charm and sheer word magic of most of the old writers incline one to forget that the Country Contentments of our ancestors generally were balanced by discontentments.


 The New Art and Mystery of Gossiping and early issues of The Tatler and Spectator hint that 17th- and 18th-century Housewives were faced with difficulties similar to the troubles of a Maisonette wife or Flat-wife of to-day. 5

The monument includes a tin blowing mill

Blowing mill 260m south east of Teignhead FarmList Entry SummaryThis monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Name: Blowing mill 260m south east of Teignhead Farm

List entry Number: 1019217

Location

The monument may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County: Devon

District: West Devon

District Type: District Authority

Parish: Dartmoor Forest

National Park: DARTMOOR

Grade: Not applicable to this List entry.

Date first scheduled: 09-Feb-2001

Date of most recent amendment: Not applicable to this List entry.

Legacy System Information

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System: RSM

UID: 28757

Asset Groupings

This list entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.

List entry Description

Summary of Monument

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Reasons for Designation

Dartmoor is the largest expanse of open moorland in southern Britain and, because of exceptional conditions of preservation, it is also one of the most complete examples of an upland relict landscape in the whole country.

 The great wealth and diversity of archaeological remains provide direct evidence for human exploitation of the Moor from the early prehistoric period onwards.

 The well-preserved and often visible relationship between settlement sites, major land boundaries, trackways, ceremonial and funerary monuments as well as later industrial remains, gives significant insights into successive changes in the pattern of land use through time.

 Blowing mills (also known as blowing houses) survive as rectangular drystone buildings served by one or more leats and are characterised by the presence of granite blocks with moulds cut into them - bevelled rectangular troughs known as mould stones - and on occasion by the square or rectangular stone built base of the furnace itself.

 During the medieval and early post-medieval period, black tin (cassiterite) extracted from streamworks and mines was taken to blowing mills to be smelted. At the blowing mill the cassiterite may have been washed a final time before being put into the furnace together with charcoal.

 To smelt tin the temperature within the furnace had to reach 1150 degrees C. 

This was achieved by blowing air through the furnace using water powered bellows. Once the tin had become molten, it flowed from the furnace into a float stone and was ladled into the mould stone, in which it cooled to form an ingot of white tin. The original number of blowing mills on Dartmoor is unknown, but at least 26 are believed to survive, whilst a further 41 are known only from stray finds and documentary sources. All examples with a clearly identifiable surviving structure are therefore considered to be of national importance.

The blowing mill 260m south east of Teignhead Farm survives well and is one of only seven examples known to contain a furnace. Important information concerning tin smelting technology survives within and around this building. The unusual mould stones containing two troughs and the particularly large furnace block are of special interest.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Details

The monument includes a tin blowing mill situated at the foot of a steep 3m high scarp adjacent to the North Teign river. The mill building is of drystone construction with the wall standing up to 0.8m high. The interior of the mill measures 13.6m by up to 3.5m and access to it was through a clearly mill, two edge set stones represent the site of the furnace, in which the black tin (cassiterite) was smelted. A hollow adjacent to the northern wall denotes the position of the wheelpit in which a wheel powered by water operated the furnace bellows. Molten tin from the furnace was ladled into a large mould stone, containing two separate troughs which stands next to the furnace. A second broken mould stone lies within the entrance. A 5.5m long by 2.3m wide rectangular structure is attached to the south eastern end of the mill building. This is defined by a rubble wall of varying height and width standing up to 1.2m high. In the area south of the mill there is a series of earthworks, some of which are the result of earlier streamworking, but others may relate to dressing and washing activities. Beyond these earthworks and adjacent to the river is a drystone wall of 19th century date. Built into the top of this, a broken mould stone and mortar stone are clearly visible. These features are included in the scheduling 

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Selected Sources

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SX68SW46, (1995)
MPP fieldwork by S. Gerrard, (1999)

National Grid Reference: SX 63768 84271

cuckoo

southwestern slope of Hemerdon Bal

 southwestern slope of Hemerdon Bal: Hemerdon Mine (approx. 0.2 km; TUNGSTEN & TIN) Bottle Hill (approx. 0.8 km; COPPER, TIN & ARSENIC) Wheal Mary Hutchings (app...

King Henry VIII of England. The king had him executed

Richard Whiting (abbot)

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For other people with the same name, see Richard Whiting.

Richard Whiting
Born	1461
Died	15 November 1539
Beatified	13 May 1895 by Pope Leo XIII

Blessed Richard Whiting (1461 – 15 November 1539) was an English clergyman and the last Abbot of Glastonbury.

Whiting presided over Glastonbury Abbey at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536–1541) under King Henry VIII of England. The king had him executed after his conviction for treason for remaining loyal to Rome. He is considered a martyr by the Roman Catholic Church, which beatified him on 13 May 1895.

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1Early life
• 2Career
• 3Death
• 4Legacy
• 5See also
• 6Notes
• 7References

Early life[edit]

Whiting attended the University of Cambridge, graduating with an MA in 1483.^[1]

Career[edit]

View of Glastonbury Abbey from the former location of the North transept in East direction to the choir.

Whiting was ordained deacon in 1500 and priest in 1501.^[1] After the death of the Abbot of Glastonbury, Richard Beere, in February 1525, the community elected his successor per formam compromissi, which elevates the selection to a higher ranking personage – in this case Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Wolsey obtained King Henry's permission to act and chose Richard Whiting. The first ten years of Whiting's rule were prosperous and peaceful.^[2] He was a sober and caring spiritual leader and a good manager of the abbey's day-to-day life.^[1] Contemporary accounts show that Whiting was held in very high esteem.

The abbey over which Whiting presided was one of the richest and most influential in England. About one hundred monks lived in the enclosed monastery, where the sons of the nobility and gentry were educated before going on to university.^[3]

Whiting signed his assent to the Act of Supremacy when it was first presented to him and his monks in 1534. Henry sent Richard Layton to examine Whiting and the other inhabitants of the abbey. He found all in good order, but suspended the abbot's jurisdiction over the town of Glastonbury. Small "injunctions" were given to him about the management of the abbey property. A number of times over the years which followed, Whiting was told the abbey was safe from dissolution.^[1] However, the 1535 Suppression of Religious Houses Act brought about the dissolution of the lesser monasteries and provided a warning of what the future might hold.

Death[edit]

By January 1539, Glastonbury was the only monastery left in Somerset. Abbot Whiting refused to surrender the abbey, which did not fall under the Act for the suppression of the lesser houses.^[3] On 19 September of that year the royal commissioners, Layton, Richard Pollard and Thomas Moyle, arrived there without warning on the orders of Thomas Cromwell, presumably to find faults and thus facilitate the abbey's closure. Whiting, by now feeble and advanced in years, was sent to the Tower of London so that Cromwell might examine him himself. The precise charge on which he was arrested, and subsequently executed, remains uncertain, though his case is usually referred to as one of treason. Cromwell clearly acted as judge and jury: in his manuscript, Remembrances are the entries:

Item, Certayn persons to be sent to the Tower for the further examenacyon of the Abbot, of Glaston... Item. The Abbot, of Glaston to (be) tryed at Glaston and also executyd there with his complycys... Item. Councillors to give evidence against the Abbot of Glaston, Rich. Pollard, Lewis Forstew (Forstell), Thos. Moyle.

Marillac, the French Ambassador, on 25 October wrote: "The Abbot of Glastonbury. . . has lately, been put in the Tower, because, in taking the Abbey treasures, valued at 200,000 crowns, they found a written book of arguments in behalf of queen Katherine." ^[1]

As a member of the House of Lords, Whiting should have been attainted (condemned) by an Act of Parliament passed for that purpose, but his execution was an accomplished fact before Parliament met. Whiting was sent back to Glastonbury with Pollard and reached Wells on 14 November. There some sort of trial apparently took place, and he was convicted of "robbing Glastonbury church". The next day, Saturday, 15 November, he was taken to Glastonbury with two of his monks, John Thorne and Roger James, where all three were fastened upon hurdles and dragged by horses to the top of Glastonbury Tor which overlooks the town. Here they were hung, drawn and quartered, with Whiting's head being fastened over the west gate^[3] of the now deserted abbey and his limbs exposed at Wells, Bath, Ilchester and Bridgwater.^[2]

Abbot of Glastonbury

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The Abbot of Glastonbury was the head (or abbot) of Anglo-Saxon and eventually Benedictine house of Glastonbury Abbey at Glastonbury in Somerset, England. The following is a list of abbots of Glastonbury:

Abbots[edit]

Name	Dates	Works	Notes
St Benignus	?458–469		(reputed)
’Worgret’	c.601–?
’Lademund’	c.663–c.667
’Bregored’	c.667
Beorhtwald	c.667–676/7		Archbishop of Canterbury 693–731
Haemgils	676/7–701/2
Beorhtwald	701/2–709/10
Ealdberht	709/10–718/9	Church of SS Peter & Paul built by King Ine
Ecgfrith	718/19–?
Wealhstod	729		(rejected by some sources)
Coengils	?–737
Tunberht	737–?
Tyccea	754–760
Guba	760–762
Wealdhun	762–794
Beaduwulf	794–800
Muca	802–824
Guthlac	824–851
Ealhmund	851–867
Hereferth	867–891		(now thought probably to come before Ealhmund)
Stithheard	891–922
Aldhun	922–?
Cuthred
Ælfric?
Ecgwulf
St Dunstan	940–957+	Lengthened Ine's church and added a tower. Raised the level of the cemetery and constructed various monastic buildings.	later Archbishop of Canterbury[1][2]
?Ælfric	occurs after Dunstan in some lists[2]		(probably spurious)[3]
Ælfstan	occurs in some lists after Ælfric		(probably spurious)[3]
Sigar	c.970–975(?)[2]		later Bishop of Wells 975–997[2]
Ælfweard	c.975–1009[2][3]
Brihtred (Beorhtred)	1009–?[3]
Brihtwig (Brihtwine)	c. 1017–1024[3]		later Bishop of Wells[3]
Æthelweard (Aegelweard)	c.1024–1053[2]
Æthelnoth	1053–1078[3]		deposed by Lanfranc[2]
Thurstan	c.1077–after 1096[2]	Began a new church	1091. Translation of relics of St Benignus from Meare
Herluin	1100–1118[2]	Rebuilt Thurstan's church on a grander scale
Seffrid Pelochin	1120/1–1125[2]		Bishop of Chichester from 1125 to 1145
Henry of Blois	1126–1171[2]	Built a bell tower, chapter house, cloister, lavatory, refectory, dormitory, infirmary, the 'castellum', an outer gate, a brewery and stables	also Bishop of Winchester from 1129[1]
Robert of Winchester	1173–1180[2]	Built a chamber and chapel	previously Prior of Winchester[2]
Peter de Marcy		1186. New St Mary's Chapel consecrated. Work on Great Church begun.	1184 (25 May). Great Fire
Henry of Sully	1189–1193[2]		supposed tomb of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere discovered in the cemetery c. 1190[1] Later Bishop of Worcester 1193–1195[2]
Savaric FitzGeldewin	1193–1205[2]		also Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury
(Master William Pica)	(1198–1200)		(elected 1198 but election quashed 1200)[2]
Jocelin of Wells	1206–1219[4]		also Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury from 1206–1242
William of St Vigor	1219–1223[4]
Robert of Bath	1223–1235[4]		Deposed 29 March 1235[4]
Michael of Amesbury	1235–c.1252[4]	Carried work on the choir forward
Roger of Ford	1252–1261[4]		died 2 October 1261, buried at Westminster[4]
Robert of Petherton	1261–1274[4]	Built abbot's chamber	died 31 March 1274[4]
John of Taunton	1274–1291[4]	Choir completed; west end of nave and galilee built. King Arthur's remains transferred to new tomb 1278.	died 7 October 1291[4]
John of Kent	1291–1303[4]
Geoffrey Fromond	1303–1322[4]	Spent £1,000 on buildings: completed various parts of the Great Church
Walter of Taunton	1322–1323[4]	Built pulpitum at west end of choir	died 23 January 1323[4]
Adam of Sodbury	1323–1334[4]	Completed vaulting of nave of Great Church; worked on great hall and built a new chapel on the Tor	Concealed Hugh le Despenser and Robert Baldock, Lord Chancellor at the end of Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer's Overthrow of Edward II in 1326[5]
John of Breynton	1334–1342[4]	Completed abbot's great hall and worked on various other related buildings including prior's hall
Walter de Monington	1342–1375[4]	Extended choir by 40 feet, adding 2 bays. Completed abbot's chapel and infirmary. King Arthur's tomb transferred 1368.
John Chinnock (John Chynnock)	1375–1420[4]	1382. Restored chapel and rededicated it to SS Michael & Joseph; rebuilt cloisters, erected or repaired the dormitory and fratry.
Nicholas Frome	1420–1456	Finished chapter house, rebuilt misericord house and great chamber; constructed bishop's quarters and a wall around abbey precincts. Probably responsible for the abbot's kitchen.
John Selwood	1456–1493	Built parish church of St John Baptist. Erected pilgrims' inn.
Richard Beere	1493–1524	Began Edgar Chapel; built crypt under Lady Chapel and dedicated it to St Joseph; built a chapel of the Holy Sepulchre at south end of nave; built the Loretto chapel; added vaulting under central tower and flying buttresses at east end of choir; built St Benignus' Church and rebuilt Tribunal
Richard Whiting	1525–1539	Completed Edgar Chapel	Hanged on Glastonbury Tor, 15 November 1539.

Venvill “They do also present that the soil of divers moors

Venvill
“They do also present that the soil of divers moors, commons and wastes, lying for the most part about the same forest of Dartmoor and usually called by the name of the Common of Devonshire, is parcel of the Duchy of Cornwall, and that the foresters and other officers of his majesty and his progenitors Kings and Queens of England have always accustomed to drive the said commons, moors and wastes of other men (lying in like manner about the said forest) home to the corn hedges and leap yeates round about the same Common and forest, some few places only exempted, and that the said foresters and officers have taken and gathered to his majesty’s use at the times of drift within the same commons such profits and other duties as they have and ought to do within the said forest; how be it they intend not hereby to prejudice the particular rights which any persons do claim for themselves or their tenants in any commons or several grounds in or adjoining to the said common or forest, but do leave the same to judgment of the law and to the justness of their titles which they make to the same.
“More they do present that all the King’s tenants which are Venvill have accustomed and used to have and take time out of mind in and upon the forest of Dartmoor all things that may do them good, saving vert (which they take to be green oak) and venson, paying for the same their Venvill rents and other dues as hath been time out of mind accustomed, and doing their suits and service to his majesty’s courts of the manor and forest of Dartmoor aforesaid, and also excepting night rest, for the which every one of them have of long time out of mind -yearly paid or ought to pay 3 d., commonly called agrasewait, and also to have and take tyme out of mind common of pasture for all manner of beasts, sheep, cattle in and upon all the moors, wastes, and commons usually called the Common of Devonshire, and also turves, vagges, heath, stone, coal and other things according to their customs, paying nothing for the same but the rents, dues and services aforesaid, nevertheless their meaning is that the Venvill men ought not to turn or put into the said forest or common at any time or times any more or other beasts and cattle than they can or may usually winter in and upon their tenements and grounds lying within in Venvill.”
It is not always easy to determine precisely those parishes that were described as being in Venville; such parishes were said to be

Venvill

mengele "energy of an infirm person" : annual summer solstice.

mengele "energy of an infirm person" : annual summer solstice.: Solstice sunrise at Stonehenge STONEHENGE: The sun rises behind the Stonehenge monument in England, during the summer solstice shortly a...

The archaeology of antimony

The archaeology of antimony mining: a resource assessment 

In metallurgy, antimony was used in alloys for printer’s type, in the preparation of anti-friction metals and for hardening lead. It was also used as an alloy, at from 5 to 10 per cent, with tin in the production of Britannia metal. Antimony compounds were also used as a de-oxidiser and colourant in glass, pottery, pigments and dyes. From an early period antimony compounds were also used in cosmetics and for medicinal purposes, and, as such, can turn up in the archaeological record (Watson 2013, 21). A small number of mines in the 19th century and earlier, primarily in Cornwall, produced antimony concentrates as a co-product and a few were promoted with antimony as their principal product.   

Geological background The principal ore of antimony is the sulphide stibnite (Sb2S3) although the antimony-lead sulphosalt (PB4FeSb6S14) has been worked in some mines. The antimony at the Louisa Mine, in Dumfries and Galloway, is associated with stratiform arsenopyrite-pyrite mineralisation in a Silurian greywacke sequence with similarities to that in the Clontibret area, County Monaghan (Gallagher et al. 1983, 24). The latter is associated with gold, and antimony has been associated with gold mineralisation in the vicinity of Port Isaac, Cornwall. Work by Clayton and others (1990) links the antimony in that part of Cornwall to stratiform pre-granite mineralisation and whilst there has been little or no investigation of antimony mineralisation in south-east Cornwall it is probably of a similar origin (See Scrivener and Shepherd 1998 on stratiform mineralisation in general in Cornwall). In Cumbria, to the north-east of Bassenthwaite, work by Fortey and others (1984) again links the antimony to stratiform mineralisation similar to that in Dumfries and Galloway. 

Historical background Very few mines in Britain produced antimony ores in significant quantities and they appear to have been confined to Cornwall, Cumbria and parts of Scotland. Antimony mineral are reported elsewhere but with no known record of production. In Cornwall, at Wheal Leigh near Pillaton to the north-west of Saltash, antimony is said to have been worked from the late 16th century (Beer 1988, xxi). A mine or mines in the Pillaton area reportedly produced 25 tons of ore in the 1770s and over 130 tons of ore in the 1820s. Around Port Isaac in north Cornwall, and particularly in the parish of Endellion, antimony was being worked by the mid-18th century with production levels from Wheal Boys in the 1770s of around 95 tons (De La Beche 1839, 615-16). Lysons’ (1814, 194-216, citing Pryce, Mineralogia 
2 

Cornub.) noted that a works for producing regulus of antimony was set up by a Mr. Reed at Feock, close to Falmouth, and De La Beche (1839, 616) gives a date of 1778 for the works. A small number of mines in both these areas of Cornwall continued to produce small amounts of antimony ore in the second half of the 19th century (Burt et al 1987, xxxii). Small amounts of ore were also produced from mines in Cumbria, to the north-east Bassenthwaite on the western edge of the Caldbeck Fells. These were worked prior to 1816 (Lysons 1816, cxi) and again in the 1840s but information on the extent of those workings is limited. The best study of antimony mining and the processing of the ores in Britain comes from the southwest of Scotland and the working of the Louisa Mine at Glendining, in Dumfries and Galloway, and the work there can inform that which should be carried out in England. The history of the Louisa Mine, the antimony at which was first worked in 1793, was researched by McCracken (1965) at about the same period that it was examined by Charles Daniel in connection with other work in the area. Slag from the smelting process on site was analysed by Tylecote (1983), and the site was subsequently surveyed and included in the RCAHMS publication on the historic landscape of eastern Dumfrieshire (RCAHMS 1997, 276-77). 

Technological background The mining and ore preparation methods employed in working antimony ores were little different to those used in the other hard rock non-ferrous metal mining sectors. Stibnite, the antimony sulphide, had a specific gravity well below that of galena, the lead sulphide, with which it was commonly found in mixed ore deposits and could therefore be easily separate by conventional methods. Jamesonite, the antimony-lead sulphosalt, was a different matter with the lead and antimony in chemical combination, where the antimony would be separated after smelting. Smelting of antimony ores to a metallic regulus was a specialist liquation process, carried out on site at Glendining in the 1790s and described in detail in the contemporary Statistical Account of Scotland (Sinclair 1791-99, II, 525-27). The process was evidently also carried out on at least one mine in Cornwall, Pengenna, near Port Isaac, where ‘old smelting works remain at Watergate, near the adit mouth, where much slag, rich in antimony, still lies’ (Dewey 1920, 50). Processing was also carried out at Feock in Cornwall, albeit away from the mining sites (Lysons 1814, 194-216) but little detail is available and the site of the process has not been investigated. Given that the presence of antimony could be a significant contaminant in lead, hardening it to the extent that it was brittle and no longer malleable; many producers were at pains to remove it. Softening hearths where antimony and other contaminants would be removed might be found at a number of lead smelters and Gill (2001, 95-96) describes such a hearth at Old Gang, Swaledale, confusingly known as the ‘Silver House’ although, as the process involved skimming contaminants from the surface of lead maintained in a molten state, it may have been confused with the Pattinson 
3 

process for silver enrichment. There is, however, no evidence that the antimony was recovered as a marketable product. 

Infrastructure associated with antimony production There is no evidence of any elements within the infrastructure of mining in England which specifically supported the production of antimony. In Scotland, however, the settlement of Jamestown, in the parish of Westerkirk, Dumfries and Galloway, was built by the company operating the Louisa Mine in the 1790s along with an access road and bridges. The company also instituted a miners’ library in Jamestown which still survives (McCracken 1965, 143-44 and Appendix). 

Archaeological assessment There has, as yet, been no archaeological investigation of antimony mines or the preparation and smelting of antimony ores in England. The limited amount of investigation done at Glendining, in Scotland, (RCAHMS 1997, 276-77) including analysis of the slag from the smelter carried out by Tylecote (1983), with the benefit of a contemporary account of operations in the 1790s (Sinclair 179199, II, 525-27), could provide information relevant to the investigation of sites in England. 

Acknowledgements Thanks to Dave Williams and Mike Gill. 

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