Swanzey should be debarred of seeking those advantages which their situation entitled them to." There was a farsightedness about this, which was greatly to the credit of the ducal agent of the day, paralleled only by that of the late Mr. F. P. Hooper in the same capacity, when forcing on the Floating accommodation of later years in the Port of Swansea. Though no part of Dr. Lane's Works remain above ground, I am informed that at the present Landore Tin-plate Works, and in the ground all around, even now, when cutting below the surfaces, the workmen constantly have to drive through large deposits of the well-known "Copper Slag," the out-throw of those old works. 66 Touching these establishments, Mr. W. Edmond was good enough to hand me the following memorandum, given him by a friend some years since, at Clase, but whence the authority for the dates was obtained by that gentleman he was unable to say: Copper Works were erected at Bank-y-Gockus,† at Swansea, in 1719; were removed soon afterwards to Landore; they passed into the hands of Lockwood, Morris & Co., in 1727, and later in the same year were removed up to the then New works at " Forest." In 1747 an assay office was built there, and is still in existence, as well as an underground canal (also still open) through which the coal was brought for use into the Works." Mr. S. C. Hall, in his "Book of South Wales," copies the following interesting matter, as he states, from an old Swansea Guide Book : "It is known that the art of making copper was anciently practised in Great Britain, yet it was certainly from the reign of Queen Elizabeth that it was attempted to be revived by Sir Clement Clark in Cornwall [about * At p. 43 of "Windham's Tour in Wales," 8vo., 1775, that author says:- Swansea makes a handsome appearance from the approach to it, being built at the mouth of the Tawey, on a semicircular bank above it. The Town is populous and the streets are wide: it carries on a considerable trade in coals, pottery and copper. A large Copper Work is constantly smoking in view of the Town, and another still larger employs many hands a few miles up the river towards Neath." "The plenty of Coal in this neighbourhood and its convenience of export have caused the preference for this locality.” * * + Bank-y-Gockus, I suspect to have been the spot on which the works of Dr. Lane were built in 1717, or possibly, some place near by, where the first trials and Copper Slags were made, about [? date], where he built some furnaces ; * but finding the price of Coal too high in that country to make copper profitably, he removed his project to the river side Hotwells, near Bristol. Sir Clement soon failed, but having employed Mr. Coster and Mr. Wayne as managers, the latter, in conjunction with Sir Abraham Elton, erected a Copper Works at Screws' Hole near Bristol, where they soon made a profit of £60,000. Mr. Coster, however, erected his Work at Red Brook, in Glostershire, on the side of the river Wye, although by no means a good situation; yet by buying ore in Cornwall at a very low price (it being at that time thrown aside by the miners in working for Tin as good for little or nothing, under the name of Poder), he soon also greatly improved his fortune. After his death his sons joined the Brass Wire Company,† of Bristol, (under Messrs. Harford & Co.) considering that to be a better situation than Red Brook; though Mr. Chambers, of London, (now under the name, by charter, of the English Copper Company) thought proper to make erections on the Wye, but which were afterwards removed to Taibach, beyond Neath. About the years 1700 Sir Humphrey Mackworth, with a Company calling themselves "The Mine Adventurers," erected premises for smelting Copper at Mellyn-gry-than, nr. Gnoll, Neath; and about the same time Mr. Pollard, who held considerable Copper Mines upon his estate in Cornwall, in conjunction with his son-in-law, Dr. Lane, erected Works where the old Cambrian Pottery‡ is now carried on near Swansea, and subsequently at Landore; but he having failed, as many others did at the period of the South-Sea bubble, these works were purchased by Richard Lockwood, Edward Gibbon (the grandfather of the great historian), and Robert Morris, Esq., father of the first Sir John Morris, Bart.; by whom and other immediate representatives they were carried on for nearly a century, together with very extensive Collieries, the consequence of which connection very rapidly led to the improvement of Swansea Town and its commerce." In addition to the foregoing works, I find that one Wm. Wood, a proprietor of Iron and Copper Works, obtained a Patent in 1720, to coin half-pence and farthings for Ireland. The Mint at that time paid is. 6d. a lb. for prepared Copper, and the charge for coinage was 4d. a lb. ; while the duties and allowances on Copper imported into Ireland were 20 pr. ct. The Copper used by Wood for his beautiful coins was manu Mr. Keates says:-"The Bristol Brass and Copper Co. bought ores "also as Harfords & Co., Harfords and Bristol Brass Co., and also as "Brass Wire Co. Mr. John Bevan of Morriston, was their last smelting "manager." In my Report on the Estate of the Corporation, 8vo., 1851, p. 1, an extract from the Cambrian Pottery Lease runs thus::-"The Pottery, being part of the premises formerly called the old Copper Works."—G. G. F. That this is a mistake has been made pretty clear by the evidence contained in the earlier series of letters in these pages. factured at the Neath-Abbey Works, until the stupid Irish people urged on by the Drapier's letters, politically written by Swift against the Government of the day, refused in 1724 to accept them in lawful tender, and the unfortunate Patentee was threatened to be "scalded to death in his own melting "Copper and then hanged"!* Reading my proof of this page and the "Times" of the day (May, 1881), I am horrified to observe that IRELAND is once more resorting to similar political cruelties in roasting no less than three bailiffs alive, under the wretched Land League system of Parnell and Davitt, now actively displacing common sense and its ordinary practices! There is also an interesting foot-note at p. 339 of Mr. S. C. Hall's work on South Wales, giving an account of the export of copper ores from Ireland to the Swansea centre of manufacture by Col. Hall, that author's father. For the sake of continuous history however, we must now return to THE COPPER WORKS AT TAIBACH, Which I have shown were erected in 1727. But it is not certain when the original builders, Newton & Cartwright, had the first lease of the Collieries at the rear of Taibach, (now held by Mr. Shaw of Cwmavan,† and Messrs. Vivian: it is supposed that they assigned their lease to the English Copper Co. and left Aberavon), but it is not accurately known when "The Governor and Company of Copper Miners in England "§ vacated Redbrook || and commenced smelting in Glamorganshire; be * Vide a notice of this in Ch. Knight's "England," vol. vi., pp. 51, 52, where also are to be seen wood-cuts of the 3 coins of Geo. I. † Whose concern is called "The Gov. and Co. of Copper Miners Successors," Cwmavan. Oldisworth, says :-" Aberavon is become of more note since the establishment of the great Copper Works, which belong to the Bristol Company, see 1st Swansea Guide, 1802, p. 67. § More commonly known at present as the "English Copper Company." A view of these works, as they now exist there, may be seen in Hall's South Wales, p. 105. G. G. F. that as it may, when they did arrive they existed and dealt as a Company under the powers of a special Grant from the Crown. To William and Mary they were indebted for a Charter, dated 3rd of August, 1691, the preamble and details of which I shall now give in abstract to save both time and space. THE GOVERNOR & COMPANY INCORPORATED BY WILLIAM AND MARY. Setting out with a Preamble Of which the recital states That, "Whereas great quantities of Copper ore are found in divers parts of this our kingdom, which, for want of skilful artists to refine and purify the same, is totally neglected and unimproved, to the great loss and detriment of this our kingdom in general, vast sums of money being yearly remitted to foreign parts to pay for the said commodity, and whereas our trusty and well-beloved subjects Sir Joseph Hern, Knight, John Briseve, Francis Tyson, Esquires, Samuel Howard and Richard Munford, of London, Merchants, have set forth that they have formed out several furnaces, engines, and other ways methods and inventions for the more easy and effectual melting down, refining, and purifying the same, that have not hitherto been used or practised in these our Dominions by any other of our subjects. And whereas they have most humbly besought us to incorporate them and divers others hereinafter mentioned to manage and carry on the same by a Joint-Stock." Now know ye, &c., that, By the name of the Governor and Company of Copper Miners in England they shall be a body Corporate. To continue for ever and to have perpetual succession by the same name. May purchase and hold lands not exceeding £6,000 a-year in value; may dispose of any; and may plead and be impleaded in any Court May have a Common Seal, and alter the same. A Governor and Deputy-Governor and Assistants to be chosen. Power to keep a Court (of management) in London or elsewhere. Seven or more Assistants with Governor or Deputy-Governor to make a Court. Power in them to appoint Officers, and make Bye-Laws, and then to alter or annul as they see fit. Power to inflict penalties, but said penalties to be recovered by action of debt only, and to be for the Company's use. Power to appoint Sub-Committees, and summon Members to the Court, Governor, Deputy-Governor and Assistants to be chosen yearly on 29th Sept., or within 14 days. |