Hello Janice,
There are Spences in the Grinton parish register from 1650 onwards.
I do not have a date for Spence’s Level, but 1790 to 1800 seems
likely. It was certainly not much later. It was driven onto Hazel Keld
Vein in the Underset Limestone and appears to have had limited
success.
Apart from this level, there are four ‘Spence’ Shafts at Hurst, all pre-
1782, and a Spence’s Shaft at Ellerton, dating from before 1828.
There are lots of Spences in the Melbecks census (1841-91), none in
Muker. The only Joseph is too young, so I suspect that he lived in
Healaugh or Reeth (I do not have that data yet). The following may
be your Joseph:-
Old Gang Mine - Dead Work Measurement Book
20/11/1854 Measured off Joseph Spence & Co. 4 [men] driving
durk crosscut south to Spensley’s Folly in Main Lime Wiseman’s
Level.
As regards the influence of ‘German’ miners in Pennine Mines - this
has been greatly overblown. Frankly, I think that they had little to tell
Pennine lead miners as all the fancy equipment shown by Agricola and
earlier books was not needed to work the mines there. The well
recorded venture at Keswick strikes me as being more to do with
politico-economic opportunism than serious copper production. The
Hechstetters even went to Cornwall, but seem not to have realised its
modest potential for copper.
I fancy German influence on British metal mining was greater when it
was channelled through the likes of John Taylor and Frederick Hall in
the first half of the 19th century.
Regards,
Mike Gill
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Mike Gill
President and Recorder of the NORTHERN MINE RESEARCH SOCIETY
Britain's foremost mining history society at:-
http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~RBurt/MinHistNet/NMRS.html
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