Dear Colleagues

I just happen to be reading South Crofty, A History by J A Buckley, revised 1997, page 13.
He writes, "Of no less significance was the introduction in the late 1680's of gunpowder. Thomas Epsley was brought from Somerset by the Godolphins to teach the miners at Breage and Germoe the art of "shooting the rocks". He arrived at Breage in June 1689, and by December of that year he was killed at the mine, apparently as a result of a gunpowder explosion. Although his death underlined the dangers of blasting, the great value of the new technique was not lost on the miners throughout West Cornwall, and the practice soon spread to the mines at Pool (Breage Burial Registers 1689)."

Kind regards
Gavin Bowyer



In a message dated 20/02/2011 GMT Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes:
Hi there, 

I will quote a paragraph from Vol. 1 page 12 of Jim Rieuwert's opus on 
Derbyshire Mining (published in 2007) 

"The major development in rock breakage in the 17th century involved the use 
of gunpowder blasting. Definitely in use in 1672 at the Ecton Mines, 
Staffordshire, and shortly afterwards in the Earl of Rutland's Haddon mines 
[Belvoir], there is very strong circumstantial evidence for its use a decade 
earlier during 1662-1663 in driving Longe Sough, or Cromford Sough. Ralph 
Greatorex, a Derbyshire-born engineer and scientist appears to allude to the 
boring of shot holes in limestone and churt(sic) in the mid to late 1660's, 
possibly those at Longe Sough, where his brother John was a partner [Royal 
Society, Boyle papers]." 

My observation would be - 

Roger Bacon noted down the composition of gunpowder some time around 1250 
AD, and firearms were is use at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 AD - 
why did it take miners so long to adapt its use for blasting? 

Cheers, Dave Williams 

-----Original Message----- 
From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of 
Richard Vandewetering 
Sent: 20 February 2011 16:29 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Subject: Re: 18th c. gunpowder suppliers for mining in Wales and Cornwall 

Dear colleagues 
an article by Brenda Buchanan "The Africa Trade and the Bristol Gunpowder 
Industry" in "Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological 
Society"(Vol 118, 2000 pp 133-156) 
1. identifies a source favourably located to serve both Wales and the West 
Country. 
2. pp. 140-1 suggests that the first known use for "blast powder" in mining 
was at the Ecton copper mines in Staffordshire in the 1660s, with evidence 
that it was used in Mendip lead mining in the 1680s.  It was used in coal 
mines in north Smoerset in 1719, and elsewhere in the 1730s. 
Yours Richard VandeWetering 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: M J Shaw <[log in to unmask]> 
Date: Monday, February 7, 2011 6:11 am 
Subject: Re: 18th c. gunpowder suppliers for mining in Wales and Cornwall 
To: [log in to unmask] 

> Hi, 
> I can't add very much but according to Lewis W J, Lead Mining in 
> Wales, University of Wales, Cardiff, 1967 Chirk and Powis 
> manuscripts note that in 1692 Carreghofa mine was reopened on 
> instructions from Sir R Middleton using gunpowder, its first use 
> in a lead mine in Wales if not in Britain. 
> I also understand from a historian researching the Civil War in 
> Shropshire that Shrewsbury had a Royalist gunpowder factory for 
> a short time in the early 1640s which could perhaps have led to 
> either technology or powder itself getting into Wales. 
> Mike Shaw