>I wrote that "I do not remember silver featuring that much" whilst Peter
Claughton wrote "As I recall, it was Hammersley's view that silver kept the
whole Mines Royal/ Lakes venture going for as long as it did when there was
no market for the copper".
>
Mike,
Are we using the same hymn sheet?
I was referring to my recollection of Hammersley's opinion in 'Technique or
Economy; the rise and decline of the early English copper industry',
Business History, XV, (1973), pp. 1-31. Having now found the paper I note
the page numbering you quote does not tie in with that publication.
However, I would not argue with the detail you supply, nor your conclusion
that -
> it is quite clear that talk of an English copper (mining) industry in
Elizabethan times is inappropriate.
As Hammersley says ('Technique or Economy', p.12) by the second decade of
the 17th century silver provided around 15 percent of income, and that was
enough of a margin to tip the scales in favour of survival. Copper mining in
the English Lakes in the late 16th / early 17th century was a speculative
venture which did not succeed. There was a ready market for any silver they
produced but they really did struggle to sell the copper on the domestic
market. The company evidently did not have the resources to take advantage
of the rising value of copper on the international market. In the 1570s,
when mining started, copper was rising towards UKP60 / ton, granted it did
fall back briefly to c. UKP43 / ton, but by 1590 was rising again, reaching
UKP80 / ton around 1610.
Peter
______________________________________________
Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599
University of Exeter - School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
(Centre for South Western Historical Studies)
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See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details.
Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/
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