At 20:56 24/12/2010, Mike Gill wrote:
>It's also an interesting example of sticking to an old interpretation
That's what I like Mike - you're thinking outside the box.
>The closeness of the date of Heath's death in Yorkshire to that of
>Humphrey's bill of complaint suggests (at least) two other viable (not
>necessarily correct, of course) options:-
>
>1. A direct transfer by Heath from Staffordshire.
>2. Contrary to the established model, the first smelt mills using ore
>hearths outside Somerset were not in Derbyshire.
>
>You also assume that the mill Heath was building in Wensleydale was
>Yorkshire's first. A map in the Brotherton Library, at Leeds, shows
>that there was an 'old mill' at Hurst by the end of the C16th.
I made the 'assumption' , based on the research done by David
Kiernan, that the new, ore-hearth, technology progressed north. It
certainly appears to have taken until the mid 1580s to reach north
Devon but that was down to the individual involved. Once the economic
value of the ore-hearth was known there was the incentive for its
dissemination although Kiernan does provide examples of reticence in
Derbyshire in the face of the threat of litigation. So there is no
reason why it should not have made a direct transition to Yorkshire.
Mind you, who's to say that the 'old mill' at Hurst was working on
the ore-hearth principle? There are references in Swaledale wills to
'lead sand' (finely crushed lead ore? ) in the mid 16th century which
would have to be processed by some form of bellows blown
(water-powered?) smelting technique prior to the introduction of the
ore-hearth.
Peter
Dr Peter Claughton,
Blaenpant Morfil, nr. Rosebush, Clynderwen, Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. +44 (0)1437 532578; Fax. +44 (0)1437 532921; Mobile +44 (0)7831 427599
Hon. University Fellow - College of Humanities, University of Exeter
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