The German mines at Caldbeck were part of the operations of the Company of Mines Royal in Caldbeck, which introduced German miners from modern day Austria and Bavaria into the Lake District in 1563, though earlier works in the area are thought to have been begun in the 1300s. [1] [2] The importance of the operation lies in its historical significance as the first large-scale copper mining and smelting operation in the British Islands which was well-documented. New smelting techniques were introduced which were allowed the treatment of argentiferous copper sulphide ores and the more complex lead-copper-silver ores from Caldbeck.
Mining started at Caldbeck in June 1566 but was soon discontinued and was not resumed until 1568, when work continued under the supervision of the Hochstetter family until around 1630, and then was not resumed until around 1695. One of the German miners Cornelius de Vos left to set up gold mines in Scotland.
In July 1594 Emanuel Hochstetter sent Steffan Mur, who managed stamping mills to process the ore at Caldbeck and Newlands, to Nicholas Williamson at Sheffield, a steward of the Earl of Shrewsbury. Williamson had relations at Millbeck in Underskiddaw. [3] Steffan Mur married a woman from Keswick, Isobel Wood, and their family is documented. [4]
George Bowes and Francis Nedham (a son of George Nedham or Needham) reported on the state of the mines in 1602. [5] [6] Robert Bowes was killed in an accident in the mines in 1610.
The identity of the principal copper mines near Keswick and Coniston has long been known, but the locations of the Caldbeck mines have not. The lead-copper mines at Roughtengill have been considered to be the most probable candidates. However, recent fieldwork combined with records from archives has allowed identification of the principal mines. [7]
Keswick is a market town and civil parish in the Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. Historically, until 1974, it was part of the county of Cumberland. It lies within the Lake District National Park, just north of Derwentwater and four miles from Bassenthwaite Lake. The parish had a population of 5,243 at the 2011 census.
Coniston Water is a lake in the Lake District in North West England. It is the third largest by volume, after Windermere and Ullswater, and the fifth-largest by area. The lake has a length of 8.7 kilometres, a maximum width of 730 metres (800 yd), and a maximum depth of 56.1 m. Its outflow is the River Crake, which drains into Morecambe Bay via the estuary of the River Leven. The lake is in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, and the ceremonial county of Cumbria.
Joachim Gans was a Bohemian mining expert, renowned for being the first Jew in North America.
Cleator Moor is a town and civil parish in Cumbria, England, within the historic county of Cumberland. It had a population of 6,936 at the 2011 census.
The Society of the Mines Royal was one of two English mining monopoly companies incorporated by royal charter in 1568, the other being the Company of Mineral and Battery Works.
Sasco is a ghost town located in Pinal County, Arizona, west of Red Rock. Sasco, which is an acronym for the Southern Arizona Smelter Company, was a company town with a large smelter that served several mines. Once an impressive and little-known ghost town, today Sasco is a common sporting destination with shotgun shells, airsoft bb's, paintball splatter, and litter in the area.
Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Co. was established by charter to operate in the Boundary region of southern British Columbia. Primarily involved in the mining and smelting of copper, the conglomerate became a publicly traded company. The various corporate operating names within the former group mostly specified the Granby identity.
Falun Mine was a mine in Falun, Sweden, that operated for a millennium from the 10th century to 1992. It produced as much as two-thirds of Europe's copper needs and helped fund many of Sweden's wars in the 17th century. Technological developments at the mine had a profound influence on mining globally for two centuries. The mine is now a museum and in 2001 was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Underskiddaw is a civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in the English county of Cumbria. The parish lies immediately to the north of the town of Keswick, and includes the southern and eastern flanks of Skiddaw as well as part of the valley of the rivers Greta and Derwent, and a small part of Bassenthwaite Lake. The parish includes the settlements of Applethwaite, Millbeck and Ormathwaite, all of which lie along the line where the southern slopes of Skiddaw meet the valley.
Little Langdale is a valley in the Lake District, England, containing Little Langdale Tarn and a hamlet also called Little Langdale. A second tarn, Blea Tarn, is in a hanging valley between Little Langdale and the larger Great Langdale to the north. Little Langdale is flanked on the south and southwest by Wetherlam and Swirl How, and to the north and northwest by Lingmoor Fell and Pike of Blisco. The valley descends to join with Great Langdale above Elter Water.
Greenside Mine was a successful lead mine in the Lake District of England. Between 1825 and 1961 the mine produced 156,000 long tons of lead and 1,600,000 ounces of silver, from around 2 million tons of ore. During the 1940s it was the largest producer of lead ore in the UK. Unusually for a 19th-century metalliferous mine in Britain there are very full records of its activities, dating back to 1825.
The Coniston copper mines were a copper mining operation in Lancashire, England. It was functional for hundreds of years in Coppermines Valley above Coniston Water. Today there are industrial remains of the industry and the Coniston Coppermines Youth Hostel is based in the old manager's building.
The geology of England's Lake District is dominated by sedimentary and volcanic rocks of mainly Ordovician age underpinned by large granitic intrusions. Younger sedimentary sequences outcrop on the edges of the Lake District area, with Silurian to the south, Carboniferous to the north, east, and west and Permo-Triassic to the west and east. The entire area was covered by a Mesozoic sequence that was eroded off during the Paleogene uplift related to the opening of the North Atlantic. During the Quaternary the area was affected by repeated glaciations, which sculpted the current mountainous landscape.
Cornelius de Vos or de Vois or Devosse, was a Dutch or Flemish mine entrepreneur and mineral prospector working in England and Scotland. He was said to have been a "picture-maker" or portrait artist. De Vos is known for gold mining in Scotland and founding saltworks at Newhaven near Edinburgh.
The Copper Basin, also known as the Ducktown Basin, is a geological region located primarily in Polk County, Tennessee, that contains deposits of copper ore and covers approximately 60,000 acres. Located in the southeastern corner of Tennessee, small portions of the basin extend into Fannin County, Georgia, and Cherokee County, North Carolina. The basin is surrounded by the Cherokee National Forest, and the cities of Ducktown and Copperhill, Tennessee, and McCaysville, Georgia are located in the basin.
George Bowes was an English prospector. He mined for gold in Scotland.
Gold has been mined in Scotland for centuries. There was a short-lived gold rush in 1852 at Auchtermuchty and Kinnesswood, and another in 1869 at Baile An Or on the Kildonan burn in Helmsdale in Sutherland. There have been several attempts to run commercial mines. In the Lowther Hills, Leadhills, and Wanlockhead areas gold prospecting and the extraction of lead metal went hand in hand. From 1424, under the Royal Mines Act, until 1592, gold and silver mined in Scotland were deemed to belong to the crown. The 1592 Act vested rights for gold, silver, lead, copper, tin, and other minerals in the king's feudal tenants or other leaseholders, who would pay 10% of any profit to the crown. The Act also established a Master of Metals as a crown officer, a position held from June 1592 by Lord Menmuir. followed by Thomas Hamilton of Monkland in March 1607.
Richard Dudley of Yanwath (1518–1593) was an English landowner involved in copper and silver mines in the north of England from 1570 onwards.
Thomas Thurland was Master of the Savoy Hospital in London and a mining entrepreneur. His family was from Nottinghamshire.
George Nedham or Needham was an English entrepreneur and prospector associated with copper mining at Keswick in Cumbria.