affairs, between the time to which Chapple refers, and the beginning of the present century. The Introduction to the modern edition of Risdon's Survey states the metallic produce of Devon (for a period of ten years, from 1801 to 1810, inclusive,) to be as follows: Copper £ s. d. 326,612 3 63 30,000 0 0 12,874 1 6 The bulk of this produce was from the immediate vicinity of Dartmoor, from the two parishes of Mary Tavy and Tavistock; the mines in Mary Tavy having made returns equal to £204,070 19s. 11d., and those of the parish of Tavistock being equal to £129,290 12s. Old.* From this comparative statement, it will be evident that the copper mines had become by far the most productive at the period in question; but although, from the Report above quoted, it would appear that copper was raised in Devon early in the last century, it was not until the commencement of the present, that the copper mines in this county became important. These, with the tin and lead mines, continue to be worked to the present time; but from the same authority we learn that little lead is now produced, in the western mining districts, only about 140 tons having been raised in 1835, from the Devon and Cornish mines together. The following historical notices are collected from De la Beche's Report, as an authority on which the fullest reliance may be placed. "After being smelted, the tin has for more than six centuries paid a tax to the earls and dukes of Cornwall. Having been cast into blocks, it was taken to the respective towns already enumerated,-examined by the duchy officers, stamped, when found to be of proper quality, with the duchy seal,-and the dues being paid, the blocks were then permitted to be sold. In the sixteenth century the coinages, as they are called, took place only twice a year, about Midsummer and Michaelmas, but afterwards, became quarterly. According to the the charter of Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, the tin paid a duty of a halfpenny for every pound weight, when coined. In the reign of Edward I., the duty was fixed at four shillings for every hundred weight of coined tin, at which amount it has since continued. The duchy dues upon the tin coined in Devon, have been long less than those imposed upon that of Cornwall, having been only at the rate of 1s. 6d. per cwt. By an act of William IV., (16th August, 1836,) the duties payable on the coinage of tin in Devon and Cornwall were abolished, and a compensation in lieu of them granted to the duchy, and fixed at 15s. per cwt. for tin, and at 10s. for tin ore. "In 1213, the duty on tin, payable to the Earl of Cornwall, was farmed for 200 marks for Cornwall, and £200 for Devon, by which it is evident that the mines of the latter county were then the more Introduction to RISDON's Survey, p. 22. valuable. In 1337, the year in which the Black Prince was created Duke of Cornwall, the profits of the coinage of Devon were £273 19s. 5 d. In 1471, the quantity of tin raised was 242,624lbs., the profits of the duchy in our county being £190 17s. 11 d., at the rate of 1s. 6d. per cwt. In 1479 the amount of the coinage dues was £166 9s. 5 d. In 1524, 424 tinners of Devon paid, in addition to the coinage, 8d. per annum for white rent to the duchy. In 1602, (44, Eliz.,) the tin coinage amounted to £102 17s. 9 d. The annual amount of tin raised in both counties, in the reigns of James I. and Charles I., is given from 1400 to 1600 tons, but the proportion for Devon, is not specified. In the time of Charles II., the tin revenues were much reduced, probably owing to the disturbances of the great rebellion. Accordingly, in more tranquil times, under Queen Anne and George I., they had again risen to about 1600 tons in the whole duchy. About 1742, the average produce for several years is reported at about 2100 tons. At the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, the tin revenues of the duchy are stated at about £9620 per annum; in 1814, about £8500, and in 1820, about £11,125. From that year, to the abolition of the coinage in 1838, the average has been commonly estimated at between £11,000 and £12,000 for the whole duchy." Any attempt to enter more in detail into the present state of mining operations, and the metallic products of the Forest and its precincts, is rendered unnecessary by the comprehensive view of the Geology of Dartmoor (see Appendix, No. I.) which Dr. E. Moore has kindly contributed, in addition to his valuable papers on the Botany and Zoology of the moorland district, and for which the best acknowledgments of the author, are gladly and gratefully tendered. COPY OF THE CHARTER GRANTED BY KING JOHN, A.D. 1201. JOHANNES, Dei gratia, Rex Angliæ, &c. Sciatis nos concessisse quod omnes stammatores nostri in Cornubia et Devonia sint liberi et quieti de placitis nativorum, dum operantur ad commodum firmæ nostræ vel commodum marcarum novi redditus nostri qui stammariæ sunt nostra dominica. Et quod possint omni tempore libere et quiete absque alicujus hominis vexatione fodere stammum et turbas ad stammum fundendum ubique in moris et feodis Episcoporum et Abbatum comitatuum sicut solebant et consueverunt et emere buscam ad funturam stammi sine vasto in regardis forestarum et divertere aquas ad operationem eorum in stammariis sicut de antiqua consuetudine consueverunt. Et quod non recedant ab operationibus suis pro alicujus summonitione nisi per summonitionem capitalis custodis stammariarum vel baillirorum ejus. Concessimus etiam quod capitalis custos stamma riarum et bailivi ejus per eum habent super prædictos stammatores plenariam potestatem ad eos justificandos et ad rectum producendos et quod ab eis in carceribus nostris recipiantur si contigerit quod aliquis prædictorum stammatorum debeat capi vel incarcerari pro aliquo retto. Et si contigerit quod aliquis eorum fuerit fugitivus vel udlugatus quod catalla eorum nobis reddantur per manum custodis stammariarum nostrarum, quia stammatores firmarii nostri sunt et semper in debito nostro. Præterea concessimus thesaurariis et ponderatoribus nostris ut sint fideliores et intentiores ad utilitatem nostram in receptione et custodia thesauri nostri per villas marcandas quod sint quieti in villis ubi manent de auxiliis et taillagiis dum fuerint in servitio nostra thesaurarii et ponderatores nostri quia nihil habent aliud vel habere possunt per annum pro prædicto servitio nostro. Testibus Wilielmo Comite Sarresburiæ, Petro de Stokes, Warino filio Geroldi. Data per manum S. Wellensis Archidiaconi apud Bonam Villam Super Tokam vicesimo nono die Octobris anno regni nostri tertio. APPENDIX, No. VII. DARTMOOR PRISON OF WAR. BY THE AUTHOR. FEW circumstances having had greater influence upon the present condition of the moor than the formation, about forty years since, of an extensive depot for prisoners of war, in the centre of the Western Quarter, a sketch of that important national establishment, unique in its character, and remarkable for its situation, may be fitly appended in this place. When the first decisive check had been given by the illustrious Nelson, at Trafalgar, to the whirlwind career and gigantic designs of Napoleon,-when, under the righteous retribution of the Almighty, France was to experience, in her turn, the reverses of defeat, and the miseries of war, which she had so long inflicted upon other countries, when the tide of victory gradually rolled back, and England numbered the captives of her prowess by thousands,—it became necessary to provide ampler accommodation for the unfortunate exiles, than could be afforded in the crowded and unhealthy buildings or prison-ships, appropriated for that purpose at Plymouth. The late Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, who held the office of Lord Warden of the Stannaries, under the Prince of Wales, (George IV.,) and who had already distinguished himself as one of the earliest and most successful cultivators of Dartmoor, by his improvements at Tor Royal, suggested the erection of the necessary buildings, at a spot about a mile from the scene of his own agricultural enterprise. Surveys were accordingly made by order of government, and the result of the investigation entered into was so favourable, that the spot recommended was decided upon, as the site of a war-prison establishment, on a scale suited to the exigencies of the case, and worthy of the humanity and renown of Great Britain. The ground required for the site was liberally granted by the Prince, as Duke of Cornwall, and Lord of the Forest of Dartmoor. The foundation-stone was laid by the Lord Warden, on the 20th of March, 1806, and the buildings were speedily raised after the design, and under the superintendence of, Mr. D. Alexander, architect. The following details are selected from the compendious account given by the late Mr. Burt, in his notes to Carrington's Dartmoor, and from a statement published about the time of the erection of the prison, in the new edition of Risdon's Survey of Devon, personal observation, and other sources. "Granite taken from the moor," says Mr. Burt, "is the principal material; and the whole, including some later additions, cost about £127,000. Two of the prisons, a row of houses for subordinate officers, the walls of the chapel, and the parsonage-house, were erected by the French, and the interior of the chapel fitted up by American prisoners, who received a daily gratuity for their trouble; government, with a sympathy for these unhappy victims of ruthless war, which deserves the highest praise, kindly permitting them by this, and other modes of employment, both in and out of the walls, to alleviate the tedium of their captivity, and increase their private comforts."* The author of the Additions to Risdon, published in 1811, gives the following compendious description of Dartmoor Prison, which had then been lately completed. It is probably the finest thing of its kind. "An outer-wall encloses a circle of about thirty acres; within this is another wall, which encloses the area in which the prisons stand. This area is a smaller circle with the segment cut off. The prisons are five rectangular buildings, each capable of containing more than fifteen hundred men ;† they have each two floors, where is arranged a double tier of hammocks, slung on cast-iron pillars; and a third floor in the roof, which is used as a promenade in wet weather. There are, besides, two other spacious buildings; one, which is a large hospital, and the other is appropriated to the petty officers, who are judiciously separated from the men. In the area, likewise, are sheds, or open buildings, for recreation in bad weather. The space between the walls forms a fine military road round the whole, where the guard parades, and the centinels being posted on platforms overlooking the inner-wall, have a complete command of the prison without intermixing with the prisoners. The segment, cut off from the inner circle, contains the governor's house, and the other buildings necessary for the civil establishment; and into this part of the ground the country people are admitted, who resort to a daily market with vegetables, and such other things, as the prisoners purchase, to add to the fare that is provided for them, and which they buy at lower rates, than they can generally be procured for, at the market towns. The barracks for the troops form a detached building, and are distant from the prison, above a quarter of a mile. The number of prisoners that have been lodged here, has been from five to seven thousand, § and CARRINGTON's Dartmoor, p. 140. + Considerably more. See note below. Nearly a mile in length. § Subsequently as many as 9,600 were congregated within the walls at one time. |