Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-03T09:17:00.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social Conflict and Change in the Mining Communities of North-West Derbyshire, c. 1600–1700

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2009

Andy Wood
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Increased demand for lead on both domestic and international markets spurred on technological and organizational innovation in Derbyshire's lead mining industry. Population expanded due to immigration into the mining areas, and problems of poverty and proletarianization were created as the traditional small producers were marginalized by new capitalized mineworkings owned by aristocrats, merchants and gentlemen. Social conflict intensified over the ownership of mining rights; in particular, this dispute revolved around popular and élite notions of property and legality. This conflict engendered new forms of popular resistance and provides evidence of a language of class in the seventeenth century. The eighteenth century saw the marginalization of the independent free miner, but memories of lost liberties conditioned the class consciousness of Derbyshire's new working class at the end of the century.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of Social History , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , April 1993 , pp. 31 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1993

References

1 See, for example, Sharpe, J. A., Crime in Seventeenth-Century England (Cambridge, 1983)Google Scholar, Wrightson, K. E., English Society, 1580–1680 (London, 1982)Google Scholar, Houlbrookc, R. A.The English Family, 1450–1700 (London, 1984)Google Scholar, Manning, R. B., Village Revolts: Social Protest and Popular Disturbance in England, 1509–1640 (Oxford, 1988)Google Scholar, Macfarlane, A., Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England (London, 1970)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Reay, B. (ed.). Popular Culture in Seventeenth-Century England (London, 1985).Google Scholar

2 This is less the case as regards European industrialization in the early modern period; see, for instance, Braun, R., Industrialisation and Everyday Life (Cambridge, 1990)CrossRefGoogle Scholar and the extensive literature generated by the proto-industrialization debate.

3 See, for example, the scant attention given to social matters in Clay, C. G. A., Economic Expansion and Social Change: England 1500–1700, 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1984).Google Scholar

4 There are, of course, significant exceptions: for example, Wrightson, , English SocietyGoogle Scholar, Rule, J., The Vital Century: England's Developing Economy, 1714–1815Google Scholar and Albion's People: English Society, 1714–1815 (both London, 1992)Google Scholar, and the various contributions in Aston, T. H. and Philpin, C. H. E. (eds.), The Brenner Debate: Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-Industrial Europe (Cambridge, 1985).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 An important exception is Levine, D. and Wrightson, K., The Making of an Industrial Society: Whickham, 1560–1765 (Oxford, 1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 This was particularly the case as regards metal mines. Clay, , Economic Expansion, II, pp. 57–58Google Scholar; Coleman, D. C., The Economy of England, 1450–1750 (Oxford, 1977), p. 87.Google Scholar

7 See various articles in the BPDMHS, especially Rieuwerts, J. H., “The History of Odin Mine”, 6 04 1976Google Scholar; Flindall, R. and Hayes, A., “Notes on Some Early Techniques”, 6 02 1975Google Scholar; Flindall, R., “Lead Mining in Cromford 1698–1714”, 5 02 1975Google Scholar; also Rieuwerts, J. H., “A Technological History of the Drainage of the Derbyshire Lead Mines”, unpub. Ph.D. thesis (Leicester University, 1982)Google Scholar; Blanchard, I. S. W., “Economic Change in Derbyshire in the Late Middle Ages”, unpub. thesis (London University, 1967)Google Scholar; Kiernan, D., The Derbyshire Lead Industry in the Sixteenth Century (Derbyshire Record Society, 1989)Google Scholar. Abbreviations used in the footnotes are given at the end of the article.

8 Various works make passing reference to social change in the Derbyshire mining areas; see, for example, Hill, C., Reformation to Industrial Revolution (London, 1976), p. 172Google Scholar; Thirsk, J., “Industries in the Countryside” in Fisher, F. J. (ed.), Essays in the Economic and Social History of Tudor and Stuart England (Cambridge, 1961), p. 73Google Scholar. The only published piece of research which deals directly with social change in north-west Derbyshire in the early modern period is Dias, J. R., “Lead, Society and Politics in Derbyshire before the Civil War”, Midland History, 6 (1981)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Dias' essay is unreliable at points, and its treatment of social and economic matters is cursory.

9 For a recent study of social conflict over custom in a largely agrarian context, see Thompson, E. P., “Custom, Law and Common Right”, in Customs in Common (London, 1991)Google Scholar. In a later industrial context, sec Fisher, C., Custom, Work and Market Capitalism: The Forest of Dean Colliers 1788–1888 (London, 1981).Google Scholar

10 Kiernan, , Lead Industry, pp. 1–2, 85–118Google Scholar; PRO SP29/433/31; PRO SP14/109/164; PRO SP16/341/130; Clay, , Economic Expansion, pp. 57–58.Google Scholar

11 PRO E101/280/18.

12 Blanchard, I. S. W., “Labour Productivity and Work Psychology in the English Mining Industry, 1400–1600”, Economic History Review, 31, 1978CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kiernan, , Lead Industry, pp. 3–39Google Scholar; France, R. Sharpe (ed.), “The Thieveley Lead Mines 1629–35”, Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society 102, (1947), pp. 7, 24Google Scholar; PRO DL41/17/19.

13 PRO DL41/17/19; PRO E134/4 Chas I/Mich 33; E134/3 Jas II/East 15; PRO E134/2 Jas II/Mich 21; PRO DL4/75/10; PRO DL4/124/1686/7.

14 SRO Bag.C.3508; SRO OD 1495; ORO D258/31/58; PRO RGO/33.

15 PRO E101/280/18.

16 For two exceptions see BL Add. Mss. 64908 fo. 134; PRO DL4/103/18.

17 France, Sharp, “Thieveley Lead Mines”, p. 94.Google Scholar

18 Manlove, E., “Customs of the Lead Mines”, 1653Google Scholar, repr. Skcat, W. W. (ed.), Reprinted Glossaries 1873, p. 16.Google Scholar

19 Daniel, M. “The Origin of the Barmote Court System: A New Theory”, BPDMHS, 8/3 (1982)Google Scholar; SRO Bag.C.550; BL Add. Mss. 6681 fos. 189–191, 201–205.

20 Sharp, B., In Contempt of All Authority: Rural Artisans and Riot in the West of England, 1586–1660 (Berkeley, 1980), pp. 190–219Google Scholar; Jenkin, A. K. Hamilton, The Cornish Miner: An Account of his Life Above and Underground from Early Times (London, 1927; 1962 edn.), pp. 122–170Google Scholar; “Western Circuit Assize Orders 1629–48”, Camden Society, 4th Ser. 17, pp. 52–53.Google Scholar

21 See, for example, the comments made on mining law in SRO Bag.C.3438.

22 Kiernan, , Lead Industry, pp. 40–85, 164–191.Google Scholar

23 BL Add. Mss. 6686 fos. 114–116; France, Sharp, “Thieveley Lead Mines”, pp. 15. 19Google Scholar; PRO C2/Jas I/M13/61; E134/4 Chas I/Mich 33.

14 PRO SP16/193/29.

25 PRO SP16/405/Pt. 2.

26 Edwards, D. G. (ed.), Derbyshire Hearth Tax Assessments, Derbyshire Record Society, 7 (1982)Google Scholar; SRO BM 80; Thirsk, J. (ed.), The Agrarian History of England and Wales Vol.V.i. 1640–1750 Regional Farming Systems (Cambridge, 1984), ch. 5.Google Scholar

27 Manlove, , “Customs”, p. 16Google Scholar; Houghton, T., Rara Avis in Terris, or the Compleat Miner (1681).Google Scholar

28 Riden, P., “The Population of Derbyshire in 1563”, DAJ, 98 (1978).Google Scholar

29 PRO DL4/62/19.

30 PRO STAC8/226/27; PRO DL4/62/19; PRO DL5/27 fos. 183, 196, 485–486, 674, 1019–1020; PRO DL5/28 fos. 47, 58–59.

31 PRO E101/280/18; PRO SP16/405 Pt. 2.

32 Edwards, , Hearth Tax Assessments.Google Scholar

33 SRO Bag.C.549(3); Kiernan, , Lead Industry, p. 14.Google Scholar

34 Carr, J. P., “Open-Field Agriculture in Mid-Derbyshire”, DAJ, 83 (1963), p. 71.Google Scholar

35 PRO E101/280/18.

36 PRO E101/280/18; PRO E317/9/12.

37 PRO E101/280/18; PRO E317/9/28; DRO D258/60/11; DRO D258/58/24c; DRO D258/28/20a, c and d.

38 PRO DL5/28 fos. 378–80.

39 PRO E317/9/28; PRO E101/280/18; PRO DL5/28 fos. 378/380; DRO D258/X/7c–c; DRO D258/58/20a–c. I hope to publish a fuller study of Wirksworth's mining community in the future.

40 PRO DL4/72/31.

41 DRO D258/56/52i; DRO D258/28/20r. For a brief account of the Dovegang dispute of the early 1630s see Dias, , “Lead, Society and Politics”, pp. 48–51.Google Scholar

42 DL Add. Mss. 6677 fo. 49.

43 DRO D258/60/11.

44 DRO D258/28/20a–d; DRO D258/58/18i; DRO D258/58/24a–d; PRO DL4/105/1661/22; PRO DL4/106/1; PRO DL30/559/1; PRO DL30/54/666–676; PRO DL44/1121; Steer, C., Compleat Mineral Laws of Derbyshire (1734), pp. 80–81.Google Scholar

45 PRO DL4/64/11.

46 PRO E134/13 Jas I/Mich 3.

47 BL Add. Mss. 6677 fos. 50–51; BL Add. Mss. 6682 fo. 33; The Moderate Intelligencer, 30 08 – 16 09 1649Google Scholar, BL E.572(6); SRO Bag.C.3438.

48 PRO DL1/323, unlisted Crown vs. Manners; PRO DL1/293 unlisted Crown vs. Sir Fras. Foljamb; PRO DL4/75/10; PRO DL4/120/1678/1; BL Add. Mss. 6677 fo. 51.

49 BL Add. Mss. 6682 fos. 87–89; PRO STAC8/201/19; PRO DL1/323, unlisted Crown vs. Manners; PRO DL4/72/31; SRO PhC 335i.

50 See Meredith, R., “The Eyres of Hassop 147–1640”, DAJ, 84 (1964) and 85 (1965)Google Scholar; PRO DL1/366 unlisted complaint of William Goodwin; PRO DL1/323 unlisted Crown vs. Manners.

51 Kiernan, , Lead Industry, pp. 13–14.Google Scholar

52 PRO E134/2 Jas II/Mich 21; PRO C2/Jas I/Mich 13/61; PRO DL4/72/31; DRO D258/42/15, unlisted receipt; DRO D258/47/7a.

53 Meredith, , “Eyres of Hassop”, pp. 42–43.Google Scholar

54 PRO DL41/17/19; PRO E134/13 Jas I/Mich 3; BL Add. Mss. 6685 fo. 56.

55 PRO DL1/323, unlisted Crown vs. Manners; PRO DL1/298, unlisted Crown vs. Lady Grace Manners; PRO DL4/75/10; PRO STAC9/1/13.

56 PRO E134/13 Jas I/Mich 3; PRO DL4/66/6.

57 PRO E134/4&5 Wm & Mar/Hil 15; PRO DL4/98/34; PRO STAC8/219/4.

58 PRO E/134/13 Jas I/Mich 3; PRO E134/8 Chas I/Mich 26.

59 PRO E134/13 Jas I/Mich 3; PRO E134/17 Chas I/Mich 4; DRO D258/42/15, unlisted mss. related to tithe cases.

60 PRO E134/6 Geo II/Mich 4.

61 Cressy, D., Literacy and the Social Order: Reading and Writing in Tudor and Stuart England (Cambridge, 1980), p. 73CrossRefGoogle Scholar; PRO E101/280/18; HLRO MP 26 February 1642; DRO D258/60/6.

62 SRO Bag.C.549(3); SRO Bag.C.550; BL Add. Mss. 6668 fos. 506–507; BL Add. Mss. 6681 fos. 189–191, 201–205.

63 See case of William Booth, PRO DL4/72/31.

64 Treby's Mss. Reports, 22–24 Chas II, Middle Temple Library. I am indebted to Dr Alan Cromartic for this reference.

65 BL Add. Mss. 6677 fo. 51; Wyllies, L., “The Working of the Derbyshire Lead Mining Customs in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries”, BPDMHS, 10/3 (1988), p. 152.Google Scholar

66 BL Add. Mss. 6686 fo. 62; PRO DL5/29 fos. 432–433.

67 BL Add. Mss. 6681 fos. 360–371; PRO E134/17 Chas I/Mich 4; PRO E134/13 Jas I/Mich 3; PRO E134/4 Chas I/Mich 33; PRO E134/8 Chas I/Mich 26.

68 DRO QSB/103; DRO DL1/366, unlisted complaint of William Goodwin; PRO DL1/293, Crown vs. Sir Fras. Foljamb; PRO DL4/124/1686/7; PRO DL1/323, unlisted Crown vs. John Manners.

69 PRO DL4/90/24.

70 PRO RGO 33 frontispiece.

71 DRO QSB/103; HLRO MP 19 June 1648; Journal of the House of Lords 1647–1648, pp. 335, 442, 595Google Scholar; Journal of the House of Commons 1648–1651, pp. 175, 242, 284, 298, 303Google Scholar; PRO SP18/26/93; PRO DL1/366, unlisted complaint of Rowland Furniss; PRO DL1/369, answer of Earl of Rutland; PRO DL1/379, answer of Lathom Woodruffe; Kirkham, N., “A Royal Mine in Nether Haddon?” DAJ (1955).Google Scholar

72 BL Add. Mss. 64908 fos. 128, 130–131.

73 BL Add. Mss. 6686 fo. 158; PRO DL5/31 fo. 201.

74 CSPD, pp. 222, 255–256.Google Scholar

75 CSPD, pp. 335, 337–338Google Scholar; Journal of the House of Commons 1648–1651, p. 303.Google Scholar

76 Stone, L., The Crisis of the Aristocracy 1558–1641 (Oxford, 1965), p. 391.Google Scholar

77 PRO DL1/323, unlisted Crown vs. Manners; BL Add. Mss. 6682 fos. 87–89.

78 BL Add. Mss. 6686 fo. 148; BL Add. Mss. 6678 fos. 153–154; Rees, W., Industry before the Industrial Revolution, II (Cardiff, 1968), p. 654Google Scholar; PRO E134/23 Chas II/East 5; PRO DL4/124/1686/7.

79 SRO Bag.C.704(1–15); SRO SpSt 60498 (21); SRO WHC 34; Thomas, M. “The Rioting Crowd in Eighteenth-Century Derbyshire” DAJ, 95 (1975)Google Scholar; Hopkinson, G. G., “Lead Mining in Eighteenth-Century Ashover”, DAJ, 72 (1952)Google Scholar; Hopkinson, G. G., “Lead Mining in the Eyam District in the Eighteenth Century”, DAJ, 80 (1960).Google Scholar

80 BL Harl. Mss. 6833 fos. 58b, 59, 68.

81 PRO DL5/34 fo. 300; HLRO MP, 20 February 1643.

82 HLRO MP, 19 June 1648, affidavit of Thos. Needham.

83 The Moderate, 59, 21–2808 1649, BL E.572(1)Google Scholar; The moderate, 61, 4–1109 1649, DL E.573(7)Google Scholar; Mercurius Elencticus, 25 06–2 07 1649, BL E.562(18)Google Scholar; Mercurios Pragmaticas Pt. 2 No. 11, 26 06-3 07 1649 BL E.562(21)Google Scholar; The Kingdomes Scout, 31 24–3108 1649 BL E.532(30)Google Scholar; The Case of a Publique Business […] DCL; BL Add. Mss. 6677 fo. 49; A Modest Narrative, 25 08 – 1 09 1649.Google Scholar

84 Davies, O. R. F., “The Dukes of Devonshire, Newcastle and Rutland 1688–1714: A Study in Wealth and Political Influence”, unpub. D.Phil. (Oxford, 1971), pp. 188–189.Google Scholar

85 HLRO MP, 16 August 1648.

86 HLRO MP, 19 June 1648; Kirkham, “Royal Mine”, pp. 27–28.Google Scholar

87 Kirkham, , “Royal Mine”, p. 23Google Scholar; PRO E134/17 Chas I/Mich 4; PRO E101/280/18; HLRO MP June 19 1648; SRO Bag.C.1413.

88 Journal of the House of Lords 1647–8, pp. 442, 595Google Scholar; PRO SP18/26/93; HLRO MP, 19 June 1648, affidavit of Jonas Crosgill.

89 BL Add. Mss. 6677 fo. 49; PRO SP28/128/15; PRO SP19/139 fo. 36; PRO E101/280/18.

90 Woodhouse, A. S. P., Puritanism and Liberty (London, 1938, 1986 edn), p. 69.Google Scholar

91 BL Add. Mss. 6677 fo. 49.

92 The Case of a Publique Business […] DCL.

93 PRO DL4/90/24.

94 PRO STAC8/201/19; PRO STAC8/226/27; PRO DL41/17/19.

95 PRO DL4/91/16.

96 PRO DL4/71/36.

97 PRO DL4/75/10.

98 PRO STAC9/1/13.

99 PRO DL5/29 fo. 289. The Duchy court later reversed this decision.

100 DL4/72/31.

101 PRO E134/3 Jas II/East 15; DRO D258/42/21.

102 Unlisted accounts of Odin mine, Chatsworth House; SRO OD 1495.

103 SRO Bag.C.206(3).

104 PRO RGO 33.

105 Hopkinson, , “Ashover”, p. 5Google Scholar; DRO QAB/1/6/3; PRO DL41/19/4; DRO 1038A/PO 261.

106 Thomas, , “Rioting Crowd”, p. 44Google Scholar; Wells, R., Insurrection: The British Experience 1795–1803 (London, 1803), pp. 76, 222.Google Scholar

107 Chatsworth House BC 214 Bradwell ore measurements 1789–1800.

108 Rules for a Friendly Society of Miners at Eyam, 1797Google Scholar DCL; SRO Bag.C.587(71).

109 MCL Carill Worsley MSS M35/2/44/4, 8, 10, 44; SRO Bag.C.587(71).

110 MCL Carill Worsley MSS M35/2/44/41.