Technological and Economic Changes in the Metalliferous Mining and Smelting Industries of Tudor England

Abstract

The Age of the Tudors has been viewed both as an age of transition, and as an age of enterprise and innovation. Although such views more often than not have been limited to political and economic matters, they can be extended equally well to technology and industrial organization. The mining and smelting industries of England and Wales, which for centuries had contributed notably to the national product, during the Tudor Age underwent a number of technological and economic adjustments, some of permanent significance.The purpose of this paper is to examine, in the light of contemporary and near-contemporary evidence, some of the more important changes that took place in the metalliferous mining and smelting industries of Tudor England The emphasis will be largely on technological changes, but as these gave rise to new and ever-increasing demands for industrial financing, it will be necessary also to examine certain of the concomitant economic changes that ocurred in these industries. Whether the economic changes were the outcome of technological changes, or vice versa, is not always clear. Certain technological changes emphasized the need for new methods of financing and organizing a particular mining or smelting industry, while, in turn, the reorganization of an industry tended to provide the conditions and the incentive for further technological modifications.There were three mininar and smelting industries of importance at ihe beginning of the Tudor period — tin, lead and iron. By the end of the period, copper and calamine1 had acquired prominence, while renewed interest in gold and silver prospecting had resulted in the precious minerals assuming a fairly important, if erratic, role in this sector of the economy.