Transcript

of

Combe Martin

In II. Kingsley, Rev. Canon, 1849: Notes on Slips connected with Devonshire. Pt III.

By W. Pengelly, F.R.S., F.G.S. etc

Trans. Devon Assoc., 1879, Vol XI, pp. 360-363.

Prepared by Michael Steer

The author asserts that there is no evidence:
A. That the silver mines of Combe-Martin were worked seven hundred years ago, or, indeed, earlier than the 13th century.
B. That silver-mining at Combe-Martin has, on the whole, been fruitless.
C. That Combe-Martin ever sent a member to parliament.
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1. Combe-Martin: - In a paper entitled North Devon, A Prose Idyl, by the late Rev. C. Kingsley, which appeared in Fraser's Magazine, July, 1849, and was reprinted in the talented author's Miscellanies, vol. ii., pp. 237-308 (1859), the following passage occurs: - "There is Combe-Martin, mile-long man-stye, which seven centuries of fruitless silver-mining, and of the right (now deservedly lost) of 'sending a talker to the national palaver,' have neither cleansed nor civilized." {Miscel, ii., 258.)

The following questions may be said to lie on the surface of the foregoing quotation: -

(A.) Were the silver mines of Combe-Martin worked seven hundred years ago?

(B.) Has the silver-mining of Combe-Martin been fruitless?

(C.) Did Combe -Martin ever send a member to Parliament ?

(A.) Earliest known date of silver-mining at Combe-Martin: There does not appear to be any evidence of mining at Combe-Martin before the time of Edward I., whose reign began in 1272. "In Devonshire," says Sir H. De la Beche, "the Combe Martin and Beer Alston Mines have long been celebrated for their argentiferous lead ores. It is stated that the produce of these mines was unusually great in the reigns of Edward I. and II." (Report on the Geol, of Cornwall, &c., 1839, p. 611.) In his paper on The Silver Mines at Combe-Martin (Trans, Devon. Assoc, ii., 190-9) Dr. Kingdon appears to think it possible that the Phoenicians traded there, but he finds that authentic history declines to take him back to times more ancient than those of the First Edward; and the author of Murray's Handbook for Travellers in Devon and Cornwall (8th Ed., 1872, p. 280) contents himself with saying that Combe-Martin "is well-known for its silver-lead mines, which have been worked at intervals from the time of Edward I."

(B.) Has the silver-mining of Comhe-Martin been fruitless? According to Dr. Kingdon the Devon Silver mines - Combe Martin and Beer Alston - yielded 270 lbs. weight of silver in the 22nd year of Edward I., 522 lbs. 10 dwts. in the 23rd year, and 704 lbs. 3 dwts. in the 24th year. In the next year, 260 miners, or, according to De la Beche, 360 miners, were impressed out of Derbyshire and Wales to work the mines, "and great was the profit in silver and lead." In the reign of Edward III. the silver produced was of great service towards the maintenance of the wars with France, and, to pass over intermediate workings, "a new silver mine was discovered at Combmartin, during the reign of Elizabeth, by Adrian Gilbert and John Poppler, a lapidary, with whom Mr. Bulmer bargained for half the whole. It continued for four years, and yielded £10,000 to each partner." (Trans. Devon, Assoc,, ii, 194.)

(C.) Was Combe-Martin ever represented in Parliament ? There can be no doubt that Canon Kingsley was under the impression that Combe-Martin at one time had "the right of sending- a talker to the national palaver;" in other words, of sending a member to parliament. I some time ago sent to Notes and Queries a query on this question, which appeared in the 5th S. viii., 432, on 27th October, 1877. It did not elicit any reply, but it was copied into the Western Times newspaper, of 29th of that month, where the following reply was appended to it: - "Combe-Martin is neither included in the list of Devonshire Boroughs named in the Domesday Book, nor in the list of those not so named, as set forth by Mereweather and Stephens in their “History of Boroughs."

The same journal, for 2nd November, 1877, contained the following statement from "W. G. S.," writing from Ilfracombe, on October 30th : "Westcott's account is that it [Combe-martin]  “dyriveth its name from the situation beinge a low and deepe valley surrounded with very high hills (towards the sea excepted), and the addition of Martins from Le Sieur Martin de Turon, a man of much worth and assistant to William, Duke of Normandye, when he conquered this land, of whom he had this with other great possessions given him.

This powerful family (afterward created barons of Barnstaple, Dartington, and Camvis in Wales) procured this town to be made a borough with the privileges of waifs, estrays, wrecks, felons' goods, assize of bread and ale, and pillory; with a market on Thursday, and a fair on Whitsun Monday.' "

The Lysonses, who make no mention of the town having been a borough at any time, say, "The market was granted in or about the year 1264, to Nicholas Fitz-Martin, to be held on Thursday, together with a fair for four days, beginning on Whitsun-Eve." (Magna Britannia, voL 6th, Devonshire, 1822, p. 136.)

It is needless to remark that, even if Westcote’s statement be accepted, a borough is not necessarily a town sending one or more representatives to Parliament. According to the author of the Article BOROUGH in the Penny Cyclopaedia, vol. V. p. 193, col. 2, "The Anglo-Saxon byrig, byrg, burh, &c. (for the word is written in a great variety of ways) . . . was the generic term for any place, large or small, fortified by walls or mounds."

Moreover, if Combe-Martin were made a borough in 1264 when, according to the Lysonses, its market and fair were granted, it had secured that distinction before parliamentary boroughs were invented.

Mr. Capel Loft printed, in the Monthly Magazine for 1st February, 1813, vol. xxxv. pp. 1, 2, "a list of boroughs, either corporate, or simply parliamentary and prescriptive, the elective franchise of which is at present suspended," and in his “list," he places "Ashperton," "Sutton," and "Torrington," as belonging to Devonshire.

Had Mr. Loft been aware that "Sutton" was an ancient name for Plymouth, he would not have placed it in his list, in all probability. It is perhaps possible, too, that he failed to detect Ashburton under the name of "Ashperton."

The same volume, pp. 314-5, contains a communication on the same subject from Scrutator, who says of Mr. Loft's list, "This list is very defective, as the following places fall also under the description of that title; viz." He then mentions 29 towns, assigning the following 6 to Devonshire : - "Bradneysham or Bradninch, Crediton, Fremington, Ledeford, Modbury, Southmoulton."

The number of the same Magazine for 1st August, 1818, vol. xlvi. pp. 17-18, contains a "list of obsolete or disfranchised boroughs, furnished by "A. C. K.," and arranged in a tabular form, of which the following is the portion belonging to Devonshire : 

“Treinington" is, no doubt, a misprint for Fremington. It will be seen that Combe-Martin does not occur in any of the lists.

In short, it may be concluded that there is no evidence.

A. That the silver mines of Combe-Martin were worked seven hundred years ago, or, indeed, earlier than the 13th century.

B. That the silver-mining at Combe-Martin has, on the whole, been by any means fruitless.

C. That Combe-Martin ever sent a member to parliament.