Welsh Journals

Having secured two verdicts in the law courts and finally granted a nolle prosequi as a result of his petition to the King, Sir Carbury Pryse was doubtless in high spirits particularly as it was whispered abroad that Henry Lord Capel and his friends had been promised the mine should the verdict go to the Crown. Tradition has it that upon gaining his final victory he made the record run from London to Bwlch yr Esgair Hir on horse in forty-eight hours, and that upon arrival on his native heath a line of bonfires was soon ablaze in honour of the occasion. Sir Carbury Pryse's success completely changed the primary condition governing British mining. Not for nothing had one member after another of the House of Gogerddan coveted the right to mine precious metals under his soil, even if it ultimately meant challenging the royal prerogative. Overnight, almost, individual landowners who had bitterly resented the industrialisation of the country- side, now found the prospect most pleasing, for, as a result of these trials, 'Parlia- ment took the matter into consideration' and in 1693, passed An Act to prevent disputes and controversies concerning Royal Mines. Henceforth landowners could freely develop any ores discovered on their estates, the Crown only reserving for itself the right to purchase at statutory prices such ore as it might require 'within thirty days after the said ore is or shall be raised and laid upon the banks of the said mine or mines'. The Act greatly restricted the activities of the society of Mines Royal particul- arly in the direction of silver mining, and opened the way to private enterprise. Sir Carbury was now free to develop his own mine but required capital to deal with the considerable amount of water which seeped into the workings. Unfortunately some of the deeds relating to this venture are missing from the Gogerddan Collection now at the National Library of Wales. One or two leases of a later date, however, help to satisfy our curiosity about the various steps taken to acquire the capital needed to develop the mine effectively. It appears that for this purpose the first step was taken on i Janaury 1691, when Pryse entered into a deed of partnership with the Right Hon. Peregrine Osborne Earl of Danby, son and heir of the Marquess of Carmarthen, Sir Charles Bickerstaffe, of Seal, Kent, Sir Humphrey Edwin, Lord Mayor of London, Sir Stephen Evans, of London, Phillip Bickerstaffe of Chirton, Northumberland, William Powell of Nanteos, Cardiganshire, William Scawen of London, merchant, and Edward Pryse of Glanfread, Cardiganshire. The mine to be developed 'extended twelve hundred yards in length from the place where the work was first begun within twelve months then last past in Bwlch yr Esgair Hyr and 200 yards in breadth'. The co-partnership was in the first place for a period of twenty-five years, and the mine would be divided into twenty-four shares, half of which Pryse reserved to himself, and the remainder divided among his partners as follows: two shares each to the Earl of Danby, Sir Charles Bickerstaffe, Sir Humphrey Edwin, and Phillip Bickerstaffe; and one share each to Sir Stephen Evans, William Powell, William Scawen, and Edward Pryse. The last named, who, it was stated, had an interest in the reversion of the mine at Bwlch yr Esgair Hir should Sir Carbury Pryse die without issue, agreed to confirm upon the partners all the grants made by his uncle.