AN
EXPLANATION
OF THE
MINERS
Terms of Art
Used in this
BOOK.


BAr-master is he which keepeth
the Gage or Dish to measure
all Miners Ore, he or his Servant be­
ing present when measured.

Brazen-Dish is the Standard by
which the other Dishes are gaged,
and is kept in the King's Hall.

Cavers are any poor people that
go about the Mines to beg or steal
Ore from the Miners.



Coes are little Houses which the
Miners make over their Mines to
lay the Ore in.

Cope is 6d. for every Load of Ore,
nine Dishes making one Load.

Crosses are two Nicks cut on the
Superficies of the Earth, thus ☩
which the Miners make when they
take the Ground to dig for Ore;
This Cross gives the Miners three
days liberty to make and set on
Stows: As many of these Crosses as
the Miner makes, so many Meers of
Ground he may have in that Vein,
if he set on Stows within three days
after the making his Cross or Cros­
ses; but if he make but one Cross,
and a stander by makes the second,
and a stranger makes the third, eve­
ry one is served with the next Meer,
according as they have first or last,
sooner or later made their Cross or
Crosses upon the Ground.



Dish is a Trough made of Wood,
about 28 Inches long, 4 Inches deep
and 6 Inches wide; by which all Mi­
ners measure their Ore: If any be
taken selling their Ore, not first mea­
suring it by the Bar-masters Dish,
and paying the Kings Duties, the
Miners incur that forfeiture which
the 17th. Article has imposed upon
them.

Drift is a passage thus [[image]] cut
out under the Earth betwixt Shaft
and Shaft, or Turn and Turn, or a
passage or way wrought under the
Earth to the end of a Meer of ground
or part of a Meer.

Farmer is the Lord of the Field;
or one that farms the Lot and Cope
of the King.

Fodder of Lead at the Mines con­
tains Twenty two hundred and a
half weight, though in London but
Twenty hundred weight.



Forestid Ore  is Ore that is gotten
out of Earth and Dirt that hath been
washt and Ore taken from it before.

Forfield is the furthest place that a
man has wrought in his ground; or
the end of a Meer above-ground.

Groove is the Shaft or Pit sunk in­
to the Earth; they are sometimes
sunk in the Vein and sometimes out.

Hack is a Tool that Miners use
like a Mattock.

Hade is where any Shaft or Turn
goes descending like the side of a
House, or like the descent of a steep
Hill, then it is said to hade.

Load is nine Dishes of Ore;
each Dish being about half a hun­
dred weight.

Lobs are steps that ascend or des­
cend within the Mines, as stairs up
to and down from a Chamber.

Lot is the 13th Dish, Measure or
Part of the Miners Ore, which the
Bar-master takes up for the King or
the Farmer.



Meer contains Twenty nine yards
in length in any Vein.

Meer-stake is a pin of wood drove
into the superficies of the Earth, to
shew the extent or end of a Meer of
ground.

Old works are such that are either
fallen in or stand unwrought.

Pipe is where the Ore runs for­
wards endways in a hole, and doth
not sink downwards or in a Vein.

Pee is where two Veins meet and
cross one another thus ☩ the place
where they meet is called the Pee.

Possession is the right to a Meer of
ground, which Miners enjoy, by
having Stows upon that ground;
and it is taken generally for the
Stows themselves; For it is the
Stows that give Possession.

Pawn is a Pledge of Money put
into the Bar-masters hand at the time
when the Plaintiff causes the Bar­
master to arrest the Mine.



Pick is a Tool the Miners use to
cut down the Cliffs and Rocks of
stone to make passages in the Earth.

Rither is a Stone or thin Cliff
that lies in the Vein; The Ore
sometimes runs on both sides it;
Sometimes this Rither is so thick, it
parts the Vein and makes one Vein
two.

Quarter-Cord is seven yards and a
quarter, which the Miner hath cross
ways of his Vein on either side; for
liberty to lay his Earth, Stones and
Rubbish on, and to wash and dress
up his Ore.

Rake is the same with a Vein.

Shaft is the same with a Groove
or Pit; They are sunk some ten some
twenty Fathoms deep into the Earth,
more or less.

Stows are seven pieces of Wood
(set upon the superficies of the Earth)
fastened with pins of wood together;
Two are called Soul-trees; two



Stow-blades, two Hang-benches and
a Spindle: These Stows give a Mi­
ner or any person that owns them,
as good right to a Meer or Meers of
ground, (so that every Meer have a
pair of Stows set on them) as a Deed
of Conveyance doth to any Purcha­
ser.

Stool is where the Miners leave
digging deeper, and work in the
ends forwards; the end before you
is called the Stool.

Spindle is a piece of wood fastned
into either Stow-blade.

Smytham is Lead Ore stamp'd and
pounded down, like Powder or
Sand, to cleanse the Stones and
Earth from the Ore.

Sough is also called an Addit; It is
a passage like a Vault cut out under
the Earth, to drain the water from
the Mines.

Smelting-house  is a House where
they run and melt the Ore into



Lead; One of these will run a Tun
in ten or twelve hours, A Fodder
is their usual days work; that is,
Twenty two hundred and an half
weight.

Sumps are holes sunk in Drifts to
  the depth of two or three yards,
more or less.

Twenty four men, they are Twenty
four men chosen every half year to
redress the grievances of the Mines
and Miners; But every man gene­
rally serves his year when chosen.

Next Taker is he that makes the
next cross, or he that hath the next
Meer in possession.

Turn is a Pit sunk in some part of
a Drift; If the Mine be deep, there
is many of these Turns one below
another.

Vein  is that which is bounded with
Wrought, and contains Ore, Spar, Cauck,
Clay, Chirt, Croil, Brown-hen, Pit­
cher-chirt, Gur, which the Philoso­



phers calls the Mother of Mettals,
and soil of all colours sometimes.
When it bears Ore it is called a quick
Vein, when no Ore a dead Vein.

Woughs are the Walls or sides
sometimes of hard stone, and some­
times soft; when soft, then the Mi­
ners say they are rotten: These are
the bounds of an entry. Betwixt
the, all sorts of Earth, Stones and
Ore lieth, or, as Philosophers say,
groweth.



The End of the Explanation.