| Notes |
- The following was found in a book called 'Swaledale - Its Mines and S
melt Mills' Mike Gill, Landmark Publishing, 2nd Ed 2004, Ashbourne
, Derbyshire. ISBN 1-84306-131-7'. I believe the smelter named Ralph Wa
de is one and the same as this Ralph Warde, born about 1618.
"The site of a second mill is revealed in a sale of land at Orgate to R
obert Willance in 1614. It is not clear who built that mill, but for co
venience Tyson called it Willance's Mill. When Willance died in 1616, h
is estates including the mill, passed to his nephew, Brian Willance. Th
e latter's daughter and heiress, Elizabeth, married Doctor John Bathurs
t in 1635. He worked at the Arkengarthdale Mines, first under the Commo
wealth (1649 - 1653) and then under a lease from the Citizens of Londo
from 1654. Ore was carried from shafts, chiefly around Windegg, via G
un Nest to Willance's Mill. Here two smelters, (Ralph Warde and John T
aylor) were paid 10s 6d for each fother of lead they produced plus 2d f
or weighing it….”
A John Taylor close to Ralph's age in the area was one John Taylor b. i
Forcett, 01 Jan 1620, son of William of Ovington.
Another quote taken from http://sometimes-interesting.com/2015/03/22/or
ewinners-and-deadmen-lead-mining-in-swaledale/:
"The smelters were the highest paid men in the mining operation as it r
equired considerable experience to be able to produce good quality lead
.
The men doing it may not have been aware of the chemical terms for what t
hey were doing, but it was quite sophisticated chemistry that they were p
erforming, first turning the ore into lead oxide, and then adding carbo
to remove the oxygen to produce the finished metal. They controlled e
verything: lighting the furnace, choosing the type and amount of fuel t
o use, and the casting of the lead pigs at the end of the process."
-----------------
Ralph Warde is also mentioned in the book 'A Dales Heritage' by Marie H
artley and Joan Ingilby, in chapter 2 'Two Seventeenth-Century Lead-Min
e Proprietors' describing the entries in the business account books, in 1
657, of Dr.John Bathurst, manorial lord, and the owner of Clints mine:
“The accounts are complicated by the borrowing which prevailed. Almo
st everyone, including the smelters, was in debt. For instance, althoug
h the partners at the White Gang had raised 247 ½ loads of ore, they we
e only paid for 225 ½. The twenty-two loads deducted cancelled out pre
vious debts, and 'Clear' is now written at the bottom of their column o
f figures. A further list of individual miners record debts ranging fro
m shillings to £2 8s. 8d., and one of the smelters, Ralph Warde, owing £
3, had paid off part leaving him still owing £1 15s... The rate for the s
melters was 10s. 6d. For smelting a fother and 2d. a fother for weighin
g. Between them they received £39 16s. 3d. During the year. Ralph Warde a
lso chopped wood and the other smelter, John Taylor, built up 'Orgait h
ouse in Clints ground which was burnt' for £1 2s. 6d.“
__________________________
Other entries re baptising and burial of Ralph's children are, unfortun
ately, illegible.
Here is another quote from a book that may apply to Ralph's widow:
"The restoration of the monarchy brought in the 'Hearth Tax' - (two shi
llings on every hearth in order to provide Charles II with some revenue
. The only apparent extant record for the area is 1672. It shows that t
he Widow Warde was exempt."
____________________
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Abt 1618 - Aft 1665 (~ 48 years)