Iron-Mining in Restoration Furness: The Case of Sir Thomas Preston

Extract

The iron-mining by Sir Thomas Preston of The Manor in Furness, Bart., is an interesting interlude in Restoration economic and legal history. First, it attests to the existence of iron-mining in Furness long before the eighteenth century and provides valuable insights into mining conditions and operations. Secondly, when Sir Thomas, a Catholic, attempted to dispose of his properties, including the iron-mines, to the Jesuits and the poor of Dalton parish, his cousin, Thomas Preston of Holker, Esq., initiated proceedings in the Court of Exchequer, claiming that the estates were forfeit because they had been granted for superstitious uses. In this article, the iron-mines will be examined both as lucrative producers of haematite ore and as a focal point of legal controversy.

Sir Thomas Preston, second son of Sir John, was born in 1643. By 1665 he had succeeded to the family titles and estates after the deaths of his father and brother. He married twice, his second wife being Mary, the daughter of Caryll, Viscount Molyneux of Sefton, whose marriage portion was £4,000, with £2,000 paid in 1666 and the remainder in 1667. They had three children: Francis, who died an infant in 1672; Mary, who married William, Marquis of Powis; and Anne, who married Hugh, Lord Clifford of Chudleigh. Thus the 1660’s brought a happy marriage, children, and an improving financial position. The 1670’s brought the loss of his son and heir in 1672 and the sudden death of his second wife, after which Sir Thomas elected to abandon the world and enter the Society of Jesus. The two decades in his life are mirrored in the fate of his iron enterprise, which prospered in the ’sixties but then decayed rapidly.